Jewish Families of Wiesbaden

The Paul-Lazarus-Foundation in Wiesbaden has a database about Jewish families of Wiesbaden with about 16.000 entries and 3.000 family trees and a lot of pictures and documents. The Foundation is planning to publish several books about the Jewish families of Wiesbaden. The database will be online within 1 or 2 years. Data in the Commemoration Leaflets are just the tip of the iceberg. There will be also gedcom-files. Maybe geni or MH will receive a copy of these files.

Rabbi Paul Lazarus was active in Wiesbaden from 1918 until 1938 when he and his family escaped to Haifa.

The city of Wiesbaden, capital of the federal state of Hessen in central Germany, has been known for its thermal springs since the Roman period. Historical documents from the 14th century mention the presence of Jews in Wiesbaden, then capital of the Duchy of Nassau. During the 16th century, Jewish families settled in three streets that became known as the “Jewish Alley”. The Jews who came to the city to bathe in the springs for medicinal purposes would lodge in the “Jewish Alley”, where they could find bath houses and kosher food. Jews began settling in the city during the 17th century, due to their work in the thermal spring bathing business. With time, the Jewish community in the city developed, and in the 19th century most of the city’s Jews adopted a reformed version of Judaism. During this period the Jewish community in the city split, and the Orthodox Jews established their own separate community.

During the First World War, 57 Jews from Wiesbaden were killed in action as soldiers in the German army. Their names were engraved on a monument erected in the city’s Jewish cemetery. Other Jews from Wiesbaden were promoted and decorated for their military service.

In 1925 there were some 3,000 Jews in Wiesbaden, constituting about 3% of the city’s population. A third of them were Jews from eastern Europe, most of whom did not posses German citizenship. They married early and had many children. The Jews of Wiesbaden played an active role in the economic, cultural and sporting life in the city. A beit midrash (study hall) for Jewish studies was established in Wiesbaden, in which Franz Rosenzweig and Martin Buber were active. The Wiesbaden synagogue contained a rich library that was open to the public. Rabbi Lazarus, the community’s rabbi and one of the directors of the beit midrash, insisted that all Jewish youths study Judaism and religious studies, including Hebrew.

When the Nazis came to power in Germany, there were 2,700 Jews living in Wiesbaden. During the Nazi regime, the Jews of Wiesbaden continued their educational activities – both general education and Jewish education – as well as their cultural activities, this despite the restrictions imposed upon them by the authorities.

In March 1933, some 30% of the doctors in Wiesbaden and its environs were Jewish, and several Jewish doctors were involved in the administration of the Doctor’s Association. In 1934 the Nazi Doctors’ Association, which replaced the German Doctors’ Association, struck the names of the Jewish and communist doctors from the local tourist guide, which was the first sign for the impending move to debar Jewish doctors from practicing their trade. The municipality began taking action against Jewish-owned businesses and Jewish professionals. In 1935, the authorities published a handbook that included the addresses and business details of Jews in Wiesbaden; it included some 700 entries, among them more than 200 Jewish textile businesses and 50 doctors, as well as the details of Jewish stores and practitioners of free trades. The handbook also included a list of “half” or “quarter” Jews, as well as a list of all the Jewish organizations and their members. By 1938, half of the Jewish doctors in Wiesbaden had emigrated to the United States, Eretz Israel or other countries, and at least two of them had committed suicide. By 1939, the right of another 20 Jewish doctors to practice their trade had been revoked.

During the Kristallnacht pogrom, on the morning of November 10th 1938, SS men set fire to the Great Synagogue on Michelsberg Street in Wiesbaden. The fire brigade put out the blaze and left a watch at the site. Several hours later the SS men returned, driving off the guards left by the firemen, and broke into the synagogue. Using axes, they destroyed the synagogue’s furnishings and interior, piled up the debris, and set it alight. The fire brigade protected nearby buildings from the blaze, while the synagogue burned to the ground. The Orthodox synagogue on Friedrichstrasse was partially destroyed, and a prayer hall used by the Ahavat Zion congregation (belonging to the Jews of eastern European origin) was also damaged.

