Synagogue community Cologne

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cologne synagogue on Roonstrasse, seat of the Cologne synagogue community (2006)

The synagogue community Cologne Kdö.R. is one of the largest Jewish communities in Germany with 3,970 members (as of 2017) . Like the communities in Frankfurt , Hamburg and Berlin, it forms an independent regional association within the Central Council of Jews in Germany and is one of four regional Jewish associations in North Rhine-Westphalia . In its role as a regional association, the municipality must also financially support other Jewish communities in its catchment area according to the latest case law.

history

A Jewish community in Cologne was first mentioned in 321. In that year, Emperor Constantine the Great allowed Jewish citizens to be elected to the curia of Roman Cologne . Many Cologne Jews fell victim to the German Crusade of 1096 . During a plague epidemic in 1349, many Cologne Jews were again murdered. In 1424 the Jews were expelled from the city; until the end of the 18th century there was no Jewish community in Cologne.

The first Jews were able to return to Cologne in 1798 after the city had been occupied by French troops in 1794. In 1801 a new Jewish religious community could be founded, Salomon Oppenheim junior was one of the founders at the time . In 1815 the number of parishioners was 150. In 1850 it had grown to 1,300 members, in 1895 to 8,000.

In 1933 the Cologne Jewish community had 18,281 members, 1649 of whom had emigrated in 1934, 1,800 had emigrated. In 1935 there were 1,209 people joining and 1,709 people leaving the community. In 1936 there were 1234 newcomers and 2049 departures. In 1937 there were 1163 newcomers and 1851 departures.

On March 28, 1938, the Cologne synagogue community was revoked its corporate rights, was inevitably demoted to an association and entered in the register of associations on September 20, 1939 . In 1939 the Cologne synagogue community still comprised the Jewish communities of Rondorf, Merheim, Bergisch Gladbach, Bensberg, Overath, Odwohn, Heumar, Wahn, Rösrath, Stommeln, Junkersdorf, Weiden, Lövenich, Hürth, Hermülheim, Efferen, Stotzheim, Kalscheuren, Kendenich , Fischeneich, Alstedten, Knapsach, Berrenrath and Gleuel.

The first deportation to Theresienstadt took place on October 21, 1941. Others followed until 1943. More than 7,000 Cologne Jews were killed in the Shoah .

date Type of transport Number of people and destination
September 25, 1938 "Poland Transport" New Bentschen
10/21/1941 Older years 1018 to Lodz
October 29, 1941 Medium years 1015 to Lodz
December 6, 1941 1000 to Riga
May 25, 1942 800 allegedly "gassed" in wagons near Halle
May 30, 1942 1000 to Theresienstadt
June 15, 1942 800 to Lublin-Izbica
June 22, 1942 1164 to Minsk
July 22, 1942 1000 to Theresienstadt
July 22, 1942 to Theresienstadt
January 15, 1943 to Auschwitz a. Theresienstadt
April 1943 Müngersdorf Jewish community to Theresienstadt
June 1943 "Full Jews from separate mixed marriages " to Theresienstadt
July 1943 "Full Jews from separate mixed marriages" to Theresienstadt
November 1943 "Full Jews from separate mixed marriages" to Theresienstadt
Autumn 1942 Kindertransport under Dr. Falkenstein to Yugoslavia
September 1944 800
October 15, 1944 300 men and 280 women to Theresienstadt, all men being beaten to death with poles on arrival at the “ small fortress ”.

On March 6, 1945, Cologne was captured by American troops. The first service was celebrated in Ottostraße 85 in the Jewish Asylum. The American military government appointed Fritz Löwenstein as the first chairman of the emerging synagogue community. At a gathering of 50 Shoah survivors on April 29, 1945, the new synagogue community was founded and the election of the community administration took place. Jacobi was elected first and Böheimer second chairman. Mr. Bramson (formerly Abrahamsohn) became managing director. He directed the return of the survivors of the Theresienstadt concentration camp. So 80 people came back, including Mr. Lewin. Lewin later led a delegation that negotiated with the then mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer , to bring other survivors back from Theresienstadt to Cologne. Adenauer then entrusted Lewin with the management of the 2nd transport, with which 70 other survivors were brought back to Cologne. Over time, around 300 came back to Cologne from other concentration camps.

