48°26' N, 08°39' E, 34 miles SW of Stuttgart,on a tributary of the River Neckar, this town of Horb am Neckar has a population of 1255. Jewish population: 427 (in 1854), 262 (in 1933). [Mar 2013]
Jewish history: "REXINGEN, village .... Fleeing from the *Chmielnicki massacres in Poland, the first two Jewish families settled in Rexingen in 1650. Later, other families from Austria and neighboring countries settled in the village. Jews made their living mainly through trade in leather and peddling. A synagogue was built in 1710, and in 1760 a cemetery was consecrated. A limited emancipation granted in 1828 was completed in 1848. That year David Gideon, a Jew, was captain of the citizen's militia. In the 19th century Rexingen Jews were horse and cattle dealers, merchants of textiles and agricultural products, shopkeepers, bakers, butchers, innkeepers, almost all of whom possessed land (and worked it) and raised their own cattle. In the middle of the 19th century, 50% of the village population was Jewish; toward the end of the century, the Jews were 30% of the total population. There were 240 Jews in 1807; 330 in 1831; 427 in 1854; 387 in 1900; and 262 in 1933. The community was served by a district rabbi, whose seat was in Muhringen until 1914, when the responsibility was passed on to the rabbi of Horb. A Jewish school came into being in 1824. In 1924 there were six different community organizations, including a ḥevra kaddisha. Under the pressure of Nazi persecution, a group of 38 Jews (15%) immigrated to Ereẓ Israel in 1933 and was joined by others from nearby villages and towns. They set up the *Shavei Zion settlement near Nahariyyah (April 1938). In November 1938 the interior of the synagogue in Rexingen was destroyed; in 1939 the 126 Jews left in the town were deported; only three survived. All that remains of the once flourishing community is the cemetery, the synagogue building that has been converted into a church, and a memorial that was erected to the concentration camp victims. A damaged Torah scroll from Rexingen is preserved in a memorial hall in Shavei Zion in Israel." [Mar 2013]
The Rexingen Jewish cemetery [history and photographs] represents nearly 300 years of the former Jewish community. 931 gravestones from 1765 to 1942 (last buriall) are visible in this cemetery was founded in 1760 and extended to 1914. After WWII, it was renovated and regularly maintained. A 1947 memorial for at least 70 Jewish victims of theShoah from Rexingen. A large proportion of those who were able to emigrate in time settled in Israel Schawei Zion. was built in 1933 and inaugurated the 1937th It was reminiscent of the rise of the Nazis in the form of a swastika . Shortly before the war ended (1945) vandalism was swastikas and broken stone tablets painted with Nazi symbols. In 1952 a Christian cross from the village was set on those piers and damanaged slates with cement filled in in the gaps. In 2003 volunteers renovated the monument. [Mar 2013]
72160 Baden-Württemberg (Gerz) see Horb.
The cemetery dates from 1760. To see information and photographs of individual gravestones in cemeteries in Baden-Wuerttemberg, click on this link and follow the directions on that page.