Statement on the attack of Hamas on Israel, 10-7- 2023, Simchat Torah

Welcome! Shalom!

Drohnenaufnahme, © Julian Kriesche

The Arbeitskreis Landsynagoge Roth, a project circle dedicated to preserving the synagogue in the village of Roth near Marburg in Hesse, Germany, welcomes you to our website. We would like to introduce you to our goals and inform you about our projects and activities.

We provide guided tours of the memorial site, the synagogue in Roth, and of the Jewish Cemetery, as well as a variety of cultural activities. Join us in solemn remembrance of the displacement, persecution, and murder of our Jewish neighbors during the Nazi Regime. Perhaps you’ll find our multi-faceted memorial work so interesting that you yourself would like to become a member of our group. You are warmly welcome to join us! Newcomers are always welcome to get involved in our activities and participate in our various projects.

We would also like to introduce you to the history of the Jewish Community that shaped and influenced life in Roth over the centuries before being violently eradicated within less than ten years of Nazi reign. Roth lost an essential part of its cultural heritage. We are trying to preserve what has survived and discover and reconstruct what once was. The physical witnesses of this lost culture: the synagogue, the place of the mikveh, the Jewish cemetery, are here for you to see and experience. Historically, the Jewish communities in Roth and Fronhausen were closely linked. We also include valuable information about Fronhausen’s Jewish past and remaining artifacts on our website.

Yours truly,

The Managing Board of the Arbeitskreis Landsynagoge Roth

Once again, the people of Israel are hit by rockets and terror on a Jewish holiday. Once again they have to fear that the only halfway safe place to live in the world is being pulled out from under their feet. Jews have been persecuted and killed for millennia in every conceivable corner of the globe. Our hearts bleed when we realize that they find no peace even in Israel. From the cowardly attack of Hamas on Israeli civilians, from the kidnappings and exposures of the victims, an unmasked anti-Semitism looks at us – a fanaticism to want to destroy the state of Israel and all Jews.
We condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms and show our solidarity with the people of Israel and the Jews all over the world – but also with all Palestinians who suffer under Hamas' reign of terror. At the same time, we condemn the Iranian regime's gloating reaction to the attacks. Our solidarity is also with the courageous Iranians who are fighting their own oppressive regime and do not see Israel as an enemy.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all - in Israel, in Palestine, in Iran and elsewhere – who must fear and fight for their freedom and their lives these days. We will continue to do everything in our power to uphold the memory of the Shoah in Germany and especially in our region, to stand by the weak and the attacked in our country as well – and to resolutely fight anti-Semitism as well as anti-Muslim racism and every other form of racism and violence.

Arbeitskreis Landsynagoge Roth e.V.

In accordance with the declaration of: Judaica Meimbressen e.V., Verein der Freundinnen und Freunde jüdischen Lebens im Werra-Meißner-Kreis, Arbeitskreis Rückblende - Gegen das Vergessen e.V., Förderkreises Synagoge in Vöhl e.V. and many private individuals.