Germany went from several small states to the unified country in 1871.
German is not only the official language of Germany, but is also an official language in the countries of
Austria, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Belgium.
In much of Germany, Jews did not have fixed surnames until 1812 or even later. At that time,
German Jews took all kinds of surnames. Many of these names were based on the profession of the person taking the name. Someone who ran a small shop might well have called himself Kramer or Kraemer.
From a posting by Roger Lustig.
The earliest known documentation of a Jewish presence from
Wuerzburg to Fuessen exists from just a millennium ago. The phenomenon of the 'landjudentum', or countryside Jews, peaked between the 16th and early 19th century when, in 1818, almost 85 percent of Jewry in south-central
Germany lived in places with populations under 2,000.
There were more than a dozen emigrant control stations established by
Germanyalong its Russian border. In
"Fame, Fortune and Sweet Liberty," an excellent book on the "Great European Emigration" published in
Bremen (in both English and German editions) the authors write:
"Health inspection stations) were set up at points where the Russian and Prussian railroad lines met, and all emigrants were required to use the special trains or cars, which were now often uncomfortable."
In 1933, when Hitler came to power, there were around 500,000 Jews in
Germany and approximately 185,000 immigrated to Shanghai. Over 180,000
German Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.
In June 1942, all Jewish schools in Germany were closed by
government decree. German Jews could no longer receive ration
cards for eggs.
With the influx of tens of thousands of Jews from the former Soviet Union,
German's Jewish community has grown from 35,000 to 120,000 in the last decade, making it the only
growing Jewish population in Europe today.
German Jews, contrary to the pervasive view that most Jews were city folks, they were also cattle raisers and traders, vintners, backwoods peddlers and moneylenders in off-the-beaten track areas. And in these places, they left many traces in some of the least expected places. There is a wonderful story, written by
Phyllis Ellen Funkein the June/July 2002 issue of Hadassah Magazine that describes many of these 'places' that documentation can be found today.
Note: "A lot of the records are held, not in the local Standesaemter, but in various Polish State Archives. Many of the records are missing or have been destroyed."From a posting by Anita Springer on JewishGen
Most books, CDs, etc. can be ordered through my link to Amazon.com by clicking here >
Jewish Genealogy
"A Guide to Jewish Genealogy in Germany & Austria" Published in January, 2001by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Great Britain -This guide gives an insight into researching your family roots both in these countries and in Britain. This is an informative guide to the archives of available records and explains how to obtain the records you thought no longer existed. In addition, the guide has sections on registration, the Holocaust, vital records, Kindertransport, alien registration, useful addresses, census and cemeteries. The guide is price at £4.50 (UK) - £6.00/US $10 (Overseas includes postage) Payment with orders and is available from The JGSGB Membership Secretary, PO Box 27061, London, N2 OGT ISBN: 0-9537669-1-8
"BriefeMeiner Erinnerung: Mein Uberleben in Judischen Ghetto von Minsk
1941-1942" Roughly translated to "My Letter Living Through the Jewish Ghetto in Minsk". This book, written in German by Ana Krasnaperko, is available from the publisher Haus Villigst, 5840 Schwerte, Germany Telephone: 02304/755230. The Holocaust Museum has a copy and discusses the story of the many German Jews from Bremen and Hanover deported to Minsk and includes photos and text, but does not list names. And, along with her mother, who was a doctor, escaped into the woods and lived with the partisans.
"Buddenbrooks" Authored by Thomas Mann and published by Everyman's Library, follows the decline of a north
German mercantile family. It is set in Lubeck, and also in
Hamburg.
"The Children's War"
Authored by Monique Charlesworth and published by Anchor, interweaves the Holocaust story of half-Jewish Ilse Blumenthal, a teenager who flees the Nazis in
Paris, Marseilles and Cannes, with that of teenager Nicolai of
Hamburg, where Ilse's Aryan mother, Lore is the family's nursemaid.
