Jewish community Frankenau
The Jewish community of Frankenau in Frankenau in the north Hessian district of Waldeck-Frankenberg existed from the 17th century until 1938/39.
Community development until 1933
Jewish residents are first recorded in the small town in 1659, when the " protective Jew " Moses (or Moyses, Moises) and two family members are declared. It was not until 1671 that the Frankenberg district's Jewish specifications recorded a second Jewish family in the area. Gradual growth began in the 18th century, and in 1785 seven “Guardian Jews” (mostly with families) are named. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the number of Jewish residents developed as follows:
| year | Residents, total |
Jewish residents |
Share in percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1827 | 920 | 22nd | 2.4% |
| 1837 | ... | 34 | ...% |
| 1861 | 1,065 | 40 | 3.8% |
| 1871 | 1.002 | 61 | 6.1% |
| 1885 | 995 | 54 | 5.4% |
| 1895 | 941 | 52 | 5.5% |
| 1905 | 980 | 70 | 7.1% |
| 1924 | 1,071 | 49 | 4.5% |
| 1933 | 1,148 | 65 | 5.7% |
Until the mid-19th century, most families lived on the cattle trade or from peddling with Elle goods or groceries . After that, the economic situation improved and several shops were opened, which were important in the economic development of the city.
End of the parish
Starting in 1933, the number of Jewish residents quickly decreased due to emigration and emigration. 27 people emigrated to the USA , three to Palestine / Israel in 1936 . 28 people moved within Germany, 15 of them to Frankfurt. The last family left Frankenau on March 28, 1939.
Community institutions
The community belonged to the rabbinical district of Upper Hesse with its seat in Marburg . It had a synagogue , its own school ( "Klaus" ), a ritual bath (" Mikveh ") and its own cemetery .
school
The Jewish school was initially just a religious school. From 1874 to 1898 it was an Israelite elementary school, from 1902 a private Israelite school, and from 1907 to around 1924 it was again an Israelite elementary school. The number of students was 24 in 1874, but then fell to only 10 in 1886 and 7 in 1893. In 1907 there were again 20 children who attended the Israelite elementary school. In the school year 1931/32 only three school-age children received Jewish religious instruction in the village. A Jewish teacher was employed temporarily; he served at the same time as prayer leader and shochet .
synagogue
The city fire in April 1865 also destroyed the existing synagogue and the prayer room. In the same year, the Jewish community organized a collection to build or equip a new synagogue. The new synagogue, a two-story half-timbered building with a basement on a sandstone foundation, which also housed the school, was completed as early as 1867. It was renovated in 1896.
Due to the increasing emigration and emigration of parishioners from 1933 onwards, it was foreseeable in 1938 that a kehillah to hold church services would soon no longer meet, and in the spring or summer of 1938 the synagogue was sold to a neighbor. The building was finally demolished due to sponge infestation. The base with the basement was still there in 1949. A new building was later erected on the property (Rieschstrasse 6).
memory
On June 17, 1992, on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of the granting of city rights, a memorial stone for the murdered and displaced Jewish residents was erected on the property boundary between the former synagogue, which has now been demolished, and the Protestant church.
literature
- Church council of the ev.-luth. Parish (ed.): For a birthday - A not carefree scriptum for the 750th anniversary of our small town Frankenau . Frankenau, 1992
- Heinz Brandt: The Frankenau Jewish Community between 1660 and 1940 - From the life of Jewish country people , Frankenberger Hefte No. 1, 1992. Ed. By the Frankenberg branch of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies
