Jewish life in Gelsenkirchen
The history of the Jews in Gelsenkirchen can be traced back to the year 1812. In 1885 the first old synagogue was opened. In 1945, after the Nazi era, a new Jewish community was founded in Gelsenkirchen ; she is a member of the regional association of the Jewish communities of Westphalia-Lippe . In 2007 the New Synagogue was opened.
history
The first Jewish families
In 1812, a Jew was first mentioned in what was then the village of Gelsenkirchen, who - probably as a member of a family - belonged to the no longer existing Jewish community in Wattenscheid . In 1829 there were already three families: Ruben Levy, Ruben Baruch Simon and Herz Heimann. In 1830 the Michael Abraham Würzburger family joined them.
As a result of industrialization and the accompanying population growth in Gelsenkirchen since the railway connection in 1847, the number of Jews also grew: in 1860 there were already 60 Jewish residents who rented a prayer room on the upper floor of the courtyard building at Hochstrasse 34, now Hauptstrasse, in 1863. Just four years later, a plot of land in Neustraße - today Gildenstraße 4 - was bought and a two-story parish hall with a prayer room with 50 places, a classroom, a mikveh and an apartment for the caretaker was built.
Foundation of his own community in 1874
In 1873/74 it was separated from the community of Wattenscheid, which resulted in the payment of compensation for the fees that Wattenscheid now missed. Only the Jews of Ückendorf were still members in Wattenscheid and only became members in Gelsenkirchen in 1908. During this time, a separate cemetery was also acquired on Wanner Straße.
10 years later a new synagogue was built , which was inaugurated on August 21, 1885 and later equipped with an organ. The congregation followed the principles of liberal Judaism and the services were organized according to modern, progressive principles. Most of the prayers were in German and the most important core prayers in Hebrew.
The liberal orientation of the community prompted the Orthodox Jews around medical councilor Dr. Rubens, Dr. Max Meyer and Abraham Fröhlich later to form their own exit congregation. In 1920 one was founded under the name "Adass Yisroel" against the resistance of the district government. Abraham Fröhlich had been in the city since around 1910, he came from Mergentheim to Gelsenkirchen and belonged to the German Orthodoxy, which was influenced by Hasidism . In the courtyard of his house at Florastraße 76, he provided Hasidim from Eastern Europe with a house as a prayer room with a mikveh .
In addition, there was a prayer room for the Polish Jews in a backyard on Arminstrasse, and the Orthodox Amos Lodge met in rented premises on Bahnhofstrasse 14. The community also met in premises on Husemannstrasse. In the meantime, from around 1922, Dr. Joseph Weiß as orthodox rabbi of the "Association for the Protection of the Religious Interests of Judaism in Westphalia".
Since 1914, Dr. Siegfried Galliner as a rabbi from Poznan as a community rabbi. He emigrated to London in 1938 and died there in 1960. In Gelsenkirchen, among other things, he founded the “Jewish Students 'Union - Chewras talmidim” to strengthen the students' feeling of belonging.
time of the nationalsocialism
The synagogue and the parish hall were destroyed during the November pogroms in 1938 .
The following shops and medical practices that belonged to Jewish families are known today, including those on Bahnhofstrasse alone:
- Moritz Groß, shoes. Bahnhofstrasse No. 13
- Erich Neuwald, jams. Bahnhofstrasse No. 14
- Markus Cohen, clothing. Bahnhofstrasse No. 19
- S. Grossmann, hats. Bahnhofstrasse No. 20
- Gompertz GmbH, Pelz u. Fashion. Bahnhofstrasse No. 22
- B. Windmüller, delicatessen. Bahnhofstrasse No. 23
- Ella Wimpfheimer, textile goods. Bahnhofstrasse No. 33
- Theodor Löwenstein & Co, Putz u. Fashion goods. Bahnhofstrasse No. 33
- Bamberger, manufacture goods and clothing store. Bahnhofstrasse No. 35
- Isidor Wollenberg, clothing. Bahnhofstrasse No. 36
- Josef Stamm, Putz u. Fashion goods. Bahnhofstrasse No. 38
- Hugo Broch, furniture. Bahnhofstrasse No. 40a
- Icy Halpern, laundry. Bahnhofstrasse No. 42
- Dr. Hugo Alexander, dermatologist. Bahnhofstrasse No. 42
- Gustav Carsch & Co GmbH, women a. Men's clothing. Bahnhofstrasse No. 48–52
- Appelrath & Cüpper GmbH, women's clothing. Bahnhofstrasse No. 49
- Friedrich Winter, white goods. Bahnhofstrasse No. 54
- Gebr. Alsberg , department store. Bahnhofstrasse No. 55–65, today WEKA-Karree
- Gebrüder Goldblum, men's clothing. Bahnhofstrasse No. 62
- Fritz Goldschmidt, tobacco products. Bahnhofstrasse No. 71
- Hermann Oppenheimer, clothing. Bahnhofstrasse No. 76
- Otto Samson, shoe store. Bahnhofstrasse No. 78
- Leopold Mosbach, manufactured goods. Bahnhofstrasse No. 80
- Leo Toppermann, tailor. Bahnhofstrasse No. 80
- Jenny Boley, menswear. Bahnhofstrasse No. 85
New beginning after 1945
In 1945 returnees and Jews who had been deported to the Ruhr area during the Nazi era founded the "Gelsenkirchen Jewish Aid Committee" under the leadership of Robert Jessel, who came from Weilburg. It was located in Feldmark (Schwindstrasse) and from which the Religious community emerged. The Gelsenkirchen businessman Kurt Neuwald led the community for many years from 1956 . It was a unitary congregation since its foundation , so it was supposed to offer a home to liberal, conservative and Orthodox Jews. Otherwise it was not possible, because there were simply too few Jews to offer everyone a special community. In 1958 they moved into the community rooms on Von-der-Recke-Straße, where a prayer house was also built. The services were held according to the Orthodox rite. To commemorate the destruction of the old synagogue, a warning plaque was placed on the property in Georgstrasse in 1963. In 1993 the area in front of the former synagogue site was renamed "Platz der alten Synagoge".
Since 1990, increasing numbers of Jews from the former states of the Soviet Union have come to Gelsenkirchen. After the congregation had grown to over 400 members, Paul Spiegel laid the foundation stone for a new synagogue at the old location on November 9, 2004. The house was officially opened on February 1, 2007. The prayer room offers space for a total of 400 prayers, and a community center with an event room is also connected. In 2019 the congregation had 318 members. She describes her current appearance as traditionally Orthodox and has a rabbi .
The Jewish cultural association Kinor was founded in the community as well as the Jewish sports association Makkabi , which was built up by Vladimir Veitsmann.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Old Synagogue
- ↑ http://www.gelsenzentrum.de/juedische_geschaefte.htm
- ^ AJR Information (Monthly Journal of the Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain , London), July 1946, page 50.
- ↑ ZWST: Membership Statistics 2013 . Retrieved June 12, 2020
- ↑ Presentation on the website of the municipality , accessed on November 11, 2019.