Affaltrach Jewish community

A Jewish community in Affaltrach , a district of Obersulm in the Heilbronn district in northern Baden-Württemberg, has existed as far back as the 16th century, especially from the 18th century, according to evidence of individual Jews. The community had its largest number of members around 1850, declined noticeably in the late 19th century due to emigration and emigration and died out during the National Socialist era . The Affaltrach Jewish cemetery served as a burial place for Jews from Affaltrach and other surrounding Jewish communities from around 1670 to 1942. A museum on the history of the Jews in the district and city of Heilbronn has been set up in the Affaltrach synagogue .

history

Synagogue in Affaltrach, built in 1851

The Bernhard Levi family around 1900 in front of a sukkah set up for the festival of tabernacles

Affaltrach Jewish cemetery, laid out around 1670

Affaltrach was owned by Württemberg and the Kommende Schwäbisch Hall of the Order of St. John in the 16th century . The oldest evidence of individual Jews in the village comes from 1588. After the Thirty Years' War , the Order of St. John in particular settled protective Jews . Around 1670 the Affaltrach Jewish cemetery was created for the Jews from Affaltrach and several other places. Between 1683 and 1696 there were three or four Jewish families in the village. After 1700 the community grew steadily. In 1720 there were seven families, in 1733 there were twelve and in 1749 there were 17 families, some of which already owned houses and land, including the former Catholic rectory, which was owned by Lew Gutkind in 1737. A synagogue is mentioned as early as 1701, which was in the house of Lemble Lew in Unteren Gasse in 1737 . The Jewish community also maintained a hostel for destitute and transit Jews. From the 1750s to 1797 there was a connection with the neighboring Jewish community of Eschenau (Eschenau is also part of Obersulm today), which shared the Affaltrach synagogue until the synagogue was built in Eschenau in 1797. However, the relationship between Affaltracher and Eschenau Jews was marked by protracted disputes.

In 1806 there were 110 Jewish residents in Affaltrach, and their number rose to just under 200 by 1850. When the Israelite religious communities in Württemberg were reorganized in 1832, the Eschenau community became a branch of the Affaltrach community, which in turn was assigned to the Lehrensteinsfeld rabbinate . However, the renewed connection with Eschenau caused another dispute, especially in the run-up to the planned new synagogue in Affaltrach, so that the Eschenau Jews were initially allowed a provisional branch service and the connection with Affaltrach was broken again in 1849/50. In the area of ​​the Israelite denominational school , which had existed in Affaltrach since 1849, a collaboration with Eschenau took place from 1880 until it was dissolved around 1900.

The old synagogue in Affaltrach was expanded again from 1820 to 1824, but it was already in danger of collapsing in 1836 and was closed in 1844 due to dilapidation. After long delays, among other things because of the building cost situation, the revolutionary unrest in 1848 and the disputes with the Eschenau Jewish community, the Affaltrach synagogue was rebuilt in 1851 , which offered space for a synagogue room, a Jewish school and a teacher's apartment under one roof. The stately building represents the size of the Jewish community, which at the time of its construction had already reached its largest community size with almost 200 people. As a result of emigration and emigration, the size of the community fell rapidly in the second half of the 19th century. In 1869 151 Jews were counted, in 1886 there were 79, in 1900 59 and in 1933 19 Jewish residents. Due to the decline in the size of the community, the Jewish denominational school was given up in 1904/05. In 1910, the Jewish community in Affaltrach and the Jewish community in Lehrensteinsfeld appointed a joint cantor who had his seat in Lehrensteinsfeld. In 1911 there was a common prayer leader for the parishes in Affaltrach, Lehrensteinsfeld, Oedheim and Kochendorf . From 1917, regular services were no longer held in the Affaltrach synagogue, as the number of local believers required for a service was often no longer reached because of the Jewish men who had been drafted into the military. In the 1920s, there were occasional regular church services again, but these soon became rare again due to the continuing decline in the size of the congregation.

In the time of National Socialism, the few Jews still living in Affaltrach had to endure the usual reprisals. During the Reichspogromnacht from November 9th to 10th 1938 - at that time eleven Jews were still living in Affaltrach - the synagogue building was partially devastated. The building escaped its complete destruction as one of the apartments was occupied by a non-Jewish family. On November 15, 1938, the last Jewish business in Affaltrach, the Levi brothers trousseau and fabric business, was closed. One of the owners, former councilor Heinrich Levi, died in 1937. In May 1939, when the Jewish apartments were forcibly evacuated, the remaining Jews living in Affaltrach, consisting of two families of three and a single woman, were assigned to his brother Hugo for accommodation. In the course of the deportation of German Jews , the community was wiped out by 1941.

Community development

year	Parishioners
1689	4 families
1720	7 families
1749	17 families
1806	110 people
1813	83 people
1828	135 people
1845	170 people
1854	190 people
1869	151 people
1886	79 people
1900	59 people
1933	19 people
1938	11 people

Common names

When all Jews in Württemberg had to accept hereditary family names in 1829, the 29 heads of the Affaltrach Jews took the following names: Lazarus (5), Kahn (4), Gutkind (3), Kaufmann (3), Beriz (2) and one each Ferth (Fürth), Forchheimer, Groß, Grünwald, Krailsheimer, Levy, Strauss, Thalheimer, Ullmann and Wolf.

Personalities

Well-known Jews from Affaltrach include the siblings Bertha Thalheimer (1883–1959) and August Thalheimer (1884–1948), both of whom were communist politicians, as well as the art collector Adolph Grünwald (1840–1925).

National Socialist Persecution

The November pogroms of 1938 led to riots against Jewish residents and their houses and institutions. In the course of the deportation of German Jews between 1941 and 1943, four Affaltrach Jews were killed, and another Jew from Affaltrach was the victim of the euthanasia murders in the Grafeneck Castle killing center in 1941 . The synagogue came into the possession of the Reich Association of Jews in Germany in 1941 and in 1942 into the possession of the Affaltrach community.

The memorial book of the Federal Archives lists 18 Jewish citizens born in Affaltrach who fell victim to the genocide of the National Socialist regime .

literature

• Wolfram Angerbauer , Hans Georg Frank: Jewish communities in the district and city of Heilbronn. History, fates, documents . District of Heilbronn, Heilbronn 1986 ( series of publications of the district of Heilbronn . Volume 1)
• Martin Ritter: The synagogue in Affaltrach . Friends of the former synagogue Affaltrach eV, Obersulm 2001 ( Friends of the former synagogue Affaltrach eV, Volume 4)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Commemorative Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933 - 1945 . Retrieved June 18, 2009.