Jewish community Zwittau
The Jewish community in the Moravian town of Zwittau, today Svitavy , was officially established around 1888/90 and was wiped out by persecution during the Nazi era .
history
Until around 1840/50 Jews were prohibited from settling and Jewish traders were only allowed to stay in the city during the day. After the settlement ban was lifted, the first Jewish families from Boskowitz and Gewitsch settled in the city in 1850 . About 20 years later, a minyan association was founded and a prayer room was rented for worship . At the beginning of the 1930s there were around 170 Jews in Zwittau. As a result of the annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938, most of the Jews fled the city of Zwittau. Those who remained in the city were deported ; only a few survived in the Theresienstadt ghetto .
graveyard
In 1892 the Jewish community set up its own cemetery, which is located on the road to Mährisch-Trübau . In 2003 the cemetery was restored and a memorial was erected in memory of the victims of the Holocaust .
synagogue
In 1902 a representative synagogue was built, which suggests a wealthy Jewish community. During the so-called Kristallnacht , the interior of the synagogue was destroyed by local National Socialists . Today the secular synagogue building serves as an exhibition and concert hall.
See also
The Catholic Oskar Schindler from Zwittau saved 1200 persecuted Jews and was honored as Righteous Among the Nations .
literature
- Klaus-Dieter Alicke: Lexicon of the Jewish communities in the German-speaking area. Volume 3: Ochtrup - Zwittau. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-08079-6 ( online version ).