After the synagogues were destroyed, the rioters turned their fury toward the homes and businesses of the local Jews, destroying hundreds of them. Jews were cruelly beaten. During the pogrom 23 Jews died: half of them were murdered and half committed suicide. Hundreds of Jews from Wiesbaden, among them six doctors, were arrested and sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp. Rabbi Lazarus was also among the deportees; he had been arrested earlier, some days after giving a sermon commenting on the verse “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past” (Psalms, 90:4). He was charged with having spoken against the “Thousand Year Reich”. After his release, at the beginning of 1939, Lazarus immigrated to Eretz Israel. Some of those incarcerated died during their imprisonment, while others died a short time after their release.

In March, May and June of 1942 some 500 Jews were deported from Wiesbaden, among them several rabbis. The deportees were led in groups down the city’s streets toward the local train station, loaded onto cattle cars, and sent to the Lublin district in Poland. After a layover in Piaski these Jews were sent to Sobibor, Belzec and Majdanek, where they were murdered.

On the 11th of June 1942, more than 600 Jews from the district of Wiesbaden, mostly from the city itself, were loaded onto cattle cars and deported to Frankfurt. From Frankfurt, these Jews were deported together with 600 Jews from the Frankfurt community to the district of Lublin. Nearly two hundred of them were deported directly to Majdanek, and the rest were sent to Sobibor following a two-day stop in Izbicia. It is not known of anyone who survived this transport.

By the time of the next deportation, some 40 Jews in Wiesbaden had committed suicide.

On the 27th of August 1942, the last public prayer service was held in Wiesbaden. From the 27th to the 29th of August 1942, six hundred Jews, many of them elderly and weak, were collected in the courtyard of the Orthodox synagogue. The Jews were photographed at the collection point in front of the Orthodox synagogue, during their registration at the police station, and when they boarded the deportation train at the city’s train station. On the 29th of August the Jews of Wiesbaden were deported to Frankfurt, where another 600 local Jews boarded the train. On the 1st of September the train left Frankfurt, and it arrived in Theresienstadt the following day. The Jews on this transport were primarily elderly or sick people, as well as Jews who had been decorated or injured in World War I, and their families. Later, these Jews were deported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz. Thirty-two Jews from this deportation survived the war.

The responsibility for liquidating the community’s assets was placed on Berthold Gutmann, a lawyer who was sent on the September 1st transport to Theresienstadt together with his son. The head of the Jewish community, Moritz Maxheimer, was also deported and was murdered in Auschwitz a month later. The secretary of the Jewish community, Arthur Strauss, was deported in July 1943 together with his wife to Theresienstadt, from where he was deported in October 1944 to Auschwitz. Thirteen Jewish doctors from Wiesbaden were deported and perished as well, most of them in Theresienstadt.

In December 1942, fewer than 200 residents of Jewish origin remained in Wiesbaden; most of them were “half” or “quarter” Jews, or Jews married to Aryans who had been defined by the regime as having extra privileges. In 1943 these Jews were added to the Frankfurt community. Twenty-five of them were deported to Theresienstadt in February of 1945.

Today

Wiesbaden has a population of 285.000 people. In the area including the twin city Mainz (Mayence), the home of Gutenberg, there are living about 560.000 people. Mainz which was first mentioned by Drusus around 10 BC had one of the oldest and largest Jewish communities in Germany.

Wiesbaden is the location of the US Army Europe Headquarters.

Mainz has a new synagogue and also Wiesbaden has a growing jewish community. A monument had been built at the location of the old Wiesbaden synagoge with more than 1500 names.

http://www.paul-lazarus-stiftung.de/en/research/shoah-victims-from-...

http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/valley/wiesbaden/index.asp

http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/de/exhibitions/deportations/wiesbaden_b...

http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/de/exhibitions/deportations/wiesbaden.asp

http://www.paul-lazarus-stiftung.de/en/research/

http://www.am-spiegelgasse.de/willkommen-in-der-spiegelgasse/geschi...

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiesbaden#/media/File:Wiesbaden_subdi...

http://www.am-spiegelgasse.de/wp-content/html/stolpersteine/

http://www.am-spiegelgasse.de/wp-content/downloads/Stolpersteinlist...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaFrCHs1ML0&list=UUiYh9iD61RNda292c...

