Jewish community Altenkirchen (Westerwald)
The Jewish community in Altenkirchen ( Altenkirchen district , Rhineland-Palatinate ) was probably established in the 17th century when protective Jews settled in the county of Sayn-Altenkirchen . The community had its own Jewish cemetery in Altenkirchen and, from 1884, a synagogue with 120 seats. The Jewish community went out in the wake of German Jews deported in the Nazi era .
History until 1933
Around ten Jewish families are said to have lived in Altenkirchen in the 16th century. In 1648, however, the Jewish residents were faced with the choice of either being baptized and accepting the Christian faith or moving out of the city. Three families then accepted the baptism, the others moved from the city.
The Jewish community in Altenkirchen was probably formed in the 17th century when protective Jews settled in the county: the letter of protection - also known as the letter of safe conduct - was a contract between the Jew and the sovereign , in Altenkirchen the sovereigns of the county of Sayn-Altenkirchen. A first Jewish family was mentioned in Altenkirchen on January 2, 1684, "which must have been the family of David Baruch." Jewish residents are then documented for the years 1742 and 1746/1747. The Altenkirchen protective Jew Callmann David had to pay 8 Reichstaler annually . In return he was allowed to trade and practice his religion. The Jews in the surrounding villages also had to purchase a letter of protection: There were Jewish families in Almersbach , Amteroth and Mehren . These Jewish families were considered particularly poor. In 1742 a total of five Jewish families lived in the Altenkirchen district.
The establishment of the Jewish cemetery on Kumpstrasse in Altenkirchen is documented from 1780. In 1799, when asked to the city council, six families were named with 32 people, most of whom lived from the cattle trade or "ellen trade". In 1852 a total of 86 Jews lived in twelve households in and around Altenkirchen. In 1855 64% of the Jews lived in the city.
The Prussian district government of Koblenz in the Rhine province tried to combine the small synagogue communities into larger units on the basis of the Prussian Jewish edict . It was intended to amalgamate all communities in the Altenkirchen district , against which the community in Hamm and Wissen defended itself. So it came to the creation of the two synagogue communities Hamm and Altenkirchen, which also included Schöneberg and Mehren.
The Jewish population increasingly concentrated on the city as the center of trade and commerce in the lower district. In 1937 there were seven cattle dealers in the city who had moved into the city from villages. “In addition to the cattle dealers, four butchers lived in Altenkirchen; there was also a large department store (Grünebaum) for textiles, two manufacturing shops, a carpet wholesaler, a shoe shop, a master tailor, a seamstress and a photographer. A Jewish doctor and a Jewish teacher also lived in the city. In addition to the people who ran a trade, there were also Jewish-German employees at the municipal authorities until 1933, for example at the then district economic office. "
In 1880 there were 14 families in Altenkirchen, 36 in the surrounding villages including Flammersfeld , Weyerbusch , Schöneberg, Mehren and Hilgenroth . This fulfilled the condition for the formation of a religious community with its own synagogue. Before that, the community had its own school in the Herchet house on Kölner Strasse for several years. In 1879 a new building could be built in Koblenz after the approval of the Upper President of the Rhine Province . After almost two years of construction, the inauguration took place in May 1884. The synagogue offered space for around 120 people. Above the portal were law panels attached. Inside stood the Torah shrine, which was made in the workshop of Apollinar Hallerbach in Niedermühlen in 1887 . In front of the shrine was the desk of the prayer leader ( cantor ) and the teacher's office. The Jewish children attended the local elementary school , in the "Judenschule" only religious instruction was held. The Jewish population reached its peak with 192 citizens in 1885, after which the increasing rural exodus also reduced the population in Altenkirchen.
In addition to the synagogue, the Jewish community had a school, a ritual bath and a cemetery. A teacher was employed to take care of religious tasks for the community, who was also active as a prayer leader and schochet . The most important personality among the teachers was Jakob Salomon, (* 1846 in Dierdorf ), who had been a teacher in Altenkirchen since 1868, where he celebrated his 25th anniversary in 1893 and his 50th anniversary in 1918. Jakob Salomon died on October 12, 1936 in Nastatten. At Jewish associations there were the men's Chewra (founded in 1875, 1924 under the direction of Max Abraham with 20 members, 1932 under the direction of William Salomon with 22 members; their purpose was to support local residents in need) and the women's Chewra (founded in 1866, 1924/32 under the direction of Frieda Königheim with 20/23 members). In the school year 1931/32, teacher Jakob Salomon gave religious instruction to five children in the community.
