In January 1939 the authorities forced the district rabbi of Würzburg, Rabbi Dr. Sigmund (Shimon) Hanover, who had meanwhile been detained in a concentration camp, to leave Germany. He was succeeded in office by Rabbi Dr. Magnus (Menachem) Weinberg, who was to be the last rabbi of the community in Würzburg before its destruction.
In September 1941 the Jews of Germany were made to wear the "yellow badge" on their clothes; all Jews from the age of six were to wear a yellow star on their outer garments. In October 1941 Jews were prohibited from crossing the Reich borders, and November 1941 was the first occasion on which Jews from Würzburg were deported to Riga.
At the beginning of 1942 the authorities dictated that all Jewish apartments in Würzburg be vacated. Their owners were concentrated in the buildings of the Jewish cemetery, under extremely crowded conditions and without any privacy: families were quartered in the mourning room, the eulogy chamber, the prayer room and the guard room, and several families were also placed on the second floor.