(Please note that the list of people below contains people who lived in Wiesbaden during the 1920th and 1930th - they or their children could have been born elsewhere, All fotos are from the Commemoration Leaflets.)

• Arthur Ackermann and Chaja Schaffer
• Ackermann geb. Marx, Henriette (1863 - 1942) and her daughters
• Elsbet Albrecht and Clara and Margarete Zwergel
• Kurt Jakob Amson and Rolf Amson
• Philip Theodor Auerbach
• Carl Bacharach
• Max Bacharach and Martha Weiss
• Elise Herz
• Leopold Baer
• Ludwig and Lilly Baruch
• Nathan Bauer
• Betty Baum and children
• Karl and Toni Baum and Leo Baum
• Liesel Baum Haymann
• Dr. Alexander Bayerthal
• Ernestine Beck
• Regina Sichel
• Hans Berger and Margot Lachmann
• Felix and Rosalie Berney
• Heinrich Berney und Karoline Löser
• Lotta Bernstein and Ida Cohn
• Jenny Birlenbach
• Naftali, Gitel, Regina and Jacob Blaugrund
• Amalien Horn Blühdorn and her son
• Berta Blüthental geb. Scheidt
• Blumenthal, Julius (1887 - 1943) and family
• Dr. Ferdinand Blumenthal
• Josef Blumenthal and family
• Bormass, Moritz (1865 - 1942) and family
• Simon Briefwechsler and family
• Otto Brück and family
• Sophie Cahen and family
• Kantor Capell, Edmund Isaak (1876 - 1942) and family
• Dr. Erich Cosmann
• Ida Dreyer ge, Jordan
• Dr. Dreyer, Wilhelm (1882 - 1938) and family
• Juli Dreyfuss geb. Allmayer
• Dreyfuss, Sigmund Israel (1859 - 1942) and family
• Max Ebbe and family
• SelmaEbbe geb. Kreutzer
• Children Ehrenreich
• Karoline Eisenberger geb. Worms
• Dr. Fackenheim, Willy (1882 - 1943) and family
• Jakob Fink and family
• Barbara Fischer geb. Reis
• Sisters Frank
• Lucia Rebekka Frankfurter and family
• Dr. Frankl, Erich (1880 - 1942) and family
• Sisters Fried
• The family Friedmann
• Jankel Jakob Friedmann and family
• Daniel Gallinger and family
• The family Löb
• Ignatz Gerner and family
• Leopold Goldschmidt and family
• Caecilie Goldstein and family
• Leon Golomb
• Dr. Goldstein, Georg (1877 - 1943) and family
• Max Meilach and family
• Rosa Grosshuth and family
• Bernhard Grünbaum and family
• Bernhard Grünewald and family
• Max Guggenheimer and family
• The family Guthmann
• Leib Gutwirth and family
• Perlja Hammermann geb.Kupermann
• Sisters Hammerschmidt
• Louis Harf and family
• Martha Harpf geb. Brisch
• Eduard Heilbronn and family
• Chaim Hermann and family
• Johanna Herz and Amalia Hirsch
• Carl Nathan Herzog
• Josef Heymann and family
• Dr. Moritz Hirsch and family
• Otto Hirschrandt and family
• Theobald Hirschkind and sisters
• Rosa Hobbach geb. Cahn
• Mathilde Hofer geb. Scheinberger
• Martha Hoff geb. Fraenkel
• Family Kleineibst
• Family Israel
• Klotilde Israel geb. Ellern-Eichmann
• Family Israel Itzinger
• Julius Jacobsohn and family
• Hedwig Jakobi geb. Joseph
• Erich Jourdan
• Gerda Jung geb. Lilienfeld
• Joseph Joseph and family
• Benjamin Kahn
• Frieda Kahn geb. Kahn
• Leo Kahn and family
• Leopold Albert Kahn and family
• Julius Kahn and family
• Otto Kahn and family
• Dr. Daniel Kahn-Hut and family
• Dr. Siegfried Kann and family
• Pauline Kanter geb. Ackermann
• Adolf Kaplan
• Max Kassel
• Gustaf Katz and family
• Julius Katz and family
• Leopold Katzenstein and family
• Hedwig Katzenstein geb. Levitta
• Felix Kaufmann and family
• Chaja Keh geb. Berglas
• Kalman and Heinz Keh
