קהילת יהודי פרייברג
Freiberg
A university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany.
For centuries since the city was founded at the end of the 12th century, the history of the Saxon mountain city of Freiberg has also been a story of the achievement and share of the Jewish population in the development and prosperity of the city and its surroundings. Until the early 15th century Freiberg was one of those cities of the Saxon-Wettin territory in which a significant Jewish settlement was a sign of economic prosperity and flourishing trade.... There are many indications that Freiberg owed its rapid prosperity in the 13th and 14th centuries not only to the rich silver finds but also to the monetary and commercial policy activities of Jews in Freiberg. The intellectual and economic environment in which trade, financial policy and urban development took place in Germany between the 12th and 14th centuries was undoubtedly of importance for the development of Freiberg. By the 12th century at the latest, Jews who had long been reviving trade between the Orient and Occident and who often made it possible in the first place, were almost the only ones who were able to engage in money business, especially lending money in medieval Christian society. It was not a particular money-grubbing ... that had primarily pushed Jews into this branch of business, but rather the church's ban on taking interest on Christians which had been more or less rigorously enforced since the 12th century.
This prohibition of taking interest within one's own religious and social community which originated in the Jewish Torah tradition itself, changed the living conditions of Jews in Christian medieval society with lasting effects and consequences. High medieval Christian society needed money and got it - from the Jews. They stood outside the religious and social community of Christians. As a result lending money on interest to Christians and, conversely, borrowing from Christians for Jews did not fall under biblical-canonical law. As adherents of a "foreign" religion and tradition excluded from the Christian sacraments, Jews were also denied admission to Christian craft guilds. Owning land - the prerequisite for an agricultural way of life - became almost impossible for Jews. Mass emigration to the emerging cities, where trade and financial transactions offered opportunities to exist, were the inevitable consequence. In addition to retail and merchandise trade - which has always been a domain of Jewish merchants - pawn shops and pure money business remained the only means of survival.... When silver was found here around 1168, the first 'Berggeschrey' in a few years not only attracted large numbers of miners and craftsmen, but also many traders. The trade in Freiberg which flourished rapidly with the development of the city, could hardly have functioned without Jews. It was probably they who secured the long-distance trade that was indispensable for Freiberg, enriched the urban market with rare and urgently needed goods and ensured a functioning financial system... Jewish financiers and traders in particular bought the raw silver remaining after the coinage in bars. In this form it was very popular as an export good and a means of payment in long-distance trade. Apparently quite soon after the first Freiberg silver discoveries, a significant Jewish settlement in Freiberg and in the vicinity of the ore mountains emerged.... The Count was well aware of the value of the Jewish settlement in his economic metropolis and so he not only guaranteed the Jews extensive equality under private law with Christian citizens and their own place of jurisdiction, but also granted them - which was already unusual for most of the German states at that time - the relatively free practice of religion. How significant the Jewish settlement in Freiberg must have been in the first two centuries after the city was founded, can also be seen from the fact that the name 'Judenberg' refers to the residential area in front of the city walls between Erbischem and Perstor (in the area around today's Langestrasse) survived until the end of the 18th century. A synagogue usually called the 'Jewish school' in the Middle Ages, must have existed here. In any case in later Freiberg city documents a 'Yodenschule' is mentioned several times - decades after the expulsion of the Jews from Freiberg.
A dramatic change took place in the first half of the 15th century. While the Jews had been tolerated and protected until then because of their economic merits, they were now more frequently harassed, persecuted and finally driven away.... As early as 1412 the sovereign received considerable shares of the confiscated property of the Freiberg Jews. The land of the 'Judenberg' was confiscated by the rulers and given to the Freiberg council in ever new feudal deeds of the Counts and later Princes. The synagogue served as a grain store and was eventually sold to a Freiberg patrician.
