History of the Jews in Falkenstein / Vogtl.

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Falkenstein is a small mining town in Vogtland and was founded in the 13th century. Until 1854, the Saxon mining regulations of 1589 applied, according to which Jews were not allowed to stay in places where ore was mined. It was not until the Falkensteiner Mining Authority was abolished in 1854, the law of freedom of movement of 1867 and the permission to found a Jewish religious community allowed the immigration of Jews from 1870.

History of the Jews

Mourning hall at the Jewish cemetery in Plauen-Kauschwitz
Jewish war memorial in Plauen-Kauschwitz (First World War)
Memorial to the persecuted and murdered Jews of the Vogtland in Plauen-Kauschwitz (1933–1945)

Max Bornstein was the first Jew to settle in Falkenstein in 1886 and his family soon followed suit. In 1895 15 Jews lived in Falkenstein. 15 years later, their number had more than doubled, and so the first prayer room in the city was finally set up in 1911 .

The young Jewish religious community in Falkenstein belonged to the Israelite religious community of Plauen . Thus the cemetery for the Falkensteiner Jewish faith is also in Plauen. At the First World War also Falkensteiner Jews participated. So received z. B. Willy Bornstein and Ludwig Gampel the Iron Cross.

In 1919 59 more Jews moved to Falkenstein. According to nationality, these were Germans, Poles, Russians, Romanians, Dutch and stateless Jews. As a result of the immigration, there were disputes between the “established” and the newly immigrated Jews, so that at times there were two prayer rooms in Falkenstein. In the following census in 1933, 78 people of Jewish faith were counted. They included several business owners in the apparel, department stores, and radio industries. There was also a Jewish doctor, a lawyer and a religion teacher. However, the main part consisted of laborers, traders and peddlers.

After the seizure of power of the Nazis in Germany, the Jewish citizens Falkenstein were exposed to the same reprisals as everywhere in the German Reich . As early as 1933, the local SA launched a boycott of Jewish shops . In addition, in 1936 the city's population was officially called upon by the then mayor, Hans Lenk, to boycott Jewish shops. In 1938, 18 Jews (five families) had to leave Falkenstein as part of the deportation from Poland and were then deported to Poland . While there were 51 Jews in Falkenstein at the beginning of 1937, there were only eight in 1940. On March 5, 1942, all Jews still in Falkenstein were temporarily transferred to a ghetto house in Plauen (Vogtl.) And then deported . The further fate of the persecuted and murdered Falkensteiner Jews in the Shoah is largely unexplored to this day.

Development of the Jewish population (1890–1953)

  • 1890: 7
  • 1895: 15
  • 1900: 17
  • 1905: 30
  • 1910: 36
  • 1933: 78 (approx. 20 families)
  • 1937: 45 (approx. 13 families)
  • 1940: 8
  • 1942: 0
Data source: Ralph Ide: On the history of the Jews in Falkenstein , Falkenstein 2004

After the end of the war ten Jews returned, but they only stayed in Falkenstein until 1953.

Projects on Jewish life in Falkenstein

In September 2003, the city of Falkenstein, with the special participation of Ralph Ide, Ralf Bachmann and Martina Wohlgemuth, organized an exhibition entitled "Jews in Falkenstein" at the Trützschler secondary school in Falkenstein.

In 2006 Ralf Bachmann, a grandson of Max Bornstein, published the book "The Bornsteins" in Falkenstein.

literature

  • Ralf Bachmann: The Bornsteins. A German-Jewish family history , Sax Verlag Beucha, Markkleeberg 2006, ISBN 3-934544-86-X .
  • Fritz Groh: Chronicle of the City of Falkenstein , published by the City of Falkenstein, Falkenstein 1998.
  • Ralph Ide: On the history of the Jews in Falkenstein , published by the city of Falkenstein, Falkenstein 2004.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Ralph Ide: On the history of the Jews in Falkenstein , Falkenstein 2004, p. 3.
  2. ↑ Ralf Bachmann: The Bornsteins. A German-Jewish family history , Markkleeberg 2006, p. 8.
  3. ↑ Ralph Ide: On the history of the Jews in Falkenstein , Falkenstein 2004, p. 36.
  4. ↑ a b c d Ralph Ide: On the history of the Jews in Falkenstein , Falkenstein 2004, p. 4.
  5. ↑ Ralph Ide: On the history of the Jews in Falkenstein , Falkenstein 2004, p. 22.
  6. ↑ On the history of the Jews in Falkenstein, p. 38.
  7. ↑ Ralph Ide: On the history of the Jews in Falkenstein , Falkenstein 2004, p. 39.
  8. ↑ Ralph Ide: On the history of the Jews in Falkenstein , Falkenstein 2004, p. 1.
  9. ↑ Ralf Bachmann: The Bornsteins. A German-Jewish family history , Markkleeberg 2006, p. 1.