The hamlet of Wallerstein near the larger town of Noerdlingen has an interesting past, having once had a very large castle and many Jewish inhabitants. In fact, the synagogue once stood on the main road passing through town, which was unusual as synagogues were usually tucked away in a distinctly Jewish neighborhood. Unfortunately, the 1970s […]
Two avid historians helped us with getting access to the Jewish sites in Ansbach, Germany. We met Alexander Biernoth and his friend Stefan Giestzinger on a frigid mid-April morning. Both were extremely well-prepared, opening the historic Jewish Synagogue for us at the start of our walking tour of the center of this historic small city. […]
One of the more than dozen ancestral villages visited by lifelong genealogist Caroline Gries was tiny Bechhofen, located in Middle Franconia, Germany. We were lucky to have a local historian, Hans-Rainer Preiss, standing by to help us understand more about the Jewish history of this place. This included a visit to the location of the […]