David Mannheimer

David Mannheimer (born December 5, 1863 in König ; died August 19, 1919 in Bad Kissingen ) was a Grand Ducal Oldenburg state rabbi and field rabbi of the Imperial Navy in Wilhelmshaven .

Childhood, youth and education

Practically nothing is known about childhood and adolescence. His father was Mordechai Mannheimer; At that time there was a relatively strong Jewish community in König . David Mannheimer attended high school in Darmstadt . After rabbinical studies in Burgpreppach and Darmstadt, he attended the Breuer- Jeschiwa in Pápa in 1884/85 and studied philosophy in Vienna from 1885/86 , then in Berlin until 1888 . At the same time he attended the rabbinical seminary in Berlin, which he completed in 1889. He received his PhD in 1888 at the University of Halle Dr. phil. with the theme: The cosmogeny of the Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages from Saadjah to Maomonides .

In 1888/89 he taught at the religious school of the Adass Jisroel community in Berlin. From 1889 to 1891 he worked as a rabbi in Lauenburg in Pomerania .

State rabbi in the Grand Duchy and Free State of Oldenburg

In 1891 Mannheimer was elected regional rabbi in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg from among 32 candidates and received state appointment and appointment. He succeeded Jakob Glück (1876–1890), who after Leo Trepp was a “tragic figure” and in 1890 had to resign from his office. Due to its proximity to the naval base in Wilhelmshaven , Mannheimer was appointed field rabbi of the Imperial Navy on January 13, 1916 by the Imperial Naval Director with the approval of Grand Duke Friedrich August von Oldenburg.

Mannheimer's term of office saw the inauguration of the new synagogue in Oldenburg (Oldenburg) in 1905 and the recognition of the community of Rüstringen (today part of Wilhelmshaven ) as a separate community, which received a synagogue in 1915. The synagogue in Ovelgönne , however, had to be given up because the community had become too small.

Mannheimer was considered strictly Orthodox and therefore often came into conflict with liberal members of the municipalities in the state rabbinate. The dispute escalated at times to such an extent that Mannheimer intended to relocate the seat of the state rabbinate to Jever , an extremely religiously religious community. However, this was rejected by the Grand Ducal State Government, insisting that the State Rabbinate should be located in the capital of the Grand Duchy.

As a regional rabbi , Mannheimer was also the school inspector of the Jewish religious school, at that time Oldenburg, Peterstraße 6, and rabbi of the Jewish community in the city of Oldenburg .

First World War

As a staunch patriot , Mannheimer was also a member of the Central Welfare Office for those involved in the war and survivors of the war in the city of Oldenburg during the First World War and actively campaigned for the war loans to be carried out until the end of the war . In addition, he supported Russian-Jewish prisoners of war who worked in Oldenburg companies as far as possible. He also looked after Russian-Jewish prisoners of war in the Schwaneburger Moor prison camp near Friesoythe . B. through church services . As early as May 1915 he initiated a table of favors for the Jewish Oldenburg soldiers who had fallen in the war. This table contained a good twelve names. It burned on the evening of November 9, 1938 when the Oldenburg synagogue was destroyed by the Oldenburg SA during the November pogroms in 1938 .

Mannheimer was also active as a writer and was active in the fight against alcoholism . He was married to Mathilde, geb. Jaffé (born February 22, 1863) from Schwerin . In 1916 she was the head of the Israelite Women's Association in the city of Oldenburg. The couple had three sons, Max, Louis and Immanuel. Max Mannheimer, 23 years old, died on August 29, 1914 as a one-year volunteer sergeant of the Oldenburg Infantry Regiment No. 91 . After David Mannheimer's early death, whom Leo Trepp also attributes to the psychological stress caused by the conflict with his opponents in the Oldenburg community, Philipp de Haas (1884–1935) was his successor in 1921 .

