Elbing, Germany

ELBING (polish Elblag) East Prussia, Germany, today Poland. The Elbing community was one of the oldest Jewish communities of East Prussia, the first Jew being allowed to settle there in 1783. The Jewish population grew to 33 families in 1812 and 549 individuals in 1880, declining to 445 in 1905. In 1925, numbers were still at 434, as the movement of many Jews to bigger towns was offset by the arrival of newcomers from the territories that came under Polish sovereignty after WW1. The community became Reform in the second half of the 19th century. It maintained a synagogue from 1824, a cemetery from 1812, and employed rabbis continuously from 1875 on. In the early 20th century, the Association of East Prussian Communities established an office for the care of poor Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. As early as 1844, a Jew was elected a member of the city council. The Jewish-owned Loeser & Wolff cigar factory, founded in 1874, was one of the leading industrial concerns in eastern Germany, employing more than 4,000 workers in 1926. When the Nazis came to power, about 460 Jews were living in Elbing. Many left for other German towns or emigrated. In 1933, there were 367 Jews and 207 by August 1936. The community organized a wide range of cultural and language courses for those who remained. By May 1939, there were only 53 Jews remaining in Elbing. It may be assumed that those who failed to emigrate were deported, with the exception of seven persons who were still living in the town in November 1942 and probably protected by marriage to a non-Jewish partner.