National Socialist Persecution
In 1933 there were still 64 Jews from Altenkirchen. In particular, the withdrawal of their trade permit in 1936 forced many of them to emigrate. In November 1938, the synagogue in Altenkirchen was destroyed during the so-called Reichspogromnacht . The Jews then had to help clean up under supervision. A commemorative plaque in front of the former square commemorates the Jewish place of worship - embedded in the sidewalk on Frankfurter Straße - there is now a parking lot at the site of the former synagogue.
Coming to terms with the National Socialist past and memorials
An initiative group to erect a memorial to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the destruction of the Altenkirchen synagogue came into being in 1977 after the Altenkirchen city council had unanimously decided in October 1976 that the troop comrades of the 9th SS Panzer Division "Hohenstaufen" , which met regularly in Altenkirchen, was able to erect a memorial in memory of their comrades who died in World War II . This city council resolution caused outrage across Europe at the time, and in order to avert greater damage to the district town, those responsible for the comradeship withdrew their application in January 1977.
The statement of then by Erwin Wortelkamp created flames times in 1978 kindled a controversy in the city, as the city council rejected a placement as part of the redesign of the Schlossplatz. The Protestant parish in Altenkirchen then offered the initiative group an alternative location. In 1979, due to public pressure, the city council decided to put a memorial plaque on the memorial to commemorate those fellow citizens who were "persecuted, desecrated, murdered or expelled for political or racial reasons." On the day of memorial in 1980, the plaque was unveiled however, did not mention the Jewish fellow citizens by name. Only an additional plaque installed in 1990 mentions the names of the murdered German-Jewish citizens of Altenkirchen.
Today we remember the former Jewish community in Altenkirchen and the surrounding villages before 1933
- the Jewish cemetery Altenkirchen at the end of the settlement on Kumpstrasse,
- the memorial ( "Flammenmal" ) created in 1978 by Erwin Wortelkamp and erected on November 9, 1978 on the square in front of the Evangelical Church; "The floor slab has the shape of the floor plan of the Altenkirchen synagogue, bundles of flames are reminiscent of the Hebrew characters and are intended to make it clear that fire destroys a building."
- the memorial plaque erected on November 9, 1988 by the city, Protestant and Catholic parish of Altenkirchen at the location of the former synagogue in Frankfurter Strasse, where a vigil takes place every year on November 9,
- a memorial plaque installed in 1990 to commemorate the Jewish fellow citizens, which is located at the memorial (the former "war memorial" "Auf dem Dorn" ).
See also
→ Synagogue Altenkirchen (Westerwald)
literature
- Klaus-Dieter Alicke: Lexicon of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area. 3 volumes. Gütersloher Verlagshaus , Gütersloh 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-08035-2 . ( Online edition )
- Eckhard Hanke: Jews in Altenkirchen up to the beginning of the 20th century . In: Margret Stolze / Heinz Krämer / Eckhard Hanke: Jews in Altenkirchen - History - Memories - Fates . Evangelical parish and city of Altenkirchen, Altenkirchen 2000, ISBN 3-9801596-2-0 .
- Joachim Jölsch / Uli Jungbluth (eds.): Jews in the Westerwald. Life, suffering and remembrance . Montabaur 1998, ( Workshop articles on the Westerwald , Vol. 6, ZDB -ID 2288365-4 ).
- Pedagogical Center of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate: Jews in Altenkirchen . Pedagogical Center of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, Bad Kreuznach 1988, ( PZ-Information , 1988, Issue 5, ISSN 0173-7570 )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Bartolosch, in: PZ information Jews in Altenkirchen . He quotes the regional historian Günter Heuzeroth (Jewish-German fellow citizen of our homeland, 1978).
- ↑ Quoted from Jungbluth. In: Heimat-Jahrbuch des Kreis Altenkirchen 2000, after Hanke, p. 15.
- ↑ Cf. E. Hanke, p. 15. He cites research by the historian Thomas Bartolosch, according to which "the Jew Callman David (Calm) lived in the city in 1742 and had been resident there for over 30 years".
- ↑ See Hanke, p. 20.
- ^ Blohm: Jewish businesses in Altenkirchen .
- ↑ Information on the synagogue and the life of the Jewish community at alemannia-judaica.de .
- ↑ Quoted from Hanke memorials in Altenkirchen. In: Hanke / Stolze / Krämer, 2000, p. 75.
