Jewish community of Eschenau

A Jewish community in Eschenau , a district of Obersulm in the Heilbronn district in northern Baden-Württemberg , has existed as far back as the 17th century, especially from the 18th century, according to evidence of individual Jews. From 1832 the community was initially a subsidiary of the Jewish community in Affaltrach , later a separate community with a subsidiary in Öhringen , had its own synagogue and had its largest number of members around 1850, which, however, fell noticeably in the late 19th century due to emigration and emigration. The community became extinct during the National Socialist era . In 1941/42, over 100 older Jews were quartered at Eschenau Castle before they were deported to concentration camps in the course of the deportation of German Jews .

history

After there were only isolated references to Jews in the town of Eschenau, which belonged to various imperial knight families, in 1658, 1672 and 1680, a larger Jewish community only developed in the course of the 18th century. The Eschenau Jews first visited the old synagogue in the neighboring village of Affaltrach , where they were buried in the Affaltrach Jewish cemetery there. The relationship between Eschenau and Affaltrach Jews was always tense, however, and there were numerous disputes in which the respective local authorities became involved. In 1795 the Jewish community in Eschenau acquired a garden plot in Reitgasse (today: Treutlingerstr. 9) to build their own Eschenau synagogue , which was completed in 1797 and had a small cantor's apartment next to the synagogue room and a mikveh (ritual immersion bath) in the basement. The building also temporarily served as an Israelite denominational school.

In 1807 55 Jews lived in Eschenau, and the community grew to 115 people by 1845. When the Israelite religious communities were reorganized in 1832, Eschenau came to the Lehrensteinsfeld district rabbinate as a branch of Affaltrach , which led to renewed disputes, as the need for an expensive new synagogue began to emerge in Affaltrach, which the Eschenau community should have helped to finance. The Eschenau parish received the right to its own branch church services in 1834 and was finally released from Affaltrach in 1849/50. Eschenau then became an independent Israelite religious community, to which for a while in the second half of the 19th century the Jewish community of Öhringen , which was newly formed in 1869 , was assigned as a branch. In the area of ​​the Israelite denominational school , however, there was cooperation with Affaltrach by running a joint school from 1880, which was based in Eschenau until 1887.

The size of the community declined steadily from the middle of the 19th century due to emigration and emigration. In 1869 there were 81 Jews in the Eschenau community, 19 in 1900 and seven in 1933. The synagogue was sold in 1904 after the denominational schools were closed around 1900.

National Socialist Persecution

After a Jewish woman died in 1934 and a family of five emigrated in 1936, the last Eschenau Jewish woman was deported to Riga in 1941 as part of the deportation of German Jews . In 1941/42, over 100 older Jews, mostly from Stuttgart, were quartered in Eschenau Castle , from where most of them later also fell victim to deportation. Eleven of these people died before the deportation in Eschenau and were buried in the Jewish cemetery in Affaltrach.

The memorial book of the Federal Archives lists 11 Jewish citizens born in Eschenau who fell victim to the genocide of the National Socialist regime .

Common names

When all Jews in Württemberg had to accept hereditary family names in 1828, the 23 heads of the Eschenau Jews took the following names: Rosenberg (5), Ullmann (4), Neumann (3), Gronauer (2), Bamberger (1), Berliner (1 ), Calmann (1), Edlinger (1), Falk (1), Falkenauer (1), Lindner (1), Löwenstein (1), and Rotschild (1).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Commemorative Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933 - 1945 . Retrieved October 29, 2009.

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)