After Count Casper von der Leyen allowed Jakob Levi, a Jew, to settle in Steinbach in 1728, a considerable Jewish community grew bit by bit in the village, which laid out its own graveyard and built a synagogue, not only for themselves but for worshippers from the surrounding area, too. It is not known in exactly what year the synagogue was built, but the Jewish Museum's information says that it was 1725. In 1825, Jews made up 29% of Steinbach's population; in Frutzweiler it was 6%. Before 1933, there were no tensions between Jews and Christians, but then came Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. On Kristallnacht (9–10 November 1938), SA thugs came to the village, destroyed the synagogue in Steinbach, ravaged several Jewish houses and devastated the Jewish graveyard.