The turnaround from tolerance to brutal displacement had many causes. The economic position of the Jews had deteriorated increasingly. The ecclesiastical-Christian interest ban was not up to the storm of early capitalist changes. Christian financiers and trading companies pushed Jews more and more into the poor pawnshop and peddler trade. Religious zeal and the plague epidemic that raged in Saxony in the middle of the 14th century fueled hatred of Jews and intolerance. When the bohemian 'heretic' movement of Jan Hus threatened to encroach on Saxony, the religious and social outsiders came under suspicion of making common cause with them and also of supporting them materially with money and smuggling of goods... Finally, the mining regulations of the electoral Prince August of 1534 and Christian I. of 1589 expressly forbade Jews any right of residence in the Saxon mining towns and threatened drastic penalties for anyone harboring Jews or having 'any fellowship with them'.
From the 16th well into the 18th century, Jews were not allowed to settle in the whole of Saxony - as in many other German states. From then on the electors only allowed wealthy trade Jews, mostly coming from Bohemia, to travel to the Leipzig trade fairs and other strictly prescribed 'ordinary' fairs. Not only were the routes strictly regulated, but high 'Jewish tariffs', escort and goods taxes were extorted.
This kind of exceptional right was a very profitable business not only for the sovereigns, but also for the Freiberg council. In addition to the desired revitalization of the urban market, the Jewish tariffs helped keep the council coffers well-filled. Confiscations of Jewish trade goods as 'smuggled goods' added to fiscal pressure." Unjustified but deliberate accusations of counterfeiting against Jews by the rulers fueled antisemitism among the population. Likewise popular anger was directed in their direction when the Jews were made scapegoats for the currency collapse resulting from the Seven Years' War.
"While the lightning of the French Revolution in Prussia in 1812 finally led to - albeit half-hearted - civic equality of some of the Prussian Jews, similar advances sank in the Saxon chambers of estates for decades. Neither the civilly enlightened calls for tolerance and equality of the Jews nor the Jewish emancipation efforts helped...The Saxon sovereign tried particularly hard to keep the Jews away from his economic bastions - the Saxon mining towns."
It was only when the general economic development towards the end of the 19th century required new economic structures to ensure the survival of the Freiberg region, that political foresight and economic common sense ensured that Jewish entrepreneurs and merchants could also settle in Freiberg. In 1875, 14 Jews had settled. 1885 already 50. The Jewish community grew with the opening of the tanning school in 1890 in which many Jewish students studied, and the mining academy from which countless Jewish students emerged and then made important contributions to the mining industry. In 1903, 83 Jews lived in Freiberg, a separate prayer room was set up in the "Hornmühle" restaurant for the high holidays, later in a room in the "Stadt Dresden" restaurant. In 1910 there were 111 Jewish inhabitants, which was the highest number ever reached. Most of them were business people. They quickly became serious competition for long-established Freiberg entrepreneurs and guilds which in turn increased antisemitism among the population. The small number of Freiberg Jews did not allow the formation of their own Jewish community. A religion teacher for the few Jewish students came from Dresden. Karl Lewin, the owner of the Schocken department store, made his house available for teaching and cultural gatherings.
The post-war crisis and inflation after the First World War also forced Jewish entrepreneurs to go out of business and move away. In 1925 there were 66 Jewish residents, in 1933 only 54. After the rise to power of the Nazis, most of the remaining Jews left Freiberg or were expelled. Two were driven to suicide and four were deported. The prayer room was devastated.
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This entry was originally published on Beit Ashkenaz - Destroyed German Synagogues and Communities website and contributed to the Database of the Museum of the Jewish People courtesy of Beit Ashkenaz.
דרזדן
(מקום)דרזדן Dresden
עיר בדרום מזרח גרמניה באזור סכסוניה . בעבר בתחומי גרמניה המזרחית.
הקהילה היהודית
קהילה יהודית הייתה בדרזדן בתחילת המאה ה-14 והוכחדה בפרעות "המגיפה השחורה" (1349). ב-1375 שוב התיישבו יהודים במקום והקימו קהילה, אך גורשו ב-1430.
בתחילת המאה ה- 18 ניתן היתר מגורים בדרזדן ל"יהודי-החצר" בהרנד להמן ויונאס מאיר ולבני לוויתם. ככל הנראה נוספו עוד יהודים, ונתגבשה שם קהילה. באמצע המאה ה- 18 נחנך בית-כנסת.
