Jewish community of Landau (Bad Arolsen)
The Jewish community of Landau in the small town of Landau in the north Hessian district of Waldeck-Frankenberg existed from the 16th century until after 1933.
Community development
The first Jews lived in Landau as early as the 16th and 17th centuries. 1541 is called a "Juddenhaus". In the second half of the 18th century, in 1776 and 1778, five more families were added. At the beginning of the 19th century, in 1802, the community grew by three so-called Schutzjuden and their families. The community recorded the strongest growth in the second half of the 19th century, when ten to twelve new families moved into the village. They lived from the money, textile, fodder and fertilizer trade. Most of the families left Landau around 1900: some emigrated, others moved to the Palatinate , where they found better employment opportunities. In 1905 Landau only had 14 Jewish residents.
The facilities included a synagogue , a religious school and a ritual bath ( mikveh ). The community had its own cemetery.
Mr Schönstädt, who emigrated to America, set up a foundation in 1924 while visiting his former hometown. The elementary school in Landau received an amount of 200 dollars from him and annually, at Christmas, he donated another 50 dollars. The foundation funds were used for excursions and Christmas gifts, among other things, and the best students of each year should receive a prize when they leave school. In 1933 the school administration refused to accept the money; with that the foundation expired.
Around 1924 there were still nine parishioners, in 1933 there were still five. Community leader was Levie Alexander, who held this office in 1924 and also in 1932.
synagogue
A prayer room already existed towards the end of the 18th century, probably in a private house. In 1837 the synagogue was built on the Heide (today Heidestrasse). According to previous knowledge, the religious school and the ritual bath were in the same building. Since only five Jewish residents lived in the village in 1932, the building was sold for demolition.
Jewish Cemetery
In 1779 the Jewish community acquired an area of 11.05 acres and set up a cemetery there. The field name has since been referred to as "Jüddengrund". Today there are still 41 tombstones ( mazewot ). The majority bears Hebrew inscriptions, 15 of which also have additional German inscriptions. The cemetery was occupied until the 1930s. It is located east of the village on a steep slope. It can be reached via the Tiefenholer Weg. (To reach the cemetery you have to cross a meadow.)
End of the parish
Julius and Rosalie Frohsinn, Fanni and Levie Alexander and Simon Kaufman were still living in Landau in 1933. Further information on her whereabouts has not yet been found. It is not possible to assign the Nazi victims according to the lists of Yad Vashem , Jerusalem , or according to the "Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933-1945", as there are several places with the name Landau.
Individual evidence
literature
- Paul Arnsberg : The Jewish communities in Hesse. Beginning - fall - new beginning . Volume 1 and 2. Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1971/72, ISBN 3-7973-0213-4 .
- Robert Wetekam: Landau, the story of a Waldeck fortress town