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Former ´Landsynagoge in Roth´ - memorial and place of encounter

Aerial view of the synagogue between half-timbered houses.
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 work so interesting that you yourself would like to become a member of our group.

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. 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.  We also include valuable information about the neighbouring village Fronhausen’s Jewish past and remaining artifacts on our website.

Yours truly,

The Managing Board of the Arbeitskreis Landsynagoge Roth

Trude Meyer, née Löwenstein, 15.8.1924 to 22.12.2022

Trude Meyer
15 August 1924 - 22 December 2022

Trude Meyer, a woman of small stature but with outstanding resilience, optimism, energy and spirit, passed away at the age of 98. Trude was known for her humour, intellect, gracious charm and strong Jewish faith. 

She always kept a kosher house and celebrated every Shabbat and Jewish holiday with a beautiful tray of homemade cakes and biscuits.

Trude was devoted to her husband Hermann Meyer, to whom she was married for 61 years, and her two sons Fred (Terry) and Harry. She lived in the Richmond district of San Francisco for 76 years and attended both Congregation Chevra Thilim and Congregation Beth Sholom. Trude and her sister Jenni came to the United States in 1946 and were taken in by their cousin Ilse Bernstein and her husband Marcus. She was proud of her three grandchildren David (Luzia), Alisa (Ken) and Michael and was especially happy to be a great-grandmother to Sydney. Trude was very close to her extended family and was an inspiration to them.

Trude was a Holocaust survivor, along with her dear sister Jenni Thompson (Walter) in the truest sense of the word. Trude and Jenni worked in impossible conditions in Nazi factories for several years and survived an icy death march at the end of the war. Trude was born and raised in Fronhausen, Germany. Her two brothers and mother were killed in the Holocaust. Trude shared her Holocaust experiences and vivid memories with the working group of non-Jewish German community members who have preserved the synagogues, cemeteries and other Jewish remains of the Fronhausen Jewish community. 

She spoke to many groups about her war experiences.

Trude liked to cook and bake according to her German recipes. She and Hermann loved the opera. In later years she set about difficult jigsaw puzzles and was proud to display them. Her living room was full of family photos, and as a family historian, she kept many files of memorabilia and newspaper clippings. She had friends all over the world who showered her with birthday wishes. She loved to talk to friends and relatives on the phone and had the nickname "Butterfly" because of her sociability and as a symbol of surviving the Holocaust. She surrounded herself with many different species of butterflies that she was given and loved to show them to visitors. Trude will be sorely missed by her family, friends and community.

The Meyer family is immensely grateful to Trude's wonderful caregivers for their outstanding care and support.

Donations may be made in her memory to the Chevra Thilim and Beth Sholom communities.

Burial will be at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 29, at Eternal Home Cemetery in Colma, Calif.