Rabbi’s House (Rabbinat) and Mikwe             (Im Wiesengrund 2)

In 1834 the Jewish community acquired this house, as a classroom for a Jewish ”Elementarschule” (a school providing basic primary education). The house had been built only a few years prior by Bernhard Laemmle. The school was located in a room on the ground floor until 1862.

The Rabbi later lived here, too. Buttenhausen had its own religious head only until 1887, after which time the town belonged to the Buchau Rabbi´s district. This is also where Naphtali Berlinger lived, the Jewish community’s final teacher and precentor. Along with his students he was forced to leave the community´s Christian-Jewish schoolhouse in 1933. Remains of the women´s baths (Mikwe), built in 1906, can still be seen in the southern wing of the ground floor. A bath is an important part of every Jewish community, and is used for ritual cleansing, for instance before weddings or after menstruation. The Mikwe was previously located opposite the school, directly by the Lauter river.