למרות החוקים שהגבילו את היהודים, גדל היישוב היהודי בדרזדן לאלף נפש בסוף המאה ה- 18, ומצב היהודים הלך והשתפר. בין ראשי העדה היו ר' דוד לאנדאו מליסה וברנהרד בר, מייסד "אגודת מנדלסון" לטיפוח המלאכה, האמנות והמדע בקרב הנוער היהודי (1829).
ביזמתו של ברנהרד בר הוקם בשנת 1840 בית-כנסת חדש, וראשון הרבנים בו היה ר' זכריה פרנקל. ר' פרנקל הצליח להשיג ביטול פיסקה משפילה ב"שבועת היהודים" בשנת 1840.
בשנת 1869 זכו היהודים בשוויון זכויות. באותה השנה הוקם בית-ספר יהודי.
לקראת סוף המאה ה- 19 מנתה הקהילה כ-2,300 נפש.
ערב מלחמת-העולם הראשונה חיו בדרזדן 4,300 יהודים וב-1925 יותר מ-6,000, ביניהם היו יהודים רבים שבאו לעיר ממזרח-אירופה אחרי המלחמה.
הקהילה הייתה אמידה, והחזיקה מוסדות לתרבות ולרווחת הציבור. בין השאר הייתה ברשותה ספרייה בעלת ערך. קבוצת חרדים התבדלה מהקהילה ויסדה את עדת "שומרי הדת".
במרס 1933 עלו הנאצים לשלטון בגרמניה. ב"ליל הבדולח" (נובמבר 1938) הרסו פורעים נאצים את בית הכנסת בדרזדן.
ב-1939, ערב מלחמת העולם השנייה, נותרו בדרדזן כ-1,500 יהודים.
תקופת השואה
בימי המלחמה, בשנת 1942, שולחו 350 מיהודי דרזדן לגיטו טרזין על אדמת צ'כוסלובקיה (טרזיינשטאדט), ויתרם שולחו למקומות אחרים. היו שהצליחו להסתתר עד סוף המלחמה.
לפי גירסה אחרת עזבו היהודים את דרזדן והקהילה היהודית חוסלה עוד לפני פרוץ המלחמה.
הקהילה היהודית אחרי המלחמה
אחרי המלחמה שבו יהודים לחיות בדרזדן, ב-1950 ישבו שם 200 יהודים, ונחנך בית-כנסת חדש.
בשנת 1964 ישבו בדרזדן 120 יהודים. אוכלוסיית העיר הייתה 504,000 תושבים.
בשנות התשעים נימנו בגרמניה כולה כששים אלף יהודים.
הקהילה היהודית בשנות ה - 2000
לפי נתוני הארגונים היהודים , מנתה הקהילה בשנת 2005 כ - 700 נפש, רובם יוצאי ברית המועצות לשעבר . בשנת 2002 נפתח מרכז קהילה ובית כנסת חדשים. יש לקהילה רב רפורמי, אלכסנדר נחמה. בשנת 2003 נפתח מרכז שלם לצעירים בעלי צרכים מיוחדים. בעיר ממוקם מרכז ארגון הקהילות של סכסוניה.
בית העלמין היהודי הישן הוא העתיק באזור סכסוניה . כיום פועל בית עלמין יהודי חדש בעיר ויש מרכז חב"ד בהנהלת הרב שניאור הבלין . הוא כולל בית חב"ד , בית כנסת,מקווה,אוכל כשר,חנות מצרכים כשרים , מועדוני ילדים ונוער וכן לנשים ומבוגרים . יש עזרה סוציאלית וסיפוק צרכי דת שונים .
קמניץ (קארלמארקסשטאדט)
(מקום)Chemnitz
A city in Saxony, Germany
Chemnitz was part of East Germany until the unification of Germany in October 1990 and it was known as Karl-Marx-Stadt 1953-1990.
