Rexingen, Germany

The first permanent Jewish settlers were refugees from Eastern Europe fleeing the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648-49. They received residence rights but were heavily taxed by the relatively tolerant Order of St. John. Under Wurttemberg rule from 1805, the Jews traded mainly in cattle but also purchased farm land to qualify for citizenship under the Jewish Law of 1828. The Jewish population reached a peak of 427 in 1854 (around a third of the total) and remained fairly stable in the subsequent period of marked emigration. An especially high proportion of young people followed in the footsteps of their elders in preserving the Orthodox character of the community. The first synagogue was dedicated in 1710 and the cemetery in 1760. A Jewish elementary school was opened in 1824. Relations with the local population were marked by mutual respect and Jews participated in the town's public life. With the return of Jewish soldiers after WWI a new spirit imbued the community and in 1924 a Zionist group was formed. In 1933, there were 262 Jews in Rexingen, steadily isolated under Nazi rule, but at the same time community life intensified. A youth hostel was opened in winter 1933-34 and Hebrew and English lessons were offered for potential emigrants. In 1938 a group of 38 young people left for Palestine and founded the moshav Shavei Zion. On “Kristallnacht” (9-10 November 1938), the synagogue was vandalized and burned. Of the 380 Jews in Rexingen, 174 emigrated; 128 were expelled to the east in late 1941 and 1942, mainly to the Riga and Theresienstadt ghettoes; four survived.