Jewish community of Wertheim

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The Jewish community in Wertheim existed from the 13th century until 1940.

history

1212–1527: On the origins of the Jewish community in the Middle Ages

View of the Jewish cemetery in Wertheim

The Jewish community in Wertheim was one of the oldest Jewish communities in the Baden region. For the first time between 1212 and 1222 Jews were documented in the city. During the persecution of Jews in 1298 by the knight Rintfleisch and during the plague period in 1348/49, Jews were also murdered in Wertheim; After these events, no Jews lived in Wertheim for a short time. The Wertheim Jews were under the protection of the emperor, who pledged this protection together with the income to the Counts of Wertheim in 1373. From this point onwards, they made sure that "nobody does harm to the Jews with word or deed."

The Jewish community of Wertheim owned a total of five synagogues in Wertheim , a Jewish school, a ritual bath and a cemetery . The Jewish cemetery in Wertheim was laid out in the Middle Ages (1406). It is the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Baden-Württemberg (located on the Schlossberg opposite the Main Bridge, area 73.44 a) and was used until the 20th century.

1528–1826: From the first Wertheimer Judenordnung up to modern times

In 1528 the first “Wertheimer Judenordnung” was issued. Through it, the shop sale was forbidden and a ban on interest was issued; however, market trade was allowed for the Jews. They were also required to wear yellow rings on their clothing. In 1622 there were 16 Jewish families in the city. By the end of the 18th century there were an average of ten to twelve families.

1827–1933: From the establishment of the Wertheim District Rabbinate to the 20th century

In 1827 the Wertheim District Rabbinate was established . It was one of 15 district rabbinates , also known as the district synagogue. From 1850 to 1864 the seat of the rabbinate was in Tauberbischofsheim .

Full civil equality among Wertheim Jews was not achieved until 1862; In the revolutionary year of 1848, a newspaper appeal "To protect the Israelites in Wertheim" was published. The reason for this could have been the involvement of the two Wertheim Jews Philipp Mandelbaum and Bernhard Benario in revolutionary activities.

1933–1940: The fall of the Jewish community during the Nazi era

Boycott of Jewish businesses

Even before the boycott of Jewish shops was uniform across the Reich on April 1, 1933, the Wertheim NSDAP branch organized a boycott of Jewish shops in the city. On March 14th, for example, an advertisement appeared in the Wertheimer Zeitung , which was directed “to the national revolutionary-minded population of town and country”. In it it was announced that at the request of the SA the closing of all Jewish shops at 2 a.m. the day before had been forced . The shops were allowed to reopen two hours after this action, as Interior Minister Frick had banned individual actions. In the advertisement, the Wertheim Jews were also accused of supporting or supporting the communist deployment [of the Iron Front ] by donating money. to have staged .

In 1934, posters and signs with the words "Jews undesirable" were put up at the entrances to Wertheim; The advertising banners for this year's Michaelis Fair were also supplemented with the banner "Jews are undesirable in Wertheim". The latter were removed along with the advertising after the Michaelmas Mass on October 8, 1934. With regard to the posters at the entrance to the town, the Minister of the Interior was asked in a letter dated October 26, 1934, to work towards the removal of these signs , since "the installation of such signs (...) with regard to their damaging effect on international tourism and the role that international Judaism plays ”was considered questionable. In the reply from the Minister of the Interior of November 15, 1934, it is pointed out that the signs were put up on the basis of an order from the district administration and that the deputy Gauleiter Hermann Röhn also campaigned for their removal, as did the Minister of the Interior himself On November 4th, the district management was instructed by Röhn to remove the signs. This decision was reaffirmed by the Minister of the Interior on June 21, 1935 and May 8, 1936 by circular letters to district offices, police headquarters and police headquarters.

The Jewish community under National Socialism

Up until 1933 there were numerous trading and commercial enterprises that belonged to Jewish owners. In the late summer of 1938, the Jewish community under its last chairman, Sigmund Cahn, sold the synagogue building to the city. That is why it was not burned down in the November pogrom a few days later. At that time only 45 Jewish residents lived in Wertheim.

