קהילת יהודי נירנברג

Bella Fromm (1890-1972), society journalist in the 1930s, born in Nuremberg, Germany, to a wealthy family of wine merchants who had produced wine in Bavaria for seven generations. She fled to the USA in 1938. In 1942 she published in New York “Blood and Banquets - A Berlin Social Diary” which described her experiences in Nazi Germany. It became a best seller.

The economic collapse of Germany in the 1920s forced Fromm to work. As a result of contacts with the Ullstein publishing house, she decided to become a journalist. She worked initially as a reporter for a small town newspaper, then as a sports reporter for a Hamburg based newspaper and finally she became the fashion and society reporter for a number of influential newspapers writing regular columns about society gossip for the "Berliner Börsen-Courier", the "Berliner Zeitung" and the "Vossische Zeitung". She became well known. A typical assimilated German Jew who had little interest in strictly Jewish affairs, Fromm developed her career by meeting with and covering the social activities of high-ranking politicians, generals and diplomats. During the Weimar Republic her career flourished when foreign embassies and the German government sought her attention to gain coverage for formal receptions and dinners.

In 1933 Fromm, like all Jewish journalist in Nazi Germany, was liable to immediate dismissal. Her immediate reaction was that as a journalist her task was to cover the story. She thanked those foreign envoys who sought to protect her. She was allowed to continue her work as she was still able to count on many important local local figures and foreign diplomats who were willing to protect her. She became romantically involved with Herbert Mumm, an aristocrat who had been appointed vice head of protocol in the German foreign ministry. Although her Jewishness was well-known, Fromm acquired a special status to act as a conduit between the Nazis and other groups. The Nazis felt that they needed her. On one occasion her hand was kissed by Hitler at a reception hosted by Franz von Papen who had been Chancellor in 1932 and Vice Chancellor under Hitler in 1932-1934. On another occasion she was seated at the same table as Joseph Goebbels, the notorious Nazi Minister of Propaganda.

As time went on there were more and more rumors that the Nazis intended to act against her. She however continued to exploit her status and to refused to accede. Refused a renewal of her passport when Jews could obtain passports only to leave the country permanently, she went to police headquarters, proved her pedigree by showing that her family had lived in Germany for seven generations and with the help of an old Nazi party friend succeeded in obtaining a renewal for 6 months.

In 1938 - two months before "Kristallnacht" - she was finally persuaded to leave the Germany, again with the help of senior Nazi officials. While many Jews were lucky to leave Germany with their clothes they were wearing, Fromm left with a fifteen-foot long container full of clothes, furniture and almost all her belongings together with her diaries which had been sent on to Paris, France, via diplomatic friends. In New York she took various jobs, first as a seamstress, waitress and then as a secretary. Her diary, published in 1942, describes with a mixture of scorn and growing concern the rise of the Nazis in Germany. It was peppered with insider knowledge and details of her closeness to the politically powerful. She traveled to Germany in 1946 where her book was published in German. Fromm died in 1972 in New York.

Max Horkheimer (1895–1973), philosoph and sociologist, famous for his work in critical theory as a member of the 'Frankfurt School' of social research, born in a suburb of Stuttgart, Germany (then capital of the Kingdom of Württemberg within the German Empire), to a wealthy Jewish family. Horkheimer left secondary school at the age of sixteen to start to work in his father's factory. In 1916 he was drafted into World War I. After the war he enrolled at Munich University, where he studied philosophy and psychology. After graduation he moved to Frankfurt am Main, where he studied under Hans Cornelius. In 1925, Horkheimer became well known as the result of a dissertation entitled "Kant's Critique of Judgement as Mediation between Practical and Theoretical Philosophy" and in 1930 he was elected director of the Institute for Social Research. In the same year Horkheimer as appointed professor of social philosophy at Frankfurt University. Then in 1931 he was made editor of the Institute's "Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung". Deprived of his academic position by the Nazis, he emigrated first to Switzerland, and then in 1934 to the USA , where Columbia University hosted the Institute in exile

