Halberstadt, Germany

According to tradition, Jews had settled in Halberstadt by 1146. The earliest documentary evidence dates only from 1261. In 1364 there was a Jews' village (Judendorf) with a synagogue. The Jews were probably expelled in 1493. It was not until the 17th century that a permanent Jewish settlement could be established. In 1644, a cemetery plot was leased and in 1661 a synagogue was built. Between 1670 and 1673, Jews who had been expelled from Vienna settled in Halberstadt, increasing the Jewish population in Halberstadt to 698 in 1701. In 1728, there were about 1,000 Jews living in the town, constituting as much as 10% of the population, and making the community one of the largest in central Germany. In 1703, a Beit Midrash was founded that included a synagogue and a library where Jewish scholars could live and study. The institution achieved a great reputation and attracted famous rabbis. In 1795 an elementary school was set up. A girls' school was added in 1826. During the 19th century, many Jews moved to bigger towns, reducing the population to 600 in 1885. A new cemetery was established in 1895 and the community maintained a wide range of welfare institutions, including an old age home in 1912. The Auerbach family, which produced most of Halberstadt's rabbis from 1863, determined the community's Orthodox character. Close contact was maintained with Dr. Azriel Hildesheimer (1820-99), a native of Halberstadt, who founded in 1873 in Berlin an Orthodox rabbinical seminary which subsequently became one of the primary institutions for training Orthodox rabbis in Central Europe. From 1914, a large number of Jews from Eastern Europe settled in Halberstadt, increasing the population to about 1,000. The newcomers strengthened Orthodoxy within the community and Halberstadt became the center of Orthodoxy in Germany. In 1920, the Alliance of Torah-True Jewish Communities in Germany, also called the Halberstaedter Verband, was founded here. Already during the 1920s, Jews were being harassed. In 1933, the community numbered 706 Jews. Physical attacks took place during the first months of the Nazi period and preparations for emigration intensified. An agricultural training center was set up; Hebrew language courses were offered; and a local branch of Mizrachi was established. In October 1938, about 100 Jews with non-German citizenship were expelled to Poland. On Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938), the synagogue was set on fire, but then extinguished out of fear that other buildings might burn down. The three cemeteries were desecrated and Jewish stores and homes were looted and wrecked. Forty Jews were arrested and interned in the Buchenwald concentration camp. The synagogue was subsequently pulled down. In 1939, there were only 235 Jews in Halberstadt. The Jewish school, which in 1938 still had an enrollment of 55 students, was closed in summer 1941. From April to November 1942, 147 Jews were deported to the east In 1945-46, only ten Jews were left in the city, all married to non-Jews. Altogether 189 Jews from Halberstadt perished under Nazi rule, including Jews who were deported from the towns or the neighboring countries where they had hoped to find shelter.