Jewish History and Contemporary Life and Culture. Augsburg

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1 Augsburg Augsburg is the third largest city in the German state of Bavaria, following Munich and Nuremberg (just north of Munich, pictured in the map below). Home to 267,836 people, it is also Germany s third oldest city. i Augsburg is a college town with both a university and a college. Augsburg is twice as old as Munich and Nuremberg. It was founded under the Roman Empire in 15 B.C.E and enjoyed favorable relations with the Romans for the most part. ii Augsburg became a free imperial city (meaning it was more autonomous under the Holy Roman Empire) in 1276 and remained one until the disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire in iii Jewish Toleration and Prosperity The first records of Jews in Augsburg trace back to the early thirteenth century. By the latter half of the 1200s, the Jewish community, or Judenberg, was well organized and complete with a synagogue, cemetery, wedding hall or dance-house, and a bath house. iv The Jewish community was run by the town rabbi and a community council of 12 members. v Jewish community members themselves were typically traders of cattle and wine and moneylenders. The Jews of Augsburg made a name for themselves throughout Germany. The Augsburg Municipal Charter of 1276 favorably established political and economic rights for the Jews and was taken up by other German cities. Furthermore, Jewish Talmudic scholars in Augsburg developed their own method of study and analysis, known as Augsburg hillukim. vi The Jewish community flourished throughout the first half of the fourteenth century. The local Augsburg government even protected its Jews from abuse and death during the Rindfleisch massacre in vii The Seal of Augsburg s Jewish community in

2 This accepting and protecting position of the government would unfortunately not last for long. Jewish Massacre, Exile, and Revival During the Black Death Persecutions of , most of Augsburg s Jews were murdered. Some were burned alive by the local non-jewish population. The few Jewish community members who survived did their best to re-establish the Jewish community, but it did not compare to what it had been. Less than a hundred years later, in 1438, Augsburg s 300 Jews were expelled from the city. viii For approximately the next four hundred years, the local government only allowed entry into Augsburg those Jews who had business in the city and they could not even spend the night. A couple of surrounding towns permitted Jewish residence, however. ix In 1803, Jews were once again allowed to live in Augsburg. Within the next hundred years, the Jewish population of Augsburg expanded from 56 in 1801 to 1,156 in x By the end of the nineteenth century, Jews became a significant part of economic and cultural town life. Many Jews owned and operated factories and banks, while others were prominent doctors and lawyers. xi A new synagogue was even constructed in By 1933, 1,030 Jews lived in Augsburg. xii World War II and the Holocaust The Jews of Augsburg experienced the terrors of the Nazi regime, along with the rest of Germany. Augsburg s new synagogue was set on fire and partially destroyed in November 1938 during Kristallnacht, or The Night of Broken Glass. Jewish stores were also looted and vandalized. Most of Augsburg s Jews fled the town after Kristallnacht. About 445 of Augsburg s Jews left Germany itself, with half of them going to the United States. Another 113 went to other German cities. xiii In the end, the remaining 170 Jews were forced into ghettoes and later murdered in concentration camps. Later in the war, Augsburg became a subcamp of Dachau. It was a work camp where prisoners produced the German Messerschmitt fighter planes. xiv The camp was bombed by British and American forces on August 17, 1942, to cut off production of these planes. xv Survivors in Augsburg s Displaced Persons camp after the war. Augsburg s Synagogue soon after World War II. Post-War and Contemporary Augsburg After the fall of the Nazis and the liberation of the concentration camps, Augsburg became a refugee camp for displaced persons. Over time, a Jewish presence returned to the town. Some were former 2

