Leipzig, Germany

In the first half of the 13th century, there was a community in Leipzig with a synagogue and a religious school. There is no evidence of persecutions during the Black Death period (1348-49), but in 1352 the synagogue was transferred to Christian ownership, indicating that the community no longer existed. In following centuries Jews played a central role in the city's economic life. From 1675 to 1764, thousands of Jews attended the fair, mainly from Germany but also from Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, Silesia, Hungary, and later from Russia. They dealt in textiles, tobacco products, and books. In 1834 a community is mentioned for the first time. It consisted of 74 Jews living in Leipzig plus two Jewish university students. Gradually restrictions imposed on Jews living in Leipzig were revoked. In 1839, the first Jew received civil rights. The community managed to consecrate its first synagogue in 1855. In 1858, the community appointed its first rabbi, Dr. Abraham Meyer Goldschmidt (1812-89), who served the community until his death. His wife, Henriette, was a nationally known proponent of women's education and a cofounder of the German Women's League. Numbers rose steadily as a result of the influx of Jews from Eastern Europe. By the turn of the century, the Jewish population was 6,200 and in the pre-WWI period about 10,000, with East European Jews comprising 75% of the community's population. The socio-economic structure was shaped by middle-class businessmen, skilled craftsmen, and white-collar workers, as well as intellectuals. In the Weimar period, there were as many as 79 Jewish associations in Leipzig, among them, the Central Union (C.V.), Agudat Israel, and various Zionist organizations from Mizrachi to Ha-Po'el ha-Tza'ir. Jews were active in the arts, culture, science, and economic life. In 1880-90, as in the whole of Saxony, increasing anti-Semitism became noticeable in Leipzig, where several anti-Semitic newspapers were published. Attacks were constantly directed against East European Jews. There were attacks against the synagogue, and in 1926 meetings of the Central Union were carried out under police protection because of threats by nationalistic circles. In 1927 “ethnogeny” (racial studies) became a subject at the university. In 1933, the Jewish population was 11,564, of whom 3,847 were of German background and 7,126 of East European decent. Following the boycott of Jewish stores on 1 April 1933, Jews were dismissed en masse from public positions. A number of Jews who had been active in Communist circles were arrested. Raids and confiscations were frequently carried out at the various community institutions. In 1935, earlier than elsewhere in the Reich, Jews living in Leipzig were excluded from cultural events. By the middle of 1938, 1,600 Jewish stores and businesses had been "Aryanized." Despite this state of affairs, the community managed to inject new vitality into its inner life in the early years of Nazi rule. The Central Union and the Zionist groups organized a wide range of events. Vocational retraining courses for youngsters were offered and an orchestra was set up. According to estimates, between 1933 and November 1938, 3,000 Jews managed to emigrate. In October 1938, 1,652 Jews of non-Demons citizenship living in Leipzig were deported to Poland. On Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938), two synagogues were set on fire and two school institutions and the old age home were wrecked. All three Jewish cemeteries were desecrated. An arson attack was carried out against a Jewish department store and 200 Jewish stores and 34 apartments were looted and vandalized. Organizational offices were either sealed up or destroyed. 270 Jews were taken to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where eight perished. The community was stripped of its property and the oldest cemetery was leveled and turned into a playground. At the beginning of 1939, another 1,000 individuals were deported to Poland, and according to the May 1939 census, the Jewish community had shrunk to 4,284 members. In 1941, the city had 43 “Jew houses”- where practically all of the remaining 2,500 Jews were forced to live. In January 1942, the deportations to the east began. Up to February 1945, 2,580 Jews and persons of partial Jewish origin (“Mischlinge”) were dispatched to the east, where most were murdered. According to estimates, several thousand Jews from Leipzig fell into Nazi hands at other locations in the Reich or in occupied neighboring countries. In 1945, the 15 Jews remaining in Leipzig formed a community, which soon had 300 members with the return of inmates liberated from Buchenwald. Despite dwindling membership figures the Leipzig community was among the largest in the former German Democratic Republic, together with those in East Berlin and Erfurt. In the course of the 1990s, the community grew once again as a result of immigration of Jews from the former USSR.