Jews in Neustadt (Hesse)

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In 1933, around 120 Jews lived in the small town of Neustadt in Upper Hesse . This made the Jewish community of Neustadt the second largest in what was then the district of Marburg . After the seizure of power of Adolf Hitler succeeded a few dozen Jews in the United States , according to Argentina , Australia or South Africa emigrate. In 1942 the last Jewish residents of Neustadt were deported, around 70 died in agony in National Socialist concentration camps .

16th century to 1933

Historical documents show that Jewish people lived in Neustadt as early as 1513. In 1812 there were 24 Jewish families. In 1905 there were 108 women, men and children with a total population of around 2,000. Jewish men worked as cattle dealers, butchers, teachers or ran shops (shoes, textiles, animal feed, grain, etc.), while Jewish women worked as shop assistants, domestic servants or teachers. The Neustadt Jews maintained a synagogue , a school, a ritual bath and a cemetery, which is located northeast outside the city.

1933 to 1942

Files from the Hessian State Archives in Marburg show that in 1933 a total of 14 Neustädter houses, mostly on Marktstrasse, were owned by Jews. After Hitler came to power, the Jews of Neustadt also suffered from the economic boycott , disenfranchisement and increasing oppression. Many were forced to leave the city and sell homes and businesses for below value. Members of the NSDAP also benefited from the " Aryanizations " in Neustadt . In September 1940 Louis Wiederstein, the National Socialist mayor of Neustadt, wrote to the district administrator in Marburg: "There are no longer Jewish businesses here."

The fate of Parish Elder Sally Levi

Sally Levi, born in 1889, was the owner of the M. Stern trading company in Marktstrasse. He held the office of the community elder. In February 1939, a few months after the pogrom of November 9, 1938, he fled to Cologne. Files from the regional finance office in Cologne show that he was registered at Roonstrasse 108. From there he emigrated for himself and his family, he had already paid for the ship passage. Sally Levi was deported to the Lodz Ghetto / Poland in 1941. It is not known where and when he was murdered.

Letters from Bruno Rosenthal in the archives of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (USA)

Bruno Rosenthal, born in 1886, ran the trading company A. Bachrach Descendants in Marktstrasse. Starting in 1939, he wrote several letters to American authorities in which he asked for his family, himself and the remaining Jews of Neustadt to enter the US state of Alaska . In the USA at that time the draft of a law was discussed that should facilitate immigration to Alaska. Rosenthal had read about it. The then US opponents of immigration, including the veterans organization " American Legion ", succeeded in 1940 in preventing the law. Bruno Rosenthal and his wife, the teacher Bianka Rosenthal, were deported to the Riga Ghetto / Latvia in 1941. It is not known where and when they were murdered. According to the American daily Anchorage Daily News , Rosenthal's letters are in the archives of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks , Alaska.

synagogue

During the night of the pogrom, the Nazis and fellow travelers set fire to the synagogue on Marburger Strasse. As can be seen from the files of the Hessian State Archives in Marburg, the interior was demolished, equipment and clothing were partly destroyed and partly stolen. Subsequently, several residents of Neustadt showed interest in buying the property. According to the Hessisches Staatsarchiv, the contract was awarded to a Neustadt colonial goods dealer and "leading PG" (PG stands for party member of the NSDAP). Today there is a residential and commercial building on the property.

Culture of remembrance

Dankward Sieburg, teacher at what was then the Neustadt comprehensive school, led a school project from 1986 onwards on the subject of "The Synagogue Community of Neustadt - Momberg". The results were presented in an exhibition at the school in November 1988 and summarized in a 767-page documentation. In 2008 a commemorative event of the city of Neustadt dealt with the pogrom night of 1938. In November 2018, the city invited to the event "80 years of pogrom night". The speakers included Mayor Thomas Groll (CDU), Monika Bunk , Deputy Chairwoman of the Jewish Community of Marburg , and Professor Jürgen Reulecke , historian of the University of Giessen (retired). The city is currently considering using " stumbling blocks " by Cologne artist Gunter Demnig or a memorial plaque to commemorate the murdered Jewish fellow citizens.