21ST CENTURY
A new synagogue opened on Stollberger Strasse in May 2002. Other community institutions include the Schalom association, which was founded in 1998 as an independent society for the celebration of Jewish life. In 2014 Schalom had 143 members.
In 2014 there were 1,200 Jews living in Chemnitz.
HISTORY
The presence of Jews in Chemnitz is mentioned as early as 1308. Records dating from October 1367 mention a Jewish person by the name of Frondel who was levied a tax of 50 Groszy.
It is likely that in 1423 Chemnitz’s Jews moved to nearby Bohemia and from there to Poland. Their roots in Chemnitz were preserved through their family names, including Caminici (the Latinized version of Chemnitz), Kamenitz, Kempnitz, Kempnitz, Karminsky, and others.
Most Jews worked as manufacturers, mainly of hosiery and textiles, during the 18th century.
By the 1860s there were only a few individual Jews living in Chemnitz. One was a Prussian prisoner who remained in the city and worked as a tailor after he was freed. In 1873 there were 98 Jews living in the city, and they began establishing a number of community institutions. A Jewish religious and educational society organized religious services in 1874, founded a burial society in 1878, and acquired land for a cemetery in 1879. The community’s first rabbi was appointed in 1881 and the first teacher in 1885, when the community was granted corporate rights from the Saxon state. A Jewish school was opened in 1895 (Jewish students also studied in the state schools), and a synagogue was consecrated in 1899.
Relations between the civil authorities and the Jewish community were generally good, and Jewish representatives were invited to state functions. There was, however, a ban on kosher slaughter during the period when Chemnitz was part of the Kingdom of Saxony (1806-1918).
In 1890 the Jewish population of Chemnitz was 955. In 1905 it was 1,137.
24 Jewish communities from the neighboring towns and villages came under the jurisdiction of the Rabbinate of Chemnitz in 1905.
Between 1910 and 1925 there was an influx of Jews to Chemnitz. Most came from Eastern Europe during World War I (1914-1918). Most of the immigrants were registered as foreign citizens, while only a few were listed as Germans.
The community established a number of cultural, social welfare, and youth organizations during the interwar period. Educational institutions included a Talmud Torah, which enrolled approximately 200 pupils between the ages of 5 and 15, most of whom were the children of families from Eastern Europe. During the 1920s, among the anti-Semitic incidents that took place in Chemnitz were demands that Jewish students attend school during the High Holidays. In December 1932 the community purchased a large building near the synagogue and converted it into a center for educational, cultural, and religious activities.
The Jews of Chemnitz were also active in the city’s cultural life. The singer Richard Tauber was the head of the local opera. Hugo Speiser was the director of the municipal theatre.
Many Jewish organizations were active in Chemnitz, including the Jewish youth organization B’nai B’rith, which sponsored social and cultural activities. Mizrachi was an active Zionist organization. There was also a group for Jewish war veterans. Jewish sports organizations included Maccabi, Bar-Kochba, and Schiller.
Most of the Jews of Chemnitz worked as merchants and peddlers, and they formed a professional organization to protect their interests. After World War I and the subsequent influx of Jews from Leipzig who were forced to leave the city, the local commercial scene flourished. Many of these new arrivals contributed to the development of the textile industry, founded large companies, and were active in the export trade. The Schocken and Tietz families founded large department stores. Additionally, 10% of the doctors and 16% of the lawyers in the city were Jews.
In 1925 there were 2,796 Jews living in Chemnitz (0.84% of the total population). In June 1933 the city’s Jewish population was 2,387.
Notable members from the community included Helmut Flieg (Hellmuth Fliegel, April 10, 1913-December 16, 2001), the German writer known by his pen name Stefan Heym. Dr. Kurt Cohn, a member of the community who survived the Holocaust, moved to Berlin after the war and became a judge in the Supreme Court of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).
THE HOLOCAUST
An anti-Jewish boycott was decreed in April 1933, after the Nazis came to power in Germany. Jewish stores in Chemnitz were vandalized and there were many cases of anti-Jewish brutality. The Jewish head of the local theatre was forced into retirement. German newspapers refused to accept Jewish advertisements. The community’s monthly newspaper, "Juedische Zeitung Fuer Mittelsachsen," which was edited by the rabbi, Dr. Leo Fuchs, was forced to change its name and include a Magen David printed next to the title.
