Jewish community of Tübingen
The Jewish community in Tübingen existed in the Middle Ages and from the middle of the 19th century until 1939.
History in the Middle Ages
Jews are first mentioned in Tübingen in 1337. The Jews then settled in the Judengasse, which was first mentioned in 1350 and still exists today. The facilities of the Jewish community such as the synagogue were also located there . There is no known persecution of Jews in Tübingen during the plague. There is no evidence of a Jewish community cemetery in Tübingen during this period. The Jewish cemetery in Baisingen (today Rottenburg ) may have been used. In 1456 all Tübingen Jews were expelled from the city except for one family. In 1477 all Tübingen Jews were expelled from the city by Count Eberhard im Bart . This ended the first era of the Jewish community in Tübingen.
History in Modern Times
Since 1848 the settlement of Jews in Tübingen was allowed again. A Leopold Hirsch from Wankheim is known as the first Jewish resident of the city in modern times . Other families followed him and with the inauguration of the synagogue in 1882 the Jewish community was re-established. Over the years, the number of Jews rose from 34 inhabitants in 1869 to 82 in 1925. In 1925 the Jewish community also included the cities of Reutlingen and Rottenburg am Neckar. By 1932 the communities Balingen , Bronnweiler , Gomaringen , Metzingen and Tailfingen joined the Jewish community of Tübingen. In addition to the synagogue, the community had a religious school. The community had a paid religion teacher but no rabbi . It belonged to the rabbinical district of Mühringen and later from 1913 to the rabbinical district of Horb .
From 1930 the anti-Semitic agitation became clear and the student SA smeared Jewish shops and took violent action against Jewish citizens. As a result of the ongoing reprisals and economic sanctions against the Jewish population, many Jews left the city by 1941. The synagogue was destroyed during the Reichspogromnacht . The Jewish community of Tübingen was dissolved in July 1939. 14 Jews from Tübingen were deported to the concentration camps in Riga , Izbica , Theresienstadt and Auschwitz in 1941/42 as part of the deportation of German Jews . After the deportation there were no more Jews in Tübingen.
Of the 77 Jews who remained in the branch communities of Reutlingen and Rottenburg after 1933 or who moved there afterwards, 16 were murdered in the course of the deportations, and two other members of the branch communities attempted suicide in 1937 and 1941, respectively.
Since 1983 a memorial plaque on the wall of the collegiate church has been commemorating the time of the Nazi persecution of the Jews . In the foyer of the new auditorium of the university in Wilhelmsstrasse, a memorial plaque has been commemorating eleven murdered Jewish students since 1984. A memorial stone with the names of 14 murdered Jews from Tübingen has been in the Jewish cemetery in Wankheim since 1947.
In 1968 there were eight fellow citizens of the Jewish faith in Tübingen again. Their number rose to more than 40 by 2013. The Jewish people in Tübingen are supported by the Israelitische Religionsgemeinschaft Württembergs Kdö.R. ( IRGW ), which has a branch in nearby Reutlingen . In addition, the Jewish association “Bustan Shalom eV” has existed for a few years, offering Jewish community work such as church services and promoting Jewish life in Tübingen in religious and cultural areas.
literature
- Paul Sauer: The Jewish communities in Württemberg and Hohenzollern. Monuments, history, fates . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1966 ( Publications of the Baden-Württemberg State Archives Administration . Volume 18)