The Jewish Community of Hattstatt
Hattstatt
In German: Hattstadt
A commune in the Haut-Rhin department in the historical region of Alsace, France. Hattstatt was annexed by Germany between 1871-1918
Hattstatt was the home of a Jewish community during the 14th century. The Jews of Hattstatt were victims of the anti-Jewish massacres that followed the Black Death plague in 1348. Some of them were burned at the stake in a place located close to the nearby village of Herrlisheim that afterwards was nicknamed Judenbrand (“Jewish fire”). Jews are again documented in the village in 1375.
The modern Jewish community of Hattstatt dates from the end of the 17th century. In 1716 there were 18 Jewish families living in the village. The 1784 general census of the Jewish population in Alsace recorded in Hattstatt 41 families with a total of 229 Jewish residents. The Jewish population continued to increase during the first half of the 19th century reaching a peak of 360 in 1846, then declined to 303 in 1861, 165 in 1900 and 129 in 1910. In 1936 there were 59 Jews living in Hattstatt.
Hattstatt was the seat of rabbinate until the 1914. Rabbi Isidore Weil who became rabbi of Hattstatt in 1864, moved to Colmar in 1873 and continued to hold the title of Rabbi of Hattsatt until 1914. The community had a synagogue, a mikveh and a school. The deceased members of the community were brought to burial in the Jewish cemetery of Herrlisheim.
After the German occupation of Alsace in 1940, the Jews of Hattstatt were deported to southern France, of them 19 perished in the Holocaust.
Some Jews returned to Hattstatt at the end of WW II, but the community ceased to exist.
The French politician and journalist Salomon Grumbach (1884-1952) was born in Hattstatt.