New elections were held on February 10, 1946, with 14 new representatives being elected: Herbert Lewin, Arno Tobar, Siegmund Bachenheimer, Heinrich Kohn, Moritz Goldschmidt, Fritz Löwenstein, Leopold Faber, Isaak Bernkopf, Julius Jacob, Mrs. Erna Dünnwald, Moritz Mannasse, Alfred Markus, Leo Sachs and Meyer. A meeting of the new community representatives took place on February 25, 1946 with Lewin as the first and Moritz Goldschmidt as the second chairman. A cultural department with Siegmund Bachenheimer, a welfare department with Erna Dünnwald, a housing and furniture department with Arno Tobar, a finance department with Alfred Markus and a women's and youth department with Moritz Goldschmidt were also formed. Isaak Bernkopf (later Visser) managed the Jewish retirement and refugee home, while Leo Sachs managed the care center. Adenauer wanted a city councilor from the Jewish community who would serve as a contact person for the city of Cologne, whereby Lewins' Hr. Bramson (formerly Abrahamsohn) became a city councilor.

New construction of the welfare center

On May 18, 1953, the Cologne synagogue community again became a public corporation .

New elections took place in 1958, with nine new representatives elected: Jakob Birnbaum as chairman, Sally Kessler as deputy chairman, Max Ader, Benno Baecker, architect Helmut Goldschmidt , Leopold Faber, Nathan Licht, Rudi Minden, Leo Sachs as chairman of the representative office. The synagogue, which was destroyed in the war and has since been restored, was inaugurated on September 20, 1959. On December 24, 1959, two 25-year-old members of the DRP smeared the synagogue .

With the influx of Jewish immigrants from the CIS countries after the collapse of the Soviet Union , the number of members of the Cologne community also increased. After the decision was made to build the welfare center in the Ehrenfeld district in 1999 , the move to the largely listed buildings began in November 2003. Today the community also has meeting centers in Chorweiler in the north of Cologne and in the Porz district on the right bank of the Rhine .

The synagogue community experienced a special highlight on August 19, 2005. At the invitation of the community, Pope Benedict XVI. the synagogue in Roonstrasse as part of the Catholic World Youth Day . This was the first synagogue visit by a Pope in Germany.

Well-known members and rabbis of the community

State Church Treaty

The Synagogue Community of Cologne is - together and on an equal footing with the State Association of Jewish Communities of North Rhine and the State Association of Jewish Communities of Westphalia-Lippe - contract partner of the State Treaty of June 8, 1993 between the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Jewish communities in North Rhine-Westphalia. Westphalia. According to this contract, the Cologne synagogue community receives 25 percent of the contractually agreed state payments; it must also pass this money on to other Jewish communities in Cologne. The refusal to comply with this obligation was the cause of a legal dispute in 2006 between the Jewish Liberal Congregation Cologne Gescher LaMassoret (in Cologne since 1996) and the Synagogue Congregation Cologne, in which the Synagogue Congregation Cologne was condemned to pass on part of the funding. The fifth amendment to this contract came into force on January 1, 2018. It includes the regional association of Jewish communities in North Rhine-Westphalia eV , to which the Jewish Liberal Congregation Cologne Gescher LaMassoret belongs, as the fourth regional association to represent the liberal communities.

Others

The municipal council consists of 15 representatives (4 of them on the executive board) who are represented in various commissions.

The last municipal election took place in 2017. The new board consists of Isabella Farkas, Abraham-Josef Lehrer, Bettina Levy, Dr. Felix Schotland

literature

  • Monika Grübel: Since 321: Jews in Cologne . Synagogue community Cologne, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-927396-78-8 .
  • Jürgen Wilhelm (Hrsg.): Two millennia of Jewish art and culture in Cologne. Greven-Verlag, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-7743-0397-3 .
  • Zvi Asaria (publisher and rabbi of the synagogue community Cologne): The Jews in Cologne. from the oldest times to the present. JP Bachem Publishing House, Cologne 1959.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Source: Synagogen-Gemeinde Köln Kdö.R. / website Central Council of Jews in Germany Status: 2019.
  2. ↑ [1]
  3. ↑ [2] ( MS Word ; 28 kB)
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Zvi Asaria: The Jews in Cologne. from the oldest times to the present.
  5. ↑ Alexander Tyurin: The history of the Cologne community
  6. ^ Judgment - Cologne Administrative Court (PDF; 6 kB) of June 11, 2007.
  7. ↑ The liberal Jewish communities are in a difficult position, from November 30, 2007 ( Memento from December 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Homepage: Regional Association of Jewish Congregations in North Rhine-Westphalia. Accessed on July 16, 2019.
  9. ↑ Press release of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, accessed on August 10, 2018.
  10. ↑ Legal text April 7, 2017 Accessed August 10, 2018.