Jewish community Sachsenhausen (Waldeck)
The Jewish Community of Sachsenhausen in northern Hesse Sachsenhausen , one to 1971 independent town and a modern part of the city Waldeck , existed from the 18th century to the time of National Socialism .
Community development
After Prince Karl August Friedrich (ruled 1728–1763) von Waldeck issued letters of protection to Jewish people, provided they had assets of at least 1000 thalers, the immigration of Jewish residents began. After 1770, three Jewish families with such letters of protection are known to have been in Sachsenhausen. Soon also poorer Jews came to the Waldecker Land, who could not pay the protection money, but were tolerated for a certain time and upon revocation. For the period between 1771 and 1945, 24 different names of families can be found in Sachsenhausen.
Initially, the new residents were only allowed to use the professional title “tradesman”, and it was not until the middle of the 19th century that the number of professional titles increased. In addition to the originally typical traveling traders , there was a growing number of settled traders (grain, cattle, brandy, hides, pottery and bakery goods) and traders; A butcher, rope maker , saddler , butcher, dyer , tinsmith , lime burner and shoemaker have been announced. Finally, a Jewish schnapps distillery and a small textile factory were also established. The agricultural holdings of the Jewish population were small and consisted mainly of gardens or meadows.
The economic situation of the Jewish citizens was just as varied as that of the other residents. Some families lived in Sachsenhausen for several generations and for more than a hundred years, achieved prosperity and became employers for many people. Their houses were in the middle of the city, the men belonged to local associations, and the women were socially and charitable. In 1906, one of these families donated a house to the town for what was then a toddler school; the building with the sign "Bloch'sche Stiftung" still serves this purpose today. In 1919 the family donated another 50,000 marks as capital for the ongoing maintenance of the foundation. Little is known about the poorer families, whose names are also found in the lists of the poor. They lived on the outskirts, at the Upper and Lower Gate.
Until about 1875 the Jewish population grew steadily, both through immigration and a slight excess of births. For the years 1838 to 1875, the synagogue book shows 15 weddings, 74 births and 63 deaths. In 1874 there were 16 Jewish families in the village. Thereafter, an increasing emigration to North America and migration to the larger German cities began, and the number of Jewish residents of Sachsenhausen decreased.
The synagogue community of Sachsenhausen also included families from the neighboring towns of Netze , Waldeck , Nieder-Werbe and Meineringhausen . There were numerous and close contacts with the neighboring Jewish community in Höringhausen .
Emigration and end of the community
From 1933, the Jewish citizens began to sell their property and leave Germany. Those who failed were largely murdered a few years later. Already after the pogrom night of 8/9 In November 1938, one of the few remaining Jewish residents was deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp , from which he was only released after severe abuse; he first returned to Sachsenhausen, but then fled to Switzerland, where he died of the consequences of his imprisonment. In 1941/42 the remaining Jews were deported to ghettos and concentration camps in the east and murdered there. The last 755 North Hessian Jews were deported on September 7, 1942 by train from Kassel via Chemnitz to Theresienstadt ; 70 of them were from the communities in what is now the Waldeck-Frankenberg district . At least six citizens of Sachsenhausen known by name were arrested and deported during this time; the oldest of them was 80 years old.
There was one exception: Moritz Mildenberg lived penniless and dependent on help and protection from fellow citizens as the only Jew until his death in January 1945 in Sachsenhausen.
Community institutions
Until 1863, services and religious instruction apparently took place in prayer rooms and other rooms in private homes. There are references to synagogues and Jewish schools in private houses from the years 1781, 1786, 1796, 1801, 1812 and 1831. A Waldeck law passed in 1833 obliged the Jewish communities to employ their own teachers for the religious education of their children. If someone applied, it happened that they did not get an official residence permit. Between 1832 and 1835 the city received orders several times to expel the Jewish teacher Hellborn because of insufficient papers; the mayor at the time campaigned for him to stay and risked a fine himself.
graveyard
The cemetery was laid out in the second half of the 19th century. It is located about 200 m north of the former synagogue on the northern outskirts on the street "Baumschule" below a wooded hill. The last funeral took place there in 1933. The cemetery area is 20 ares . Today 29 tombstones are still preserved.
synagogue
Coordinates: 51 ° 14 ′ 36 ″ N , 9 ° 0 ′ 36 ″ E It was not until 1863 that the community succeededin erectingits own synagogue buildingon the corner of Wildunger Strasse and Freienhagener Strasse, according to plans by the district architect Brumhard from Wildungen . The masonry consisted for the most part of demolition material from the city wall, which a community member had bought when the city fortifications were demolished in 1856. It was an elongated, rectangular, massive stone building with a gable roof , two-story and on a high base, with the women's gallery on the upper floor. An apse containing the Torah shrine was added to theotherwise smooth eastern gable end. On the western gable side, richly structured in its upper part, the portal was located under a large and representative arched facade with a window on the upper floor.
The construction was partly financed by donations from parishioners and other wealthy communities, and partly from a mortgage taken out by the community . Until 1910 there was still a mortgage of 3,600 marks on the building.
Sale and subsequent use
With the rapidly decreasing number of parishioners after 1933 it was soon no longer possible to hold church services, let alone to finance the maintenance of the synagogue. It was therefore given up and sold in 1938. The new owner, who used it as a building material store, received official instructions (with an architect's plans that had already been worked out and paid for by him) to immediately change the building so that the previous character could no longer be recognized. This sale saved the former synagogue from the vandalism of the Reichspogromnacht in November 1938 and from destruction. Although the owner was ordered to go home during the war to demolish the building, an order from the then district administrator of the Eder district , Hans von und zu Gilsa, in Bad Wildungen prevented this. In 1944 the building was used as a food store by the Wehrmacht .
After the end of the war, the building was re-dedicated to religious purposes. The town's initially small, mostly bombed-out and displaced Catholic community, which initially celebrated its services in the Protestant St. Nicholas Church, was able to rent the former synagogue with the help of the Catholic parish of Korbach in 1947 and then buy it in 1949 and use it as a Use church. After the construction of the new Catholic St. Boniface Church, which began in 1959, was completed in 1960, the old synagogue was bought by the road construction administration, which had it demolished in 1962 as part of a road expansion. Today a plaque commemorates the location of the synagogue and the fate of the Jewish community. The lintel of the former synagogue was installed above the sacristy door of St. Bonifatius Church; it bears the Hebrew inscription : "House Jacob, come let us walk in the light of Him". (Isias 2,5)
Remarks
- ↑ In 1814 the Jews in Waldeck were legally equated with the other subjects, and the protection money was dropped.
- ↑ WLZ, August 11, 2007 ( Memento of the original from January 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF file; 523 kB)
Web links
This article is essentially based on:
literature
- Klaus-Dieter Alicke: Lexicon of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area. 3 volumes. Gütersloher Verlagshaus , Gütersloh, 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-08035-2