By 1933, the number of Jews in Speyer had fallen to 269, and by the time their synagogue was torched in the November pogroms of 1938 (Kristallnacht) there were only 81 left. In the night of 9 November, SA and SS troops looted the synagogue on Heydenreichstraße, taking away the library, precious cloths, carpets and ritual utensils and setting the building alight. The firemen only kept an eye on the neighbouring buildings. Along with the synagogue the Jews also lost their school. The same night the Jewish cemetery was also vandalized. The debris of the synagogue was removed in the following days, which was billed to the Jewish community. A member of the community supplied a prayer room in his house on Herdstraße. The city later used this house as a storage for furniture left behind by deported Jews.