During the territorial reform in 1972, the district of Gerolzhofen was dissolved and roughly half of it was assigned to the districts of Schweinfurt and half to Kitzingen. This meant that the town of Prichsenstadt - to which 9 surrounding, formerly independent villages were incorporated - became part of the district of Kitzingen.
In 5 of the current districts (namely Prichsenstadt, Altenschönbach, Brünnau, Järkendorf and Kirchschönbach) there were once Jewish citizens and Jewish religious communities existed there - moreover, a few years ago it was proven that Jewish life also existed in Stadelschwarzach in the 18th century.
The religious communities mentioned had to fight almost constantly for their existence, as they usually had only a few members and the financial means to support community life were therefore very limited - for example, they often shared a religious teacher who also acted as the "precentor" at the services and often also as a kosher.
One of the oldest religious communities in Lower Franconia was probably the one in the town of Prichsenstadt, where Jews may have settled shortly after the town was raised on January 6, 1367. Jewish inhabitants were first mentioned in 1413. A Jewish community existed until the deportation of the last 10 Jewish inhabitants in 1942.
Towards the middle of the 19th century, Altenschönbach had one of the largest Jewish communities in the entire surrounding area with around 160 souls (i.e. almost a third of the total population). It is not known exactly when the first Jews settled in Altenschönbach. In 1720, however, there were already 10 Jewish families living there. As in the communities of Järkendorf, Brünnau and Kirchschönbach, the number of members declined sharply due to emigration following the abolition of the matriculation clause in 1861 and the resulting freedom to choose one's place of residence. However, the Jewish community of Altenschönbach formally existed until the deportation of the last 6 Jewish inhabitants in 1942.
Jewish families probably also settled in Järkendorf at the beginning of the 18th century; there were two of them in 1720. The community was always extremely small and barely viable. With the departure of the last Jewish families around 1890, the Jewish community finally died out.
The first Jewish families probably also settled in Brünnau in the 18th century. In 1890, the Jewish community was affiliated with the one in nearby Gerolzhofen, and the last Jewish inhabitants left the town around 1930.
The first Jewish people in Kirchschönbach can be traced back to 1552. In 1874, following the departure of numerous members, the Kirchschönbach Jewish community merged with the Jewish community in neighboring Altenschönbach. In 1914, the last Jewish family left the village and moved to Prichsenstadt.
Because the villages mentioned belonged to the district office and later the district of Gerolzhofen, the Niederwerrn and Schweinfurt district rabbinates were also responsible for the Jewish communities mentioned.
The deceased from Järkendorf, Brünnau, Altenschönbach, Kirchschönbach and Prichsenstadt were therefore not buried in the Jewish district cemetery in Rödelsee, but in the Jewish district cemetery in Gerolzhofen, which was established in 1631/32. There were only more or less isolated burials in Rödelsee - around 3 from Prichsenstadt in the years 1825 to 1834, 4 from Altenschönbach in the years 1825 to 1836 and a considerable 30 from Kirchschönbach in the years 1814 to 1872.
The reason for this was probably in most cases the fact that the deceased themselves or their families came from communities in the Rödelsee catchment area.
The last person from the greater Prichsenstadt community to be buried in Gerolzhofen was the cattle and horse dealer Lippmann Rosenthal, who died on February 22, 1942 at the age of 96.
