Potsdam, Germany

Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany. The first evidence of a Jewish family dates from 1691. In the 18th century, a Jewish community developed along with the emerging textile industry. By 1769, there were 19 Jewish manufacturers. In 1814 the Jewish population was 70 families and in 1895, 477 individuals. The community set up a cemetery in 1743, and established three synagogues (1767, 1802 and 1903). The first was erected with the aid of Frederick II of Prussia, with several members of the royal family present at the consecration. From 1851 rabbis were engaged and reforms were introduced. In the Weimar years Jews served on the city council and occupied official positions. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, there were 365 Jews in Potsdam. On Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938), the synagogue was wrecked and the mortuary in the cemetery gutted by fire; stores were vandalized and Jewish men were arrested and taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. On November 11 a Jewish boarding school in near by Caputh was wrecked. By May 1939, there were 255 Jews in Potsdam. About 40 persons were deported on January 11 1942 to the Riga ghetto. By October 1942, only the residents of the Jewish old age home were still living in Potsdam. They were deported to the Theresienstadt ghetto.