Jewish community in Alsenz
A Jewish community in Alsenz , a local community in the Donnersbergkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate , had existed since the 17th century.
history
In 1650 two Jewish families are mentioned for the first time on site. But there was already a Judengasse before the Thirty Years War , which suggests that there was a Jewish community . In the 18th century, the Jewish families lived mainly from the cattle and grain trade or were moneylenders. In 1861 a Jewish resident was elected to the local council.
The Jewish community in Alsenz owned a synagogue (the building is still standing today), a Jewish school, a ritual bath ( mikveh ) and a cemetery . The Jewish elementary and denominational school existed from 1830 to 1926. The Jewish community Alsenz belonged to the district rabbinate of Kaiserslautern .
Community development
| year | Parishioners |
|---|---|
| 1731 | 22 families |
| 1762 | 17 families |
| 1801 | 53 people, 5.3% of the population |
| 1825 | 97 people, 7.5% of the population |
| 1846 | 102 people |
| 1865 | 81 people |
| 1900 | 60 people |
| 1924 | 29 people, 1.6% of the population |
| 1933 | 9 people |
| 1939 | 5 people |
time of the nationalsocialism
The two houses inhabited by Jewish families were devastated during the November pogrom in 1938 . In October 1940 the last five Jewish residents were deported to Gurs as part of the so-called Wagner-Bürckel campaign . Two of them died in Gurs and two were murdered in Auschwitz .
The memorial book of the Federal Archives lists 12 Jewish citizens born in Alsenz who fell victim to the genocide of the National Socialist regime .
literature
- Klaus-Dieter Alicke: Lexicon of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area. Volume 1: Aach - Groß-Bieberau. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-08077-2 ( online edition ).
- Stefan Fischbach, Ingrid Westerhoff: "... and this is the gate of heaven". Synagogues in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland . Published by the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate , State Conservatory Office of the Saarland, Synagogue Memorial Jerusalem. Verlag Philipp von Zabern , Mainz 2005, ISBN 3-8053-3313-7 , ( Memorial Book of Synagogues in Germany 2), pp. 69–72.
Web links
- To the Jewish community of Alsenz near Alemannia Judaica (with many photos of the synagogue)
- Geniza project Alsenz at the University of Mainz