• Ludwig Kiefer and family
• Albert Kleinstrass and family
• Else Roemer und Klara Klinenberger
• Oskar Emanuel Kohn
• Paul Kornblum and family
• Hugo Kronenberger and family
• Moritz Kupfer and family
• Laura Kussel and family
• Dr. Siegried und Maria Landé
• Dr. Eduard Laser and family
• Dr. Hugo Lebrecht
• Ludwig und Auguste Leffmann
• Family Lekisch
• Henriette Leoni geb. Marcus and family
• Leo Lesem and family
• Hermine Bertha Levi
• Ludwig Levita and family
• Bella Levitta
• Ludwig Levitta and family
• Adolf Levy and family
• Family ArthurLevy
• Leopold Levy
• Anna Lewinberg
• Kurt Lewinsohn
• Baruch Licht and family
• Jakob Licht and family
• Albert Liebmann and family
• Oberkantor Lilienthal, Saul (1877 - 1944) and family
• Albert Löb and family
• Dr. Alfred Loeb and family
• Adelheid Löwensberg and family
• Herman Löwenstein and family
• Sali Löwenstein and family
• Sally Löwenstein and family
• Anna Lose geb. Schick
• Max Lubasch and family
• Helene Ludwig geb. Dewald
• Abraham Mai and family
• Heinz Mannes
• Alfons Mannheimer and family
• Jenny and Paul Marx
• Moritz Marx and family
• Ytzhak Matzner and family
• Apotheker Dr. Josef Dawson Mayer
• Johanna Metzler and family
• Julius Meyer and family
• Seligmann Morgenthau and family
• Paul Moser
• Julius Nathan
• Emil and Johanna Neumann
• Erich M. Neumann and family
• Karl Neumann and family
• Moritz Neumann and family
• Sigmund Neumann and family
• Eugen and Rudolf Noerdlinger
• Maximilian Nussbaum and family
• Heinrich Rabinowicz and family
• Stephanie Rabinowicz and family
• Louis Rappoport
• Heinrich Reich
• David Reiner
• Sally Reinstein and family
• Charlotte Richter geb. Klinenberger
• Moritz Rosenau and family
• Family Jakob Rosenberg
• Recha and Bruno Rosenkranz
• Ernst Rosenzweig
• Feiwel Rosner and family
• Adolf Rothschild and family
• Carl Rothschild and family
• Heinrich Rothschild and family
• Julius Rothschild and family
• Mina and Jette Anna Rottenberg
• Else Rueckersberg and family
• Ruth Rückersberg
• Selma Salmopn other and sister
• Fritz Salomon
• Ricka and Rosa Schartenberg
• Alfred Scherer and family
• Leopold Schönberg
• Julie Schöniger
• Dr. Rudolf Schreiber and family
• Sigmund Schwarz and family
• Else Schott geb. Rothschild
• Aaron Selig and family
• Otto Selig and Frieda Decker
• Siegfried Simon and family
• Family Wilhelm Simon
• Bernhard Sipper
• Florentina BenSoliman and family
• Jakob Sommerfeld
• August and Ida Spiegel
• Dr. Albert Stahl
• Dr. Albert Stein
• Gustav Stein and family
• Josef Steinberg
• Moritz and Elfriede Steinberg
• Rafael Steinberg and family
• Clara and Paula Stern
• Hermann Kratz and family
• Eva Sternbach and family
• Mimi and Käthe Sternheim
• Hermann Still and family
• Jente Still and family
• Family Stock
• Selma Strauss and family
• Gustav Strauss
• Mathilde and Alice Strauss
• Max Strauss and family
• Sebald Strauss and family
• Anna Sulzberger and family
• Dr. Willy Taendler and family
• Ephraim Tiefenbrunner and family
• Manfred Ullmann and family
• Selmar and Eugenie Victor
• Arthur Weil
• Frieda Weill and family
• Berta Weinberg and family
• Sigfried Strauss and family
• Sara Weiss and family
• Hermann Weiser and family
• Moses Weiser and family
• Wertheimer, Arthur (1873 - 1942) and family
• Elisabeth and Fritz Weyrauch
• Julie Wiemer geb. Klein