Deportation of the last Jews in Wertheim to the Gurs concentration camp

Stumbling blocks in downtown Wertheim

During the time of National Socialism , the Jewish community in Wertheim and other Jewish communities in Baden fell. On October 21 and 22, 1940, 19 Jews from Wertheim were deported to the Gurs concentration camp as part of the so-called Bürckel-Wagner campaign of the NS Gauleitung . Seven of them survived the war. Of the Jewish people who were born in Wertheim or who lived in the city for a long time, the following 73 people can be shown to have died during the Nazi era : Moses Adler (1882), Nathan Adler (1885), Hermann Altmann (1860), David Bergmann (1873), Max Bergmann (1881), Michaeline Bergmann (1881), Mina Bildstein b. Schwarzmann (1876), Max Blumenthal (1887), Gerda Braunold born. Klaus (1893), Hilda Brückheimer (1894), Hedwig Brückheimer (1896), Selma Brückheimer (1893), Sophie Brückheimer geb. Wolf (1860), Emil Cahn (1861), Frida Diamant b. Adler (1891), Meta Ehrlich b. Stumpf (1900), Clara Falk b. Stumpf (1872), Ida Falk b. Stumpf (1875), Moritz Faller (1876), Sophie Frank b. Arnstein (1867), Bertha Frank (1890), Moses Freimark (1871), Sofie Freimark geb. Eschelbacher (1873), Moritz Gerstle (1879), Frieda Goldschmidt b. Thalmann (1891), Ida Gottschalk b. Faller (1882), Heinz-Josef Hammel (1927), Hilda Hammel b. Fleischmann (1897), Leo Hammel (1892), Robert Hammel (1931), Babette (Bertha) Häusler b. Kaufmann (1872), Friedrich Häusler (1898), Gottlob Hausler (1870), Thekla Heilbrunn born. Faller (1882), Alfred Heimann (1871), Rosalie Heimann b. Kahn (1881), Johanna Held b. Bär (1889), Max Held (1879), Isidor Israel (1882), Pauline (Paula) Israel b. Weil (1884), Isaak Karpf (1864), Therese Karpf b. Adler (1866), Babette Kauffmann b. Benario (1863), Klara Kaufmann b. Diebach (1895), Emilie Klar b. Adler (1884), Ernst Klaus (1903), Henriette Klaus (1899), Karoline (Lina) Klaus b. Steindecker (1865), Sigmund Klaus (1897), Klara (Cläre) Klein born. Held (1885), Meta Krämer (1902), Jetta Lack born. Rothschild (1876), Irma Lessner (1893), Leopold Müller (1889), Pauline Prager b. Arnstein (1868), Alfred Rosenbaum (1910), Hermann Rosenbaum (1877), Martha Rosenbaum (1908), Regina Rosenbaum b. Adler (1881), Betty Rosenbusch b. Klaus (1891), Philipp Rothschild (1879), Jeanette Smilg b. Benario (1861), Emil Nehemias Sommer (1874), Nathan Spatz (1864), Albert Spiegel (1879), Leopold Spiegel (1876), Moses Steindecker (1853), Jetta Strauss (1879), Max Louis Thalmann (1894), Jenny Ullmann (1890), Cäcilie Weissenstein b. Held (1881), Frieda Wolf b. Adler (1883), Hilde Wolf b. Spiegel (1886), Moses Wolf (1878), Karoline Würzburger geb. Lehmann (1865).

Memory of the Jewish community in Wertheim

In memory of the people who perished in the city during the Nazi era, a total of 73 stumbling blocks were laid in Wertheim in several laying campaigns from 2009 to 2014 . The stumbling blocks were set in front of the last freely chosen houses of the deportees, as well as in front of some of the former apartments of the 37 euthanasia victims of Wertheim (see action T4 ).

The city built a joinery and warehouse in the former synagogue; however, it was canceled in February 1961 to widen the right-hand Tauberstrasse. A memorial plaque on the city wall between Gerbergasse 18 and the Spitzen Turm has been a reminder of this story since 1976.

In 2013, the Neuplatz memorial site was created on the initiative of the Pro Wertheim Citizens' Association to commemorate the former Jewish citizens. It contains several information boards on the history of the synagogue, mikveh and deportation. A symbolic shadow cast by the synagogue, which was demolished in 1961, is embedded in the flooring of the Neuplatz as a black plaster contour. Street signs ("formerly Judengasse") mark the former Jewish quarter behind the pointed tower.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Jüdische Gemeinde Wertheim  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Alemannia Judaica: Wertheim (Main-Tauber district) Jewish history / prayer room / synagogue . Online at www.alemannia-judaica.de. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  2. ↑ a b c d Michael Geringhoff: Exhibits on the rich Jewish history are few and far between . In: Wertheimer Zeitung of August 22, 2012
  3. ↑ "Announcement. (No. 22). The rabbinate of the synagogue district of Wertheim determined by the highest ordinance of March 13, 1827, § I. 14, Government Gazette No. 10, with which a fixed salary of 500 florins, in addition to free apartment and the occupation of the collective bargaining differential is now to be filled for the first time after the requirement mentioned in section II of that ordinance has been met. The eligible applicants are therefore requested to report their requests to this authority within 6 weeks. Karlsruhe, January 27, 1848. Grand Ducal Upper Council of the Israelites of Baden. The Ministerial Commissioner: Fröhlich. Vdt. Mos. Heimerdinger ". From the history of Rabbinate Wertheim. Online at www.alemannia-judaica.de . Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  4. ^ Advertisement To the people of the city and the countryside who are interested in national revolution. In: Wertheimer Zeitung of March 14, 1933
  5. ↑ General State Archives Karlsruhe 233/17 737
  6. ↑ Peter Riffenach: 50 kilograms of luggage and 100 Reichsmarks . In: Wertheimer Zeitung from October 20, 2010
  7. ↑ Information based on the lists from Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.
  8. ↑ Information from "Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933-1945".
  9. ↑ Michael Geringhoff: Don't forget the Nazi victims of Wertheim . In: Wertheimer Zeitung of October 18, 2012
  10. ↑ Guido Weber: Wertheimer Zeitung 50 years ago: Synagogue had to give way to garages . In: Wertheimer Zeitung from February 25, 2011
  11. ↑ Memorial sites for the victims of National Socialism. A documentation . Volume 1. Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn 1995, ISBN 3-89331-208-0 . P. 104
  12. ↑ Neuplatz transformed into a memorial