Bischofsheim was first mentioned in documents around the year 1200 as Bissesheim. However, settlement finds indicate a much older settlement. Initially, several Catholic lords held property and claims in the village, but these were transferred in full to the House of Hesse during the 16th century. After Philip the Magnanimous converted to the Protestant faith in 1527, Bischofsheim also became Lutheran around 1540.

Around 100 years later, in the middle of the 17th century, the first Jews settled in town. Until the transition from the 18th to the 19th century, however, there were barely more than three families. They were members of the parish Rüsselsheim. They initially buried their deceased at the cemetery in Groß-Gerau. After the reorganization of the lands at the beginning of the 19th century, more families moved in.

The beginning of the 19th century was a time of great upheaval. With the introduction of the first Hessian constitution in 1821, the social status of the Jewish inhabitants also changed. Protected Jews became Jewish residents with full civil rights. In 1837, the families Heyum and Marx Kahn, Moses and Isaak Wallenstein as well as the widows of Hirsch Selig, Mayer Selig and Isaak Selig and the unmarried Beile Selig were named. Around this time a total of 50 people of Jewish faith lived in Bischofsheim, who founded an independent parish. The overwhelming majority of the members made their living from trade, especially in agricultural products such as oil, wool and livestock.

The connection to the railroad was essential for the further development of the town. It not only received a passenger station, but also a shunting station, which was to develop into one of the most important freight stations. This also changed the social structure. While the town had been agricultural for many centuries, workers were now moving in. The population rose from 1170 in 1867 to 2264 in 1895 and 4456 in 1905. However, the number of Jewish inhabitants remained more or less constant, reaching 60 in 1873 and falling to 24 until 1933.

Immediately after the transfer of power to Hitler, the incumbent mayor Georg Fischer was dismissed and the National Socialist Fritz Eitel from Ginsheim was appointed. In the Reichstag elections on March 5, 1933, the NSDAP in Bischofsheim received 1662 votes, the SPD 1071, the Communists 355, and the Center 386. Voter turnout was 93%. Only four days later, on March 9, the swastika flag blew over the town hall.

About half of the Jewish inhabitants fled in the following years, mostly to foreign countries. In connection with the acts of violence on Pogrom Night, private houses were attacked in addition to the synagogue on Frankfurter Strasse, for example Hartwig Kahn's store, also on Frankfurter Strasse, Rudolf Blumberg's store on Taunusstrasse 18, and Julius Wiesenfeld's tailor store in Ginsheim.

18 Jewish people remaining in the village were deported on March 20 and September 21, 1942: Jakob and Regine Gutter, Hartwig Kahn, Markus and Beile Laub, Markus and Channa Mattes, Max and Bettchen Stern, Hugo and Irma Kahn, Joel and Pauline Emrich, Markus and Franziska Weiler, Ernst and Rosa Grünewald with their infant Denni. They are commemorated by a memorial-stone on Marienplatz. 

These pages are intended to commemorate them and other victims of the National Socialist regime.

18 Jewish people remaining in the village were deported on March 20 and September 21, 1942: Jakob and Regine Gutter, Hartwig Kahn, Markus and Beile Laub, Markus and Channa Mattes, Max and Bettchen Stern, Hugo and Irma Kahn, Joel and Pauline Emrich, Markus and Franziska Weiler, Ernst and Rosa Grünewald with their infant Denni. They are commemorated by a memorial-stone on Marienplatz. 

These pages are intended to commemorate them and other victims of the National Socialist regime.

(Wolfgang Fritzsche)