In 1940, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he published the “Dialectic of Enlightenment”, which deals with the concept of reason within the history of western philosophy. Horkheimer defines true reason as rationality, which can only be fostered in an environment of free, critical thinking. He details the difference between objective, subjective and instrumental reason, and states that we have moved from the former through the center and into the latter. Specifically, the reasonable nature of the purpose of action is irrelevant - the ends only serve the purpose of the subject (generally self-advancement or preservation). To be "reasonable" in this context is to be suited to a particular purpose, to be "good for something else". Because subjective/instrumental reason rules, the ideals of a society, for example democratic ideals, become dependent on the "interests" of the people instead of being dependent on objective truths. Horkheimer believed that the ills of modern society are caused by misunderstanding of reason: if people use true reason to critique their societies, they will be able to solve amy problems which they may have. In the years that followed, Horkheimer published little, although he continued to edit Studies in Philosophy and Social Science as a continuation of the Zeitschrift.

In 1949, he returned to Frankfurt am Main, where between 1951 and 1953 Horkheimer was rector of the University of Frankfurt. He continued to teach at the University until his retirement in the mid-1960s, but he returned to America in 1954 and 1959 to lecture at the University of Chicago. He remained an important figure until his death in Nuremberg in 1973 where the Institute reopened .

His most important works include “The Eclipse of Reason” (1947) and, in collaboration with Theodor Adorno, “The Dialectic of Enlightenment” (1947). His published essays included "Materialism and Morality", "The Present Situation of Moral Philosophy" and the "Tasks of an Institute for Social Research", "On the Problem of Truth", "Egoism and the Freedom Movement", "History and Psychology", "A New Concept of Ideology", "Remarks on Philosophical Anthropology", and "The Rationalism Debate in Contemporary Philosophy". These essays, which appeared as "Between Philosophy and Social Science" were Horkheimer’s attempts to “remove the individual from mass culture". Horkheimer's work is marked by a concern to show the relation between affect (especially suffering) and concepts (understood as action-guiding expressions of reason). In this, he responded critically to what he saw as the one-sidedness of both neo-Kantianism (with its focus on concepts) and Lebensphilosophie (with its focus on expression and world-disclosure). Horkheimer did not think either was wrong, but insisted that the insights of each school could not on their own adequately contribute to the repair of social problems. Horkheimer focused on the connections between social structures, networks/subcultures, and individual realities, concluding that we are affected and shaped by the proliferation of products on the market place.

Horkheimer collaborated with Herbert Marcuse, Erich Fromm, Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin.

Through his critical theory, Horkheimer "attempted to revitalize radical social, and cultural criticism" and discussed authoritarianism, militarism, economic disruption, environmental crisis and the poverty of mass culture. Horkheimer helped to create Critical Theory through a mix of radical and conservative lenses that stem from radical Marxism and end up in "pessimistic Jewish transcendentalism" Horkheimer developed his critical theory by examining his own wealth while witnessing the juxtaposition of the bourgeois and the impoverished. He was convinced of the need to "examine the entire material and spiritual culture of mankind" in order to transform society as a whole. Horkheimer sought to enable the working class to reclaim their power in order to resist the lure of fascism. Horkheimer stated himself that "the rationally organized society that regulates its own existence" was necessary along with a society that could "satisfy common needs".

NUERENBERG

שמות משפחה נובעים מכמה מקורות שונים. לעיתים לאותו שם קיים יותר מהסבר אחד. שם משפחה זה הוא מסוג השמות הטופונימיים (שם הנגזר משם של מקום כגון עיירה, עיר, מחוז או ארץ). שמות אלו, אשר נובעים משמות של מקומות, לא בהכרח מעידים על קשר היסטורי ישיר לאותו מקום, אבל יכולים להצביע על קשר בלתי ישיר בין נושא השם או אבותיו לבין מקום לידה, מגורים ארעיים, אזור מסחר או קרובי משפחה.

שם משפחה זה מבוסס על על שמה של נירנברג, עיר בדרום גרמניה מקום שהיישוב היהודי מוזכר מתחילת המאה ה-12. שמות משפחה יהודיים הקשורים בשמה של העיר נורנברג כוללים את נירנברג, נורנברגר ודה נורנברק, אשר מתועד כשם משפחה יהודי בווירצבורג, גרמניה, בשנת 1182. במאה ה-20, נירנברג מתועד כשם משפחה יהודי עם אליס נירנברג מהמבורג, גרמניה, אשר נספתה במחנה הריכוז הגרמני בטרזינשטאט בזמן מלחמת העולם השנייה.

