Emden, Germany

EMDEN, Hanover, Germany. The first Jews to arrive were Hochdeutsch Ashkenazim (1571). Thanks to relatively favorable conditions, the community prospered and grew from 16 to 98 families (1613-1741), becoming one of the largest in northwestern Germany. Many Jews earned their livelihood from the cattle trade, in which they eventually attained predominance. Three parnasim headed the Emden community, which acquired a synagogue and a cemetery and established a burial society in the 17th century. Communal regulations were drawn up in 1780. During the Napoleonic era, when Jews were emancipated under French rule (1808), the city's Jewish population numbered 500. Although the Hanoverian government reintroduced various discriminatory measures after Napoleon's downfall, the Jewish population increased to 802 (nearly 7% of the total) in 1828. In 1836, the synagogue was rebuilt. Avraham Loewenstamm was installed as chief rabbi of East Friesland (1827-39). His religious traditionalism, displayed in the prohibition of organ music, characterized future leaders of the community. His successor was Shimshon Rafael Hirsch (1841-47). Hirsch, the architect of Neo-Orthodoxy, wore clerical dress, preached in German, and launched a campaign for Jewish civil rights. He vastly improved the education of girls as well as boys, obtaining state aid for the Jewish elementary school. The city grew rapidly after 1848. The National Liberal Party administration fostered religious harmony and denounced antisemitism. In 1905, the Jewish population numbered around 900 (4% of the total). Few members of the community were attracted by Liberal Judaism or married out of the faith, but a drift toward assimilation alarmed successive chief rabbis. Until the Nazi era, however, most parents sent their children to the Jewish elementary school and many refused to give them a high school education. The community maintained an extensive welfare system, an old age home, an orphanage, women's groups, a cultural society, and youth clubs. During the Weimar period, the Jewish population dwindled to 700 (2%) in 1925. The German Zionist Organization's branch was established as early as 1901. Youngsters from more assimilated homes joined the Blau Weiss movement and some who were trained at hakhsharot emigrated to Palestine. Religious Zionism had a keen advocate in Samuel Blum, the last chief rabbi (1922-39). Members of the Jewish War Veterans Association and the Central Union (C.V.) were active in combating antisemitism. In 1933, the Jewish population numbered 581. After Hitler's appointment as chancellor, the windows of Jewish stores were smashed on 28 March 1934 in anticipation of Boycott Day (1 April). Newspapers, broadcasts, and parades heightened the anti-Jewish atmosphere. After the banning of shehita, a temporary arrangement was made to import kosher meat from Holland. Nazi attempts to enforce the economic boycott sometimes ran into local opposition. Approximately 25% of the remaining Jews left Emden between 1933 and 1938: 130 emigrated while 50 moved to other German cities. On Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938), organized by SA and SS men, Nazis burned down the synagogue and shot or tortured Jews. Emigration both inside and outside Germany was accelerated after the pogrom. The community shrank from 430 (September 1938) to 320 (November 1939). By mid-1940 it had ceased to exist, the last 150 Jews being deported to the east on 23 October 1941. At least 465 Jews from Emden perished and only 13 survived the Holocaust.