Koblenz, Germany

Koblenz Rhineland, Germany. Jews are first mentioned in 1100. A sizable Jewish community began to develop with Jews from Koblenz playing an important role as moneylenders to the nobility and the Church from the end of the 13th century. Among the prominent Jewish scholars were R. Hayyim ben Yehiel, a follower of R. Meir of Rothenburg, and his brother Asher. In 1344, R. Eliezer ben Shemuel ha-Levi produced a sur¬viving parchment Bible with commentaries. The medi¬eval community fell victim to recurring persecutions (in 1265, 1281, 1287-88, 1337) and was totally de¬stroyed in the Black Death disturbances of 1348-49. Jews resettled but were expelled definitively in 1418. They were allowed to return in 1518. A renewed Jewish community began to develop, establishing a synagogue in 1702. The community was served by several notable rabbis, amongst them the kabbalist and Talmud scholar Yair Hayyim Bacharach (1666-69). Under French rule in the early 19th century, the Jews were accorded equal rights but community autonomy was curtailed under the consistory system. Although Napoleon's Infamous Decree, which remained in effect until 1847, limited their freedom of movement and trade, Jews nonetheless began to achieve prominence in the city. The first Jew was elected to the municipal council in 1842 and a Jew became a district judge in 1879. The Jewish population increased from 342 in 1808 to 634 in 1900. In the latter half of the 19th century, the economic circumstances of the Jews improved con¬siderably. Most were merchants in the food and textile trade. Anti-Semitic outbreaks also occurred, during the Hep! Hep! Riots (pogroms against German Jews) of 1819 and again in 1848. Anti-Jewish feeling was also manifest in the last decade of the 19th century with the spread of anti-Semitic incitement. The community was in the fore¬front of the movement for religious reform. A new syn¬agogue with an organ and mixed choir was consecrated in 1851. However, from 1878 Neo-Orthodoxy made a comeback when Dr. Adolf Levin became rabbi. A branch of the Central Union (C.V.) was founded in 1893 and the Zionists were active by 1913. The Jewish population grew to 800 in 1929. In June 1933, about four months after the Nazi takeover, 669 Jews were counted in Koblenz. The Jewish population suffered from the economic boycott and mounting persecution. Jews were gradually pushed out of the grain and cattle trade. Forced to sell their stores, homes, and land, they began to emigrate. Jewish cul¬tural life nonetheless continued under the auspices of the Jewish Cultural Association (350 members in 1935), the Zionists, and B'nai B'rith. A Zionist Habonim youth group was founded in 1935. On Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938), the synagogue, over 40 Jewish homes, and at least 19 Jewish stores were destroyed. About 100 Jewish men were sent to the Dachau concentration camp, two dying of heart attacks. In May 1939 only 308 Jews re¬mained. Deportations commenced in 1942, with Koblenz serving as a regional concentration point. The first transport for the east left on 22 March, with 120 Jews and another 100 from the Sayn psychiatric hospi¬tal. Additional transports left on 15 June, 27 July, and 28 February 1943 and in July 1943. A few dozen survivors returned after the war.