Wetzlar, Germany

Wetzlar Hesse-Nassau,Germany. The medieval community, established around 1295, fell victim in September 1348 to the Black Death massacres. Jews returned in 1360 and once again (after banishment) in 1604. A 1626 law restricted their number to 12 families, but in return for paying heavy taxes they obtained freedom of worship and other concessions. Some engaged in the cattle trade and later owned stores or entered the professions. Wealthy Court Jews who moved elsewhere often adopted Wetzlar as their surname: Karl Abraham Wetzlar, an 18th century apostate, founded the Wetzlar von Plankenstern dynasty in Vienna. The community built a new and larger synagogue in 1756, affiliated itself with the rabbinate of Marburg in 1815, and numbered 210 in 1880. By 1933 the Jewish population had declined to 132, excluding members from Ehringshausen and other villages. On Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938), the interior of the synagogue was destroyed. Altogether, 41 Jews from the district emigrated and 68 perished in the Holocaust.