His obituary in the Oldenburg press

The day after his death , an obituary appeared in the most important daily newspaper of the Free State of Oldenburg, the news for town and country :

State Rabbi Dr. Mannheimer †. The news arrives from Kissingen that the local rabbi Dr. Mannheimer, who was also the regional rabbi of the former duchy and a well-known personality, succumbed to the consequences of a kidnapped appendix operation. The man in his prime, well-working and very active, would have been predicted to have a longer life. He was only 56 years old. His passing tears a gap in the ranks of men active in the city's public life. Dr. Mannheimer showed interest in all charitable matters and always worked hard and with many suggestions in the service of the general public. He also showed a keen interest in all areas of art, and was no stranger to poetry and painting. We have repeatedly been able to bring samples of his skilful verses, and a large-scale drama has kept the circles involved very busy. His greatest successes were as a speaker. Not only in his profession, but also as a speaker on time-changing issues, in lectures of a scientific and cultural nature, and in discussing political and charitable plans, he was zealous and fully effective. While still in Kissingen, he gave a lecture in the lodge there. His picture-rich language and his warm feeling for the subject made him interesting to hear. His church has lost a lot in its pastor. The body is being transferred here. His funeral service in the synagogue is said to be dedicated to his memory. He made the arrangements for this himself in his will this spring. Heart problems had long worried him about his health. They came true all too quickly.

News for town and country (Oldenburg) of August 20, 1919, p. 2.

Tombstone

Gravestone of land rabbi David Mannheimer in the Jewish cemetery in Oldenburg ; Photo from 2012.

His gravestone bears the inscription (obverse): Land
rabbi
Dr David Mannheimer
TOMB OF THE GREAT AND RECOGNIZED
RAW, A RIGHT AND
Sincere JUSTIFIER OF THE MANY,
A PREDIGATOR OF ERAIGHTNESS.
MWHRR DAWID BEN H. CH. R. MORDECHAI
MANNHEIMER, NE
RAW OF KK OLDENBURG AND THE
LAND, JEA
DIFFERENT 23. MENACHEM
AW 679 LFK 0 WE'RE "BECAUSE THE
CROWN HAS FALLEN FROM OUR HEAD"!
AND OUR TEACHER AND
OUR MASTER LEFT
US! HIS BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGE
SHOWS KNOWLEDGE, AND HIS CONVERTED MANY
OF GUILT, HIS MERIT WILL DEFEND US
! FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION, HIS
MEMORIES SHOULD NOT
LEAVE OUR CENTER!
TNZBH

Back: Born
Dr David Mannheimer
Landrabbiner in Oldenburg
1891-1919
. on 25 Kislev 5623
d. 5679 at 23 from
the teachers they shine as the brightness of the
firmament and so many to duty
brought
like the stars forever and ever.
Dan. 12, 3.

Desecration of the grave

The grave of land rabbi Mannheimer was sprayed with a swastika and desecrated on the night of November 23rd to 24th, 2013.

Fonts

• Thomas Keller. Play in four acts. Oldenburg 1898.
• Psychological considerations on alcohol. Oldenburg 1909.
• The church and school conditions of the Jews in the Duchy of Oldenburg. In: Local history of the Duchy of Oldenburg. Volume 2. Oldenburg 1913, pp. 474-475.
• Sermon in honor of the centenary of the Infantry Regiment No. 91 on August 16, 1913. Oldenburg 1913.
• Poems and songs for the soldiers and wounded evenings in Oldenburg. 1915. 2nd edition. Berlin 1916.
• Education and character. Oldenburg 1917.
• Collection of laws concerning the Jews in the Duchy of Oldenburg. Edited on behalf of the Jewish State Community Council. Oldenburg 1918.

literature

• Leo Trepp : The state community of Jews in Oldenburg. The nucleus of Jewish life (1827–1938) and mirror of Jewish fate. Oldenburg 1965.
• Leo Trepp: The Oldenburg Jews. Oldenburg 1973.
• Enno Meyer: The Oldenburg State Rabbinate. In: The history of the Oldenburg Jews and their extermination. Oldenburg 1988, pp. 45-55.
• Harald Schieckel : Mannheimer, David. In: Hans Friedl u. a. (Ed.): Biographical manual for the history of the state of Oldenburg . Edited on behalf of the Oldenburg landscape. Isensee, Oldenburg 1992, ISBN 3-89442-135-5 , p. 434.
• Obituary from the David Mannheimer family for their son and brother Max Mannheimer in the news for town and country. Oldenburg, September 17, 1914.
• Esriel Hildesheimer, Mordechai Eliav: The Berlin Rabbinical Seminar 1873-1938. Berlin 2008, ISBN 9783938485460 , p. 185.

Web links

• Jewish service with Russian prisoners (regional rabbi Mannheimer) , location and time unknown
• Graves desecrated in the Jewish cemetery

Individual evidence

1. ^ Johannes Töllner: The Jewish cemeteries in the Oldenburger Land; Oldenburg 1983, page 400
2. ↑ Nordwest-Zeitung, No. 275, November 25, 2013