Jewish community of Buchau
The Jewish community of Bad Buchau existed from 1575/77 to 1942 in what is now Bad Buchau in the Biberach district in Upper Swabia .
History of the community
In 1382 a person of Jewish faith was recorded on the territory of the Buchau Free World Ladies' Monastery . The actual beginning of a Jewish community in Buchau can be assumed for the year 1575/77.
In 1665 the arrival of a Baruch Moses Einstein from the Jewish community of Wangen am See, today a suburb of Öhningen in the district of Constance , is documented. Hermann Einstein , Albert Einstein's father , was born in Buchau as one of his descendants .
The community reached the highest number of residents with 828 people, making it the second largest Jewish community in the Kingdom of Württemberg after the Jewish community of Laupheim .
The old synagogue on the corner of Judengasse and Schussenrieder Strasse, which had existed since 1730/31, had become too small in the 1830s, so a new synagogue was planned at the corner of Hofgarten and Schussenrieder Strasse.
The Jewish cemetery was laid out in 1659 and has been preserved to this day.
Synagogue 1839–1938
Before the construction of the first synagogue, there were prayer rooms in Buchau at Schustergasse 7, then at Schussenrieder Strasse 6 and finally at Judengasse 6. The Jews in Buchau were respected citizens and, according to the legal equality with the Christian residents of the imperial city, had a significant share the industrialization of what was once the smallest and poorest imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire .
At the inauguration of the synagogue on August 30, 1839, the then King Wilhelm I was present and donated 1,000 gulden in addition to the patrimonial lord, the Prince of Thurn und Taxis , after he had already donated 800 gulden in the run-up to the construction. A heated dispute broke out within the Jewish community about the roof turret with bell, carillon and tower clock from 1854.
End of the parish
On the night of November 9-10 , 1938 , an SA troop from Ochsenhausen started a fire. However, the fire brigade and the population of Buchau, including the then mayor Öchsle, were able to put out the fire quickly. Another fire was started the following night. The fire brigade was not allowed to extinguish and was only allowed to protect the surrounding houses. The synagogue burned down completely. In the previous days, the arsonists had removed the valuable items. The Buchau synagogue was blown up on November 18, 1938 by Wehrmacht pioneers from Ulm. With the deportations in 1942, Jewish life in Buchau died out.
Of the 162 Jewish residents living in Buchau in 1933, at least 56 were murdered in the concentration camps of the Nazi regime.
literature
- Paul Sauer : The Jewish communities in Württemberg and Hohenzollern. Monuments, history, fates . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1966 ( Publications of the Baden-Württemberg State Archives Administration . Volume 18)
