Darmstadt, Germany

DARMSTADT Hesse, Germany. In 1629 Jewish traders were compelled to leave the city. By 1713, however, some 30 Jewish families were living there. They supplied the duke with cash and his army with provisions, dedicated a synagogue in 1737, and appointed a rabbi, and by 1836 Jews numbered 532. From the mid 19th century, when Jews attained civil rights, they contributed to the city's prosperity as bankers, industrialists, and wholesalers. Jews were elected to the city council. In 1857 the communal leadership installed an organ in the synagogue and made a Reform Jew head Rabbi. Orthodox members then broke away and in 1878 established a separate congregation. The city's Jewish population grew to 1,275 in 1880 and 1,908 in 1910. A branch of the Jewish War Veterans Association was established, and organizations ranging from Agudat Israel to the German Zionist Organization became active. After the Third Reich's establishment in 1933, an anti Jewish boycott was launched on 9 March 1933 -three weeks before the official date. Judges, professors, doctors, and teachers were dismissed; businessmen had to resign from public office. Nazi measures - from the "Aryanization" of Jewish-owned stores to "No Jews Admitted" signs - galvanized emigration and reduced the community to fewer than 700 by August 1938. Its leaders made a heroic effort to take care of the sick and needy, maintain Jewish religious facilities (despite the Liberal-Orthodox rift), and arrange social and cultural events. The Zionist Organization's local branch organized lectures, film shows, Hebrew language courses, and the Aliya of no fewer than 200 Jews through its Palestine Office (1933-36). Modern Hebrew was also taught at the Orthodox day school, and various movements provided educational, social, sports, and other activities for the young. On Kristallnacht (9-10 Nov. 1938), a group of SA troops destroyed the Orthodox synagogue's interior and facade, but kept the blaze under control so as to avoid damaging adjacent property. The Liberal synagogue was burned to the ground. Jewish homes and property were vandalized; two of the 169 men imprisoned at the Buchenwald concentration camp died there; and the city council made a point of charging both congregations for the removal of debris. After Kristallnacht there was a final surge of emigration. From December 1940, the remaining Jews were deported, about 380 being sent to the Theresienstadt ghetto, Auschwitz, and other death camps in 1942-43. After WWII the community was reestablished, numbering about 130 in early 1990s.