Dear Diana,

The website alemannia-judaica.de cites the article from
"The Encyclopedia of Jewish life Before and During the Holocaust" (First
published in 2001 by New York University Press; Copyright 2001 by
Yad Vashem Jerusalem, Israel) as follows:

"Altenkunstadt, Upper Franconia - Jews were present >from the 15th
century. Their houses were destroyed during the peasant riots of 1699.
A synagogue was built in 1726 (replaced in 1822) and a Jewish public
school was opened in 1869. The Jewish population declined sharply from
400 in 1837 to 112 (total 1.288) in 1880 and subsequently to 28 in
1933. The interior of the synagogue was destroyed on Kristallnacht
(9-10 November 1938). In 1937-39, 12 Jews left the town, nine to other
German cities and three to the United States. Thirteen were expelled
to Izbica in the Lublin district of Poland on 25 April 1942."

It should be added: one male Jew and his daughter survived in
Altenkunstadt. The building of the former synagogue was entirely
restored in the years 1989 to 1993 and is used as a museum and
cultural centre for encounter.

The nearest Jewish orphanage was the one in Fuerth (Furth with
umlaut), of which the files are stored at the Central Archives for the
History of the Jewish People, Jerusalem, DFu2.

The finding aid published in form of a PDF file at:
http://cahjp.huji.ac.il/webfm_send/469
contains a list of personal files of the alumni or children.
The fact that your GGfather Bernhard HAHN is not listed doesn't mean,
he wasn't orphaned there, but that there is no file for him.

You mentioned the maiden name of your GGmother HELLMANN. You can take it
as an example: there is a file of Karl HELLMANN >from Altenkunstadt >from 1908.

I hope this information will help. In general I thought it should
be mentioned for all who are interested in Altenkunstadt or in
Franconian Jews or in Jewish orphanages.

Dr. Ekkehard Huebschmann, professional genealogist, Harsdorf / Upper
Franconia Germany www.geepeetee.de <info@agfjg.de>