Treysa Jewish Community

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The Jewish community of Treysa existed in Treysa in the north Hessian Schwalm-Eder district at least since the 18th century and until it was destroyed by the Nazi regime in 1938/1942.

Community development until 1933

Jewish residents are first recorded in 1482. However, their number remained very small until the beginning of the 19th century. 1575/78 Elias Bobenhausen is called, who lived in the castle alley and his father, Lazarus Bobenhausen, "Hebrews Medicus" (personal physician) in the service of the Hessian Landgrave I. Philip was. Even in the 17th century, only a few Jewish families are mentioned. In 1773 there were six Jewish families with 28 people in Treysa. In the 19th century, the number of Jewish residents rose steadily, based primarily on immigration from other Hessian communities. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the number of Jewish residents developed as follows:

year Residents,
total 		Jewish
residents 		Share
in percent
1805 2,081 35 1.7%
1816 ... 13 families ...%
1827 2,348 94 4.0%
1835 2,499 111 4.4%
1861 2,507 125 4.8%
1885 2,413 160 6.6%
1895 2,385 193 8.1%
1905 3,100 160 5.2%
1924 4,207 130 3.1%
1930 ... 130 ...%
1933 ... approx. 120 ...%
1938 4,294 approx. 60 1.4%

Until the middle of the 19th century, the majority of Jewish traders were small traders, cattle dealers and butchers. After that there were also some craftsmen as well as owners of smaller manufacturers, trading companies and shops.

Community institutions

The community belonged to the rabbinical district of Upper Hesse. A synagogue was inaugurated in 1819 and a Jewish elementary school had existed since 1835. A mikveh (ritual bath) was located in a small bath house at the wedge gate on the Wiera. A Jewish cemetery only existed on Wasenberger Strasse from 1850. The Jewish associations included the “ Chewra Kadischa ” (work area: visiting sick people and ritual burial of the deceased), the Israelite youth association “Chewras Bachurim” founded in 1879 (work area: support of local residents, love services in the event of death) and the Israelite women's association “Chewras Noschim” founded in 1887 (work area : Sickness and maternity care).

synagogue

Services were initially held in private rooms and later in a prayer room. In 1817 the merchant Abraham Isaak Meyer applied to the authorities for permission to build a synagogue. The construction, a two-storey half-timbered house with a gable roof, was carried out in 1818/1819 by master bricklayer Peter Menzler based on the model of the synagogue in Witzenhausen . On August 6, 1819, the Torah scrolls were brought in a large procession from the previous prayer room to the synagogue “In the new way”. A rifle division and a delegation from the Ziegenhain garrison took part in the festivities. The synagogue had 60 men’s seats on the ground floor and 40 women’s seats on a gallery separated by a wooden lattice . The interior was destroyed during the November pogrom in 1938 .

school

An Israelite denominational school existed from 1835 to 1922. In 1868 it was attended by 14 students, in 1891 there were already 38. To cope with the rush, a new schoolhouse was inaugurated on January 9, 1898, a two-story brick building. In 1899, 44 children attended class. After the First World War, the number of students fell sharply and the school was closed in 1922. In 1924 8 children took part in religious instruction, in 1931 9.

graveyard

The deceased of the community were buried in the cemetery of the Jewish community in Ziegenhain in Niederlimitebach until 1850 . Only then was a Jewish cemetery established in Treysa, between Wasenberger Strasse and Stephanstrasse. It has an area of ​​10.89 acres and contains 164 tombs. The last burial took place in 1939. The cemetery was desecrated during the November pogrom in 1938.

In 1976, on the initiative of Dr. Julius Werner Höxter erected a memorial with the text: "In memory of the Jewish citizens of the city of Treysa, who fell victim to the reign of terror between 1933 and 1945. Their souls are part of the bond of life." A second memorial was erected by the "descendants and relatives of Benedikt Schön and Mrs. Rosa née Hahn" with the text: "They accuse and warn"

Downfall of the community

Around half of the approximately 120 Jewish people still living in Treysa in 1933 either moved away in the years up to 1939 due to increasing reprisals and disenfranchisement or emigrated entirely from Germany. The local SA made a name for itself with wild anti-Jewish appearances that met with response from parts of the population. So were z. B. On September 4, 1933, a 57-year-old Jewish man and his wife were led through the streets by the SA. The man had to carry a sign that read, "I wanted to desecrate a Christian girl." He was spat at, ridiculed and beaten by the audience. The well-known veterinarian and veterinary scientist Abraham Höxter was brought to the market square by SA men on October 16, 1938, where he was accused of sabotage on health policy and viciously insulted in front of SA, HJ and BDM members. Anti-Jewish sentiments had surfaced earlier in the city: in a pogrom against the Jews in 1813, the house and business of a Jewish merchant were completely looted; In the revolutionary year of 1848, Jewish shops were again looted; In 1905 a ritual murder was insinuated; and as late as 1920 the high school students in Treysa believed that Jews bathed in Christian blood.

During the November pogrom in 1938 , the interior of the synagogue, which had only been thoroughly renovated in 1928/29, was completely destroyed, the apartments of Jewish families were devastated, and the church's teacher was murdered. The cemetery was also desecrated.

The remaining Jewish residents of the city were crammed into increasingly narrow "ghetto houses" from 1939, most recently in 1942 in the so-called "Judenhaus" (Steingasse 17). In June and September 1942, the last 25 were deported to Poland or to the Theresienstadt concentration camp , where almost all of them were murdered.

The building of the synagogue came into the possession of the city and was used to house French prisoners of war, later as a laundry. After 1945 it was converted into a residential building, but demolished in the late 1950s.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert von Friedeburg: "Communal anti-Semitism: Christian rural communities and Jews between Eder and Werra from the late 18th to the middle of the 19th century", in: Monika Richarz & Reinhard Rürup (eds.): Jüdisches Leben auf dem Lande , series of scientific publications Treatises of the Leo Baeck Institute 56, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, 1997, ISBN 3-16-146842-2 , pp. 139–172 (p. 169)
  2. ↑ Robert von Friedeburg: "Communal anti-Semitism: Christian rural communities and Jews between Eder and Werra from the late 18th to the middle of the 19th century", in: Monika Richarz & Reinhard Rürup (eds.): Jüdisches Leben auf dem Lande , series of scientific publications Treatises of the Leo Baeck Institute 56, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, 1997, ISBN 3-16-146842-2 , pp. 139–172 (p. 169)

Web links

literature

  • Hartwig Bambey, Adolf Biskamp, ​​Bernd Lindenthal (eds.): Displaced neighbors. Contributions to the history of the Jews in the district of Ziegenhain. 2 volumes. Verlag Stadtgeschichtlicher Arbeitskreis eV, Schwalmstadt-Treysa, 1993.