Jewish children were no longer allowed to attend public schools, so the community opened its own schools. In October 1938, after the expulsion of Jews with Polish citizenship, the number of Jewish students enrolled in school went from 276 to 56. The schools were closed from December 1938 until July 1939, after which they were reopened and continued to function until 1942.
During Kristallnacht (November 9-10, 1938), the synagogue was burned and all male Jews were arrested; the rabbi was protected by an Aryan physician and managed to escape arrest. Those who were arrested were sent temporarily to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where one died immediately and two died shortly after being released. The Jewish community was also forced to pay for the damages caused by the Kristallnacht riots.
In 1939 the Jewish population in Chemnitz was 2,096, only a small percentage of whom managed to emigrate. The synagogue was sold that year.
Things continued to get worse for the Jews of Chemnitz, as for Jews throughout Germany. Jews who owned land were registered in the special campaign for the "purification of the German soil.” A curfew was imposed, and during the day Jews could only buy food and other necessities between certain hours. They were also forced to wear a yellow arm band.
On August 21, 1942, the German authorities issued a decree ordering all the Jews in the city to leave their homes and be ready for transport to the east. Between 1942 and 1945 approximately 2,000 Jews were deported from Chemnitz to Riga, Belzec, and Theresienstadt.
POSTWAR
After the war there were 52 Jews living in Chemnitz. In 1959 there were 30 Jews remaining in the city, a number that fell to 20 by 1968. By 1990 the Jewish population had dropped to 13. In 1988 a monument was erected in Stephanpslatz, and a memorial stone was unveiled at the Technical University. The city began hosting an annual week of Jewish culture in 1991. Activities included klezmer concerts, readings, and dance workshops.
There were 300 Jews living in Chemnitz in 1999, after the arrival of immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
פראנקנברג
(מקום)עיירה במחוז קאסל (KASSEL), מדינת הסן (HESSEN), גרמניה.
יהודים חיו בפראנקנברג עוד באמצע המאה ה-13. לפי מסמכים שנשתמרו, ב-1295 שרפו פורעים מקומיים את יהודי העיירה באסם בפרבר גייסמר (GEISMAR), לימים הוסב שם המקום ל"חצר היהודים" (JUDENHOF). ב-1349, בפרעות "המגיפה השחורה", שוב רדפו את היהודים והקהילה נחרבה. היישוב היהודי בפראנקנברג שב והתחדש והוא מוזכר בתעודות מ-1364.
אחד הרחובות בהם שכנו היהודים היה UNTERGASSE (הרחוב התחתי), ונמצא בו בית עם כתובת יהודית מ-1642. ב-1785 חיו בעיירה 30 יהודים. במשך הזמן גדלה הקהילה וב-1834 היו בה 31 משפחות. ב-18 בנובמבר 1838 נחנך בית הכנסת הקונסרבטיבי בן 104 מקומות. מ-1830 פעל בקהילה בית ספר יסודי וב-1900 למדו בו 29 תלמידים.
בית העלמין קודש ב-1868. ב-1905 היו בקהילה 136 נפשות.
יהודי פראנקנברג היו סוחרים, סוחרי בהמות ובעלי מלאכה. כן היה במקום רופא יהודי. בשנים 1933-1919 היה אחד מבני הקהילה, שמשון דילוף (SAMSON DILOF), חבר במועצת העיר.
שניים מבני המקום נפלו במלחמת העולם הראשונה (1918-1914).
ב-1932 חיו 132 יהודים בפראנקנברג.
תקופת השואה
ב-1933, כשעלתה המפלגה הנאצית לשלטון בגרמניה, עזב רב הקהילה את המקום. שניים מבני הקהילה ניספו במחנה זאקסנהאוזן (SACHSENHAUSEN). אין ידיעות נוספות על קורות הקהילה.