Offenbach, Germany

OFFENBACH, Hesse, Germany. After the Jews living there fell victim to the Black Death persecutions of 1348-49, no independent community was established until 1706, when it numbered about 100 families. During the 18th century Hebrew printing flourished and among the well-known Jews residing in Offenbach were Rabbi Yaakov Yehoshua Falk (d. 1756), a great halakhic authority, and the notorious Shabbatean pseudo-messiah Jakob Frank. Liberal Judaism became predominant and in 1862 about 25 Jewish families established an orthodox congregation without seceding from the community. A modern synagogue and community centre was built in 1913-16. Prior to WWI, the number of East European Jews rose to 1131 (48% of the Jewish population). Branches of the Alliance Israelite Universelle, Central Union, German Zionist Organization, Jewish War Veterans Association and other national bodies were founded during the Weimar Republic. Jews also made important contributions to civic and cultural life, journalism and politics. In March 1933 the Jewish population still numbered 1435. Immediately after Hitler’s rise to power Jews and anti-Nazis were dismissed from public employment. Boycott measures grew more severe and the community was forced to open its own day school in 1934. Having lost their German citizenship, “foreign” Jews were driven across the Polish border and most Jewish businesses were “aryanized” by May 1938. During the Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938) storm troopers made a bonfire of Torah scrolls and prayer books. They then set fire to the main synagogue, causing some damage to it, and vandalized Jewish property. Over 140 Jews were imprisoned for a time at the Buchenwald and Dachau concentration camps. By 22 April 1941, 807 Jews had emigrated. The 344 who still remained in February 1942 were mostly deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto and to Auschwitz. Altogether, 400 Jews are known to have perished in the Holocaust. Revived after WWII, the community numbered 662 in 1970.