3 residents who survived the war, but most were Jews who immigrated to Germany from Eastern Europe. In 1970, 229 Jews lived in Augsburg. xvi In 1985, Augsburg s main synagogue in Halderstraße was reopened to the public. With it came a Jewish Museum of Culture, breathing some life into the Jewish community. However, in 1989, the Jewish population of Augsburg was still only 199. xvii Following a larger trend of Jewish immigration that was felt all across Germany, Augsburg s Jewish population exploded over the next 10 years. Almost exclusively due to immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Augsburg s Jewish population reached 1,619 in xviii Today, more Jews live in Augsburg than before the Holocaust. Jewish population at the time. xix The Jewish community sought out two well-known architects to design the synagogue, Henry Lömpel and Fritz Landauer. They designed the synagogue in the Art Nouveau style. It sits in the center of town. During Kristallnacht, the synagogue was set on fire and vandalized, although it was not The remodeled Halderstraße synagogue. An aerial view of the Halderstraße synagogue. Augsburg s Synagogue in Halderstraße Augsburg s main historic site is its synagogue in the Halderstraße area. It was built between 1913 and 1917, when the old synagogue became too small for Augsburg s growing completely destroyed. After the fall of Nazi Germany, the Jewish community that returned to Augsburg worked on restoring the synagogue to its former glory, and in 1985, it reopened. A connecting museum of Jewish culture and history opened the same year. xx The synagogue has regular services and is open to the public every day except Saturdays and Mondays. xxi The Jewish Museum of Culture The museum, one of the oldest Jewish museums in Germany, is the oldest in Bavaria. Since 2006, it has housed a permanent collection open to the public that 3

4 shows the history of Jews in Augsburg from the Middle Ages up through today. The collection includes many pieces of gold and silver from historic synagogues or private Jewish homes. xxii An exhibit at the Jewish Culture Museum. The Jewish cemetery in Hochfeld. Images: University of Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany. University of Pittsburgh. rograms.viewprogram&program_id=10844&type= O&sType=O A gold artifact featuring a menorah from the Jewish Culture Museum. Jewish Cemeteries Augsburg has two Jewish cemeteries. The first, Hochfeld, opened in It is still in use today. xxiii A mortuary built in 1868 was destroyed during World War II, although it was rebuilt in xxiv There are two Holocaust memorials in the cemetery: one of a large stone menorah, the second a large simple stone with an inscription. The second cemetery, Kriegshaber, was erected in 1627 and used until xxv It is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Augsburg, and it also has a stone memorial to the Holocaust. Augsburg, Germany, The seal of the Jewish community. Photo Archives: Yad Vashem. Augsburg, Germany, Survivors in a DP camp. Photo Archives: Yad Vashem. Augsburg, Germany, Postwar, the Interior of a Synagogue. Photo Archives: Yad Vashem. Synagogue. Judisches Kulturmuseum, Augsburg Schwaben. Collection. Judisches Kulturmuseum, Augsburg Schwaben. Museum. Judisches Kulturmuseum, Augsburg Schwaben. 4

5 Jüdische Friedhöfe in Schwaben. Alemannia Judaica. dhof%20h010.jpg Endnotes: i A Visitor s Guide to Augsburg - Geography and History. Stadt Augsburg. ii iii Skolnik, Fred and Berenbaum, Michael Augsburg. Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition. Volume 1: AA-ALP. Farmington Hills, MI: Thompson Gale. p iv Spector, Shmuel et al Augsburg. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and After the Holocaust. Volume 1: A-J. Washington Square, New York: New York University Press. p v Ibid, 61. vi Skolnik, 658. vii Spector, 61. viii Ibid, 62. ix Skolnik, 658. x xi Spector, 62. xii xiii Ibid, 63. xiv Camps and Ghettos. Voices of the Holocaust. xv Augsburg, 17 th of April, Bomber Command. tml xvi Spector, 63. xvii Skolnik, Fred and Berenbaum, Michael Augsburg. Encyclopaedia Judaica, Second Edition. Volume 1: AA-ALP. Farmington Hills, MI: Thompson Gale. p658. xviii Ibid, 658. xix Museum of Jewish Culture Augsburg Swabia. Information Portal to European Sites of Remembrance. iew/249/museum-of-jewish-culture-augsburg- %E2%80%93-Swabia# xx Synagogue. Judisches Kulturmuseum, Augsburg Schwaben. xxi Museum of Jewish Culture Augsburg Swabia. Information Portal to European Sites of Remembrance. iew/249/museum-of-jewish-culture-augsburg- %E2%80%93-Swabia# xxii Museum. Judisches Kulturmuseum, Augsburg Schwaben. xxiii Augsburg. International Jewish Cemetery Project. xxiv xxv 5