Muehlhausen, Germany

Jewish presence in Muehlhausen dates from 1278. The community, which had a synagogue in 1380 and a cemetery in 1407, suffered from intermittent persecution, including the Black Death disturbances of 1348-49. The Jews were finally expelled in 1561. In 1643, Jewish settlement was renewed. The medieval cemetery was in use up to 1860 and then replaced by a new one. A synagogue was built in the 1840s. Towards the end of the 19th cent., the Jews played an important role in the local textile industry, constituting at times as much as 30% of the textile manufacturers. From as early as 1848, up to 1926, Jews were elected to the city council. Between 1880 and 1925, the Jewish population of Muehlhausen was about 190. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, it had dropped to 170. Emigration began against a background of boycotts, attacks, and a trial on charges of so-called racial defilement (Rassenschande). By January 1938 the community numbered 110. On Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938), the synagogue and the cemetery were wrecked while businesses and homes were looted and destroyed. The community's teacher was shot and two elderly women were beaten up on the street, dying shortly afterwards either from their injuries or by suicide. Some 20-30 Jews were arrested and taken to the Buchenwald concentration camp. In 1942, 34 of the remaining Jews were deported to the east. In October 1942 only 19 Jews were left in the city, most of them probably protected by marriage to non-Jews. In all, at least 59 Jews from Muehlhausen perished under Nazi rule, including several who sought refuge in other cities or neighboring countries.