Bergzabern Jewish Community
The Bergzabern Jewish community in Bergzabern existed until the November pogroms in 1938 . She belonged to the district rabbinate Landau .
history
The first documentary mention of Jewish residents in Bergzabern comes from 1344. It is a mortgage bond with a loan of 6,500 pounds sterling. Walram II of Zweibrücken pledged Bergzabern to Jakob Daniels from Trier and Vivelin from Strasbourg . It can be assumed that the Jewish inhabitants of Bergzabern fell victim to the plague pogroms between 1348 and 1351. A new settlement did not take place until the 17th century. Duke Johann II von Pfalz-Zweibrücken , who was born in Bergzabern, issued letters of protection to some Jews , which enabled them to settle in Bergzabern. They lived in Judengasse and Torgasse. In the course of the 18th century, more and more members of the Jewish religious community were allowed to settle in the Duchy of Pfalz-Zweibrücken , to which Bergzabern belonged, as protective Jews . This privilege was given predominantly to wealthy Jewish families. Macholy from Bergzabern (1714) and Itzig from Bergzabern (1740), two members of the Jewish community born in Bergzabern, held the office of Jewish high school in the Duchy of Pfalz-Zweibrücken. 1791, the French conceded National Assembly every living in France member of the Jewish community the status of a citizen ( citoyen one). This also gave the Jewish citizens of Bergzabern, which had belonged to France since the French Revolution , full civil rights. In the course of the introduction of the Consistoire central israélite in 1808 by Napoleon Bonaparte , however, these were again restricted in the area of trade and economic activities. In 1816 the Palatinate fell to the Kingdom of Bavaria , which further restricted the rights of Jewish citizens. It was not until 1851 that these restrictions were lifted. The Jewish community belonged to the Landau district rabbinate created in 1828. The number of members of the Jewish community in Bergzabern increased steadily until the second third of the 19th century. In 1880 there was a wave of emigration, mainly to the United States . This meant that the number of Jewish residents of Bergzabern also fell sharply. After the Jewish community of Pleisweiler was dissolved at the beginning of the 19th century, its members belonged to the Jewish community of Bergzabern. In the First World War, three members of the Jewish community fell. A name plaque in the synagogue, which was destroyed in 1938, commemorated her. The first anti-Semitic actions by members of the NSDAP against Jewish residents of Bergzabern took place as early as the late 1920s . From 1933, after the seizure of power of Adolf Hitler , the Jewish inhabitants were increasingly disenfranchised. In addition, there were repeated anti-Jewish actions. As early as 1935, the Bergzabern municipal council passed a resolution that severely restricted the rights of Jewish residents. However, since there was no legal basis at this point in time, this decision did not become final. During the November pogroms of 1938 there were massive riots against the Jewish residents, during which the synagogue was also destroyed. The male members of the Jewish community were arrested and four members were deported to the Dachau concentration camp . All Jewish residents had to leave Bergzabern, but could return by order of the responsible authorities. With the exception of four Jewish residents, all remaining Jewish residents subsequently left Bergzabern. Some of them managed to immigrate to the United States. In October 1940 the last remaining Jewish residents were deported to the French internment camp Gurs as part of the so-called Wagner-Bürckel campaign .
Development of the Jewish population
| year | Jews | Jewish families | comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1625 | 10 | ||
| 1680 | 22nd | ||
| 1681 | 6th | ||
| 1770 | 6th | ||
| 1839 | 18th | ||
| 1848 | 107 | ||
| 1850 | 106 | 21st | |
| 1875 | 108 | ||
| 1880 | 123 | ||
| 1900 | 81 | 4.5 percent of the population | |
| 1932 | 43 | ||
| 1936 | 37 | ||
| 1938 | 22nd | ||
| September 1940 | 3/4 | The sources give different numbers here. |
Source: alemannia-judaica.de; jewische-gemeinden.de
The memorial book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny 1933–1945 and the Central Database of the Names of the Holocaust Victims of Yad Vashem list 26 members of the Bergzabern Jewish community (who were born there or temporarily lived there) who were during the National Socialist era were murdered.
Facilities
synagogue
The synagogue in Bad Bergzabern was set up in the Neugasse in 1848/49, in an 18th century hospice of the Capuchin order. The synagogue was devastated during the November pogroms in 1938 and torn down a few days later. At the place where the synagogue stood, there is now a memorial plaque in the floor.
graveyard
In total, three different cemeteries were used by the Jewish community during its existence. From the 17th century, the deceased were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Annweiler . From the 19th century, the Jewish cemetery in Ingenheim and the Jewish cemetery in Busenberg were used.
school
The community had its own Jewish school, which was a Jewish elementary school from 1837 until its closure in 1915 . From 1870 the school received state funding. The community employed a total of five teachers from 1837 to 1915 who also took on the duties of prayer and shochet . The school building was on the corner of Kettengasse and Neugasse.
literature
- Cilli Kasper-Holtkatte: Jews on the move. On the social history of a minority in the Saar-Mosel area around 1800. In: Helmut Castritius (Ed.), Alfred Haverkamp (Ed.), Franz Irsigler (Ed.), Stefi Jersch-Wenzel (Ed.): Research on the history of the Jews (= Research on the history of the Jews. Volume 3). Hahnsche Buchhandlung Verlag, Hanover 1996, ISBN 978-3775256124 . ( online )
- Günther Volz: Jewish life in the city of Bergzabern from the 14th to the 20th century. In: Publications of the historical association Bad Bergzabern . Historical Association of the Palatinate, Bad Bergzabern 2013.
Individual evidence
- ^ Alfred Haverkamp (ed.), Jörg R. Müller (ed.): Sources on the history of the Jews in Alsace (1273-1347) EL01, No. 278 . University of Trier. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
- ↑ The French period . uedisches-leben-in-ingenheim.de. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
- ↑ a b Bad Bergzabern . alemannia-judaica.de. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
- ↑ a b Bad Bergzabern / Weinstrasse . jewische-gemeinden.de. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
- ↑ Commemorative Book Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933–1945 . Federal Archives. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
- ^ Central database of the names of Holocaust victims . Yad Vashem - International Holocaust Memorial. Retrieved April 10, 2020.