NUERENBERGER

שמות משפחה נובעים מכמה מקורות שונים. לעיתים לאותו שם קיים יותר מהסבר אחד. שם משפחה זה הוא מסוג השמות הטופונימיים (שם הנגזר משם של מקום כגון עיירה, עיר, מחוז או ארץ). שמות אלו, אשר נובעים משמות של מקומות, לא בהכרח מעידים על קשר היסטורי ישיר לאותו מקום, אבל יכולים להצביע על קשר בלתי ישיר בין נושא השם או אבותיו לבין מקום לידה, מגורים ארעיים, אזור מסחר או קרובי משפחה.

נירנברגר שבו פירוש הסופית הגרמנית "-אר" הוא "מ-", "מוצאו מ-", מבוסס על על שמה של נירנברג, עיר בדרום גרמניה מקום שהיישוב היהודי מוזכר מתחילת המאה ה-12.

שמות משפחה יהודיים הקשורים בשמה של העיר נורנברג כוללים את נירנברג, נורנברגר ודה נורנברק, אשר מתועד כשם משפחה יהודי בווירצבורג, גרמניה,בשנת 1182. במאה ה-20, נירנברגר מתועד כשם משפחה יהודי עם ד"ר נירנברגר אשר שימש כראש הקהילה היהודית של נירנברג בין השנים 1952-1945.

נורנברג, נירנברג, נורנברגר, נירנברגר

NURNBERG, NÜRNBERG, NUERNBERG, NURNBERGER, NIRENBERG, NIERENBERG

שמות משפחה נובעים מכמה מקורות שונים. לעיתים לאותו שם קיים יותר מהסבר אחד. שם משפחה זה הוא מסוג השמות הטופונימיים (שם הנגזר משם של מקום כגון עיירה, עיר, מחוז או ארץ). שמות אלו, אשר נובעים משמות של מקומות, לא בהכרח מעידים על קשר היסטורי ישיר לאותו מקום, אבל יכולים להצביע על קשר בלתי ישיר בין נושא השם או אבותיו לבין מקום לידה, מגורים ארעיים, אזור מסחר או קרובי משפחה.

שם משפחה זה נגזר משמה של העיר נירנברג בבאווריה, גרמניה. הנוכחות היהודית בנירנברג מתועדת לראשונה בשנת 1182.  

שמות של מקומות, מחוזות וארצות מוצא יכולים להיות לפעמים מקורם של שמות משפחה יהודיים. אבל, בהעדרו של תיעוד משפחתי אמין, שמות משפחה המבוססים על שמות של מקומות לא יכולים להעיד על מוצאה של המשפחה.

נורנברג מתועד כשם משפחה יהודי עם מושק (משה) נורנברג אשר נולד בעיירה קרשניק בפולין בשנת 1915 ונספה בשואה.

חתונה יהודית.
ציפוי נחושת מאת פ.אי.קירשנר- מנהגים יהודים,
נירנברג, בוואריה, גרמניה, 1726.

משפט האחראיים על מחנה אושוויץ, משפטי נירנברג גרמניה. 20 בנוב׳ 1945 – 1 באוק׳ 1946

המרכז לתיעוד חזותי ע"ש אוסטר, אנו - מוזיאון העם היהודי, באדיבות יד ושם, ירושלים

Richard Wolfgang Sonnenfeldt (1923-2009), electrical engineer and interrogator of Nazi Leaders, son of Gertrud and Walter Sonnenfeldt, born in Berlin, Germany. He grew up in Gardelegen, Germany, then in 1938 his parents sent him, along with his younger brother Helmut, to a boarding school in England. Sonnenfeldt was deported from England to Australia two years later, having been declared an enemy alien. Eventually he immigrated to the USA in 1941 where he joined the US Army. He saw action in Europe, particularly at the Battle of the Bulge (1944-1945). Sonnefeldt's unit was among those who liberated Dachau Nazi concentration camp.

In 1945 Sonnenfeldt became an intrepretor with the US Army and very soon was appointed chief intrepretor. In this position he took part in the interrogations of prominent Nazi leaders, among them Hermann Goring, Albert Speer, and Joachim von Ribbentrop. After his military service, Sonnenfeldt returned to the USA and studied electrical engineering at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. He later was a member of the RCA (Radio Corporation of America) team that developed color television. He also did research in the computer science.

