<< < Station: [100] Titel der StationJewish Ritual Bath

f: A mikveh, used for ritual purification, is a fundamental part of every Jewish community.

The mikveh is an immersion bath fed by so-called “living water”—such as spring water, groundwater, river water, or rainwater—in which men and women perform ritual purification. It is used, for example, after coming into contact with dead persons, but especially by women after their monthly period. Objects can also be ritually purified in it.

Plan accompanying the planning application dated 25 May 1893 for the construction of a new women’s bathhouse – Creglingen Town Archives

m: Over the centuries, three mikvaot at different locations have been documented in Creglingen.

The first was located in a Jewish house on Lindleinstraße. Today, there is no trace of it.

The second one was in the synagogue next to the Faulturm. When the spring that fed the women’s bath became contaminated by a nearby manure pile and by municipal sewage, this mikveh had to be closed.

f: Thereupon the Jewish community built its third mikveh in 1895 here on what is now Craintaler Weg along the Herrgottsbach. The single-story stone bathhouse with a gabled roof consisted of a heated bathing room and a boiler room. The facilities included a wrought-iron boiler with a capacity of 640 liters and a “zinc bathtub.” People could warm up in it after they came out of the diving basin, which was fed by the cold water from the Herrgottsbach. An annex with an “outhouse” was attached to the side of the buildings gable. A small wood shed stood on a small front yard.

m: In March 1939, when the Jewish community no longer existed, the mikveh, along with the synagogue, had to be forcibly sold to the town of Creglingen. In June 1939, the mikveh on the Herrgottsbach was resold for demolition. The minutes of the town council meeting on June 22, 1939, state, “that the little house is an eyesore in the townscape and that its architectural style is also quite reminiscent of the bygone Jewish era.” 

Four weeks after the town council’s decision, the mikveh had been demolished. Only the foundation walls are still visible today.