See also

literature

  • Andrea Freisberg, Gerhard Bieker: Nova Civitas - Neustadt (Hessen). A walk through the history of the city . Neustadt 2004.
  • Barbara Händler-Lachmann, Ulrich Schütt: "moved unknown" or "made away". Fate of the Jews in the old district of Marburg 1933–1945 . Marburg 1992, ISBN 3-89398-080-6 .
  • Dankward Sieburg: The synagogue community in Neustadt. Contributions to their history . New Town 1990.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Alemannia Judaica - Working Group for Research into the History of Jews in Southern Germany and the Adjoining Area, as of May 20, 2016, http://www.alemannia-judaica.de/neustadt_hessen_synagoge.htm ; accessed on June 26, 2019
  2. ↑ Andrea Freiberg / Gerhard Bieker, Nova Civitas - Neustadt (Hessen). A walk through the history of the city, Neustadt 2004, page 109
  3. ↑ Barbara Händler-Lachmann, Ulrich Schütt, "moved unknown" or "made away". Fate of the Jews in the old district of Marburg 1933–1945, Marburg 1992, ISBN 3-89398-080-6
  4. ↑ a b Florian Lerchbacher, 70 of 120 Jews died agonizing death, November 9, 2018; http://spd-neustadt.de/70-von-120-juden-starben-qualvolle-tod/ ; accessed on June 26, 2019
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Barbara Händler-Lachmann / Ulrich Schütt, "moved unknown" or "made away". Fate of the Jews in the old district of Marburg 1933–1945, Marburg 1992, ISBN 3-89398-080-6
  6. ↑ a b Matthias Holland-Letz, community board keeps Nazi files under lock and key, in: Frankfurter Rundschau, August 22, 2002, http://www.historische-eschborn.de/reports/Hessen/Nazi-Akten/nazi-akten .html ; accessed on June 26, 2019
  7. ^ Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg, original document dated September 2, 1940 (Stadt Neustadt, The Mayor, "Betr. De-Judaization of the commercial economy").
  8. ↑ Oberfinanzdirektion Köln, original document dated March 11, 1942 (letter from a travel agency of Deutsche Afrika-Linien to Oberfinanzpräsident Köln)
  9. ↑ Tom Kizzia, Beacon of Hope. Part 1, in: Anchorage Daily News, online edition, May 16, 1999, in English, https://www.adn.com/past-projects/article/beacon-hope/1999/05/16/, accessed on 1st July 2019
  10. ↑ Gerald S. Berman, Alaska as Refuge, in: Journal for Hessian History and Regional Studies, No. 92/1987
  11. ↑ a b Tom Kizzia, Beacon of Hope. Part 4: Are there no exceptions ?, in: Anchorage Daily News, online edition, May 19, 1999, in English, https://www.adn.com/past-projects/article/are-there-no-exceptions / 1999/05/19 / , accessed on June 26, 2019
  12. ↑ Hessisches Landesarchiv Marburg, District Administrator of the Marburg District, listing of the synagogues, prayer rooms and Jewish cemeteries that were and still exist in the Marburg district, Marburg, May 28, 1946
  13. ^ A b Matthias Holland-Letz, community board keeps Nazi files under lock and key, in: Frankfurter Rundschau, August 22, 2002; http://www.historische-eschborn.de/berichte/Hessen/Nazi-Akten/nazi-akten.html ; accessed on June 26, 2019
  14. ↑ Great interest in documentation, Oberhessische Presse, November 11, 1988
  15. ^ Dankward Sieburg, The Synagogue Community in Neustadt. Contributions to its history, Neustadt, May 1990
  16. ↑ Thomas Groll, 80th return of the pogrom night, no date, https://neustadt-hessen.de/rathaus-politik/aktuelles/item/708-80-wiederkehr-der-pogromnacht.html ; accessed on June 26, 2019

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