Jewish community of Offenburg

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A Jewish community in Offenburg , a town in the Ortenau district in Baden-Württemberg , already existed in the Middle Ages .

history

The medieval Jewish community was destroyed in the pogrom against the Jews in December 1348. In the Bäckergasse (formerly Judengasse) there was a synagogue named in 1392 . The ritual bath ( mikveh ) built around 1300 has been preserved under the house built in 1793, Glaserstraße 8.

The modern Jewish community had existed since the 17th century. During the Thirty Years War , 1,627 Jews were accepted into the city. The destruction of Offenburg in 1689, as a result of the Palatinate War of Succession , led to the dissolution of the community.

From 1862 Jews were able to settle in Offenburg again and in 1865 a community was officially founded. By emigration of Jewish rural residents to the cities, here z. B. from Diersburg , Friesenheim , Rust and Schmieheim , the number of community members rose to 150 in 1868. The Jewish community Offenburg belonged to the district rabbinate Schmieheim , which was moved to Offenburg in 1893.

In 1924, Jewish people from the following locations belonged to the Jewish community of Offenburg: Appenweier (5), Durbach (8), Gengenbach (40), Haslach im Kinzigtal (10), Nordrach (7), Renchen (3) and Triberg (8) .

The Jewish inhabitants of Offenburg had numerous commercial and industrial enterprises, which were of great importance for the economic development of the city.

Jewish associations

  • Charity association, founded around 1875 with the purpose of: helping those in need, studying Torah
  • Men's Sickness Association, founded around 1875 with the purpose: support of local residents, services in the event of death
  • Women's sickness association or women's association, founded around 1875 with the purpose: sick support and funeral services
  • Charity association
  • Wanderfürsorge, founded in 1927 with the purpose: Wanderfürsorge and poor relief
  • Jewish Youth Association

National Socialist Persecution

Due to increasing reprisals and disenfranchisement, some of the Jewish residents emigrated.

The memorial book of the Federal Archives lists 70 Jewish citizens born in Offenburg who fell victim to the genocide of the National Socialist regime .

Community development

year Parishioners
1863 37 people
1868 150 people
1871 223 people
1875 290 people or 4.4% of the population
1880 387 people or 5.3% of the population
1895 334 people or 3.4% of the population
1900 337 people or 2.5% of the population
1910 288 people or 1.7% of the population
1925 291 people or 1.7% of the population
1933 271 people or 1.5% of the population
1939 98 people or 0.5% of the population

synagogue

From 1868 to 1875 a prayer room was set up in the Pfaff vinegar factory (Seestrasse 1). In 1875 the Salmen Inn , which at that time belonged to the city, was bought by the Jewish community and a prayer room was set up in the dance hall (Lange Straße 52, rear building). The apartments of the precentor or the rabbi and the synagogue servant were in the front building. The gallery of the hall was used as a women's gallery . In 1922 the synagogue was renovated.

During the November pogrom in 1938 , the entire interior was destroyed. On July 1, 1940, the Jewish community had to sell the building to the city of Offenburg, which rented it out. After various uses, the city established the building of the former synagogue as a cultural center and memorial in 2002.

On November 8, 1978, a plaque commemorating the former Jewish community was installed in the presence of National Rabbi Nathan Peter Levinson .

See also

literature

  • Andre Gutmann: The extinction of the Jewish community of Offenburg: a reassessment of the events in the winter of 1348/49 . In: The Ortenau. Journal of the Historical Association for Mittelbaden, Vol. 97, 2017, pp. 195–220.
  • Joachim Hahn and Jürgen Krüger : Synagogues in Baden-Württemberg . Volume 2: Joachim Hahn: Places and Facilities . Theiss, Stuttgart 2007, pp. 373–376, ISBN 978-3-8062-1843-5 ( Memorial book of the synagogues in Germany . Volume 4).
  • Martin Ruch: Persecution and Resistance in Offenburg 1933-1945 . Offenburg 1995. [not evaluated]
  • Martin Ruch: Jewish voices. Interviews, autobiographical testimonies, written sources on the history of the Offenburg Jews from 1933–1945. Memorial book . Offenburg 1995. [not evaluated]
  • Martin Ruch: We have now been starved. The diary of Esther Cohn from Offenburg (1926−1944) and the children from Munich's Antonienheim . Norderstedt 2006. [not evaluated]
  • Martin Ruch: History of the Offenburg Jews. Jiskor: Remember! Norderstedt, 2011, ISBN 978-3-8391-6717-5 . [not evaluated]
  • Peter Schmidt-Thomé: The mikveh of Offenburg. An unusual underground monument. In: Monument Preservation in Baden-Württemberg , 36th year 2007, issue 3, pp. 190–192. ( PDF ) [not evaluated]

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Commemorative Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933 - 1945 . Retrieved February 9, 2010.