Ernst Michel (1923-2016), director of American United Jewish Appeal, born in Mannheim, Germany, son of cigarette manufacturer Otto Michel. In 1936, as a result of the Nazi regime's Nuremburg Laws, he was no longer permitted to attend school so he went to work at a Jewish owned factory which made cardboard boxes. In 1938 he was dismissed when the company could no longer afford to pay his wages. He tried to leave Germany but was unable to find a country which would agree to accept him. [Ernst's sister Lotte, born in 1928, was more fortunate. She left for France on a kindertransport. The family's financial situation became desperate. His father was forced to sell his stamp collection piece by piece so that they could buy food. In early September 1939 the Gestapo arrested 16 year-old Michel. He never saw his parents again.

He was first sent to the small town of Fuerstenwalde to work on the potato harvest and then to Paderborn to collect garbage and clean the streets. After some nine months he was put into a cattle truck and transported to Auschwitz where, on account of his clear handwriting he was put to work writing out death certificates for those who had been murdered. He was subsequently made a male nurse in the camp when his duties included carrying corpses and accompanying female prisoners to pseudo-medical experiments involving electric shocks. In January 1945 the SS forced him to go on a death march to the Buchenwald concentration camp where he was selected to go to the nearby Berga camp where prisoners were forced to dig underground tunnels for an armament factory. In April Berga, too, was evacuated and the prisoners were forced to march east. Michel succeeded in escaping from the column of marchers. After three days in the forest he found a local resident who was willing to give him lodging in exchange for working on a farm until finally he was liberated.

Ernst Michel was given work with the US army and then he found employment as a correspondent with the German News Agency DANA (Deutsche Allgemeine Nachrichtenagentur) at the trial of the major war criminals in Nuremberg. He signed all his articles “Special Correspondent Ernst Michel, Auschwitz number 104995”. Some editors used this by-line when they printed his articles. In 1946 he immigrated to the United States. At first he worked as a typesetter for a newspaper, but the following year he accepted an offer to work for the United Jewish Appeal (UJA), the American based organization which collects donations to support Jews in need throughout the world. After WW2, the UJA was one of the most important welfare organizations to help survivors of the concentration camps. Over the years he rose within the organization finally becoming its head. In 1949, at a Jewish Federation singles dance, he met Suzanne Stein whom he married in the summer of 1950. The couple had three children.

Michel later discovered that his parents had perished in Auschwitz in 1942. His sister Lotte went on to marry Sami Rein from France and the couple settled in Israel.

In 1981 he initiated and organized a world conference of of Holocaust survivors which was attended by Menachem Begin, the then prime minister of Israel. The conference led to the establishment of a number of projects to represent the interest of the survivor community, to keep alive the memory of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, and to pass on their legacy to future generations and to fight anti-Semitism.

Kurt Eisner (1867–1919), revolutionary socialist leader and journalist who organized the short-lived Socialist Revolution which overthrew the Wittelsbach monarchy in Bavaria, Germany, in November 1918, born in Berlin, Germany. Eisner studied philosophy and became a journalist: from 1890 to 1895 he was editor of the "Frankfurter Zeitung". In that capacity he wrote an article which attacked Kaiser Wilhelm II. For that he was arrested and sentenced to 9 months imprisonment. In 1898 he joined the Social Democratic party and was an active fighter for political democracy as well as social-democracy.

In 1900 he was appointed political editor of "Vorwärts". Between 1907 and 1910 he was editor of Nuremberg based "Fränkische Tagespost" newspaper. In 1917 he joined the Independent Social Democratic Party and was convicted of treason in 1918 for having incited a strike of metal workers. After nine months he was released and proceeded to help organize the revolution that overthrew the monarchy in Bavaria. He declared Bavaria to be a free republic in November 1918, and he was named the first republican prime minister of the state. Shortly thereafter he leaked documents which seemed to indicate that World War I was provoked by a group of “mad Prussian military” men and capitalists. He attacked moderate socialists who refused to accept Germany's responsibility for the outbreak of the war; in return his enemies accused him of having taken bribes from the Allies to start the revolution in Bavaria. The result was that he was hated by large sections of the German people. He was assassinated in Munich by a half-Jewish nationalist.