10th July 1943
Karl Geiling

Karl Geiling and the Maßbach synagogue

During the pogrom night in November 1938,  the interior of the synagogue was destroyed. On the orders of the SA standard in Bad Kissingen, all 60 to 70 men of the local SA gathered in the early morning of 10th November 1938 and were divided into groups. One group destroyed doors, windows and furniture in the synagogue. Torah scrolls were torn up and trampled on. A number of ritual objects were taken from the synagogue and taken to an unknown location. The Torah shrine curtains and the silver utensils, which dated back to the early days of the community, were destroyed. The SA men then moved to Poppenlauer.

After the pogrom, the mayor made the Jewish residents pay 800 RM for the repair of the synagogue windows. He also offered to sell the synagogue for 50 RM.

Master saddler Karl Geiling, in whose courtyard the synagogue stood, tried to acquire the building, but this proved very difficult. The small Jewish community had no objections to the sale to him in July 1942. The last two Jewish men - Sigmund Max Eberhardt and David Frank - 'confirmed' their consent to the sale of the building to Karl Geiling  in a 1942 document. As the transfer of ownership to Karl Geiling had still not been completed in 1948, Simon Eberhardt, who had fled to Argentina with his family, supported him with another letter that was intended to facilitate the sale of the building. The building was ultimately sold to Karl Geiling. He made structural changes to the building. Externally, the gable front and the windows were changed, the small porch on the east wall in the area of ​​the Torah shrine was removed. Inside, a false ceiling was installed at the level of the former women's gallery. The saddler's workshop was set up below the new ceiling. Above, the building remained almost unchanged, here it was used as a storage room. The building remained in the possession of the Geiling family until 2012; in that year, a change of ownership took place.

'Confirmation' from 1942 regarding the sale of the synagogue:   

'When the house of Samuel Eberhardt, the religious leader of the Maßbach Jewish community, was sold, Karl Geiling, master saddler, was given the assurance in 1921 that as soon as the synagogue was transferred to another owner, only Karl Geiling, master saddler from Maßbach would be considered. Since Geiling had always been friendly to the Jewish community in every way and some of the Jews of Maßbach had emigrated, died and moved away, and only two members of the religious community were present, namely the confidant David Frank and Sigmund Eberhardt, they supported, according to their signatures and community stamps, that only this property should be transferred to Karl Geiling, master saddler in Maßbach when it was sold. Maßbach, July 2nd, 1942.

This document from 2nd July 1942 - with the two signatures of Sigmund Max Eberhardt and David Frank - is the last testimony of the Israelite community in Maßbach. On 14th July 1942, the last 6 citizens of the Jewish faith in Maßbach were brought to Würzburg for 'relocation' and deported from there. Only Sigmund Max Eberhardt was not. He died on 26th July 1942 in Würzburg and was buried there. 

Sigmund Eberhardt - formerly resident of Maßbach, house number 80 - wrote from Argentina to the Israelite Community in Würzburg regarding the sale of the synagogue building to his friend Karl Geiling on 30th May 1948: 

'Chos Malal 30/5.1948

Isr. Kultusgemeinde Unterfranken Würzburg Valentin–Beckerstraße 11

As a former member of the Maßbach Community of my birth and former home town, I would like to confirm that Mr. Karl Geiling from there was always very decent and well disposed towards us Jews and I would therefore like to recommend that he be allowed to sell our former synagogue.

Yours sincerely, Sigmund Eberhardt.'

Source: alemannia--judaica-de

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