City: The town of Rimbach mentioned
here is situated in the Odenwald, a low mountain range in
Germany. The river Weschnitz, a tributary of the Rhine, flows
through the town. Geographically Rimbach is about 30 km north
of Heidelberg and about 35 km northeast of Mannheim.
According the official website it was the Romans who
first settled in the Odenwald. The first people to live in
Odenwald permantly were the Franks, in the fifth century.
The first written mention of Rimbach, in a document, was in
in the year 795. In 1995, the municipality celebrated its
1200 anniversary. Today there are 8,615 people living in this
place (2010) in an area of 23 km ².
Building: The building that we show
was inaugurated in 1840 as a synagogue. The first synagogue
was too small. The new synagogue could hold 120 men and 84
women. Renovations were done in 1853, 1856 and 1867-1869.
During the Holocaust, the synagogue was damaged and destroyed
internally in 1938. The Jews were forced to sell the building
at a minimum price to the municipality. In 1951, the building
came into the possession of the Roman Catholic Church, who
converted it into a church.
God's name: Above the entrance is written
in Hebrew: "Hear, O Israel: JHWH, our God, is one JHWH."
These are words from the Bible, see Deuteronomy 6:4.