"Die Familie BENIES; in: Adler - Zeitschrift fuer Genealogie und Heraldik," 21. Band, Heft 3 page 81 - 86. Other families mentioned are David, Benedikt, Eisler Von Terramare, Egger Von Moelwald, Mercy and Stern. The family is originally from
Kolomyia and Brody, but moved in 1860 to
Vienna and later to
Prague. The publication is available at: Heraldisch-genealogische Gesellschaft Adler, Universitaetsstrasze 6/9b, A-1096 Wien. $10.00 US cash only per
Georg Gaugusch at e952666@student.tuwien.ac.at
"Die Judischen Gefallen des Deutschen Heeres, der deutschen Marine und der
Deutschen Schutztruppen 1914-1918, Ein Gedenkbuch" (A Memorial Book listingGerman Jewish soldiers who died in WWI)
Published by Reichsbund Judischer Frontsoldaten in 1932 http://www.germanjewishsoldiers.com/
"The German Research Companion"
Authored by Shirley J. Riemer, this a big volume of facts and references to aid German family history researchers and it is written in clear English.. Subjects included are Books/Films/Fiche Numbers, Library Holdings, Jurisdictions, Military resources, Migrations, Resource Lists and much more http://www.softcom.net/users/lorelei/index.html
"TheGoldapple Guide to Jewish Berlin"
Authored by Andrew Roth and Michael Frajman and published by Goldapple in 1998. Reviews
Berlin's Jewish history and describes its present Jewish character. Catalogs the city's memorials, museums, and cultural sites, and list synagogues, cemeteries, organizations, services and restaurants. There is a chapter on researching Jewish genealogy and property claims in
Berlin. Provides maps, numerous photographs and an index.
"In Search of Your German Roots: A Complete Guide to Tracing Your Ancestors in
the Germanic Areas of Europe". Fourth edition.
Authored by Angus Baxter and published by Genealogical Publishing Co. 1001 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21202-3897. Cost for the 114 page paperback is $11.95 Helps trace your German ancestry, not only in Germany, but also in all German-speaking areas of Europe.
"Juedisches Leben in Alme, Altenbueren, Brilon, Madfeld, Messinghausen,
Roesenbeck [und] Thuelen"
, von den Anfaengen bis zur Gegenwart. Mit bild-/textdokumenten u.
A. Zu den juedischen friedhoefen/ [von] Ursula Hesse/ Aschoff, Diethard
Brilon, Stadt Brilon, 1991] 380 p. illus., facsims., plans, ports.,
tables. 23x25 cm. "Aspekte juedischer Geschichte in Westfalen, von
Diethard Aschoff": p. 9-12.
Bibliographical footnotes. 10. Cemeteries--Westphalia. ID # DS 135 G4 W4 H48 [LBI ]
"Library Resources for German-Jewish Genealogy"
Authored by Angelika G. Ellmann-Kruger & Edward David Luft
"The Memoirs of Glueckel of Hameln" Dates from 1690 and is a unique chronicle written by a widowed
German Jew, a business-woman and mother of 14, who lived in
Altona and Hamburg and traveled around Germany. (Schocken)
"Not of This Time, Not of This Place" Authored by Yehuda Amichai who was born in Wuerzburg and published by Vallentine Mitchell
"The Pity of It All: A History of Jews in Germany 1743-1933" Authored by Amos Elon and published by Metropolitan
"Portraits of Our Past: Jews of the German Countryside" Authored by Emily C. Rose is a family history and published by Jewish Publication Society www.PortraitsOfOurPast.com
"Stammbuch der Frankfurter Juden" Authored by Alexander Dietz and published in 1988 by Vanderher Publications in Cornwall, UK.
The Cercle de Genealogie Juive stated that the Society bought it in 1999 and that it can be useful not only for members of Frankfurt Jewish families but French researchers. Leo Baeck Institute is one of the holders of this book. The one feature of the English translation that adds to its utility is that, unlike the German original, it has an index.
ISBN 0-95141580-8
http://www.genealoj.org
"Traveler's Guide to Jewish Germany"
Authored by Billie Ann Lopez and Peter Hirsch and published by Pelican in 1998. A guide to Jewish sites in 186 towns and cities in
Germany. Provides for each entry its geographic location, significant cultural or historical sites, and an overview of its history Includes practical travel tips, a chronology of German Jewish history, a glossary, an introduction to Hebrew letters and numbers, regional maps, color photographs and an index.
"TheWarburgs: The Twentieth-Century odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family" Authored by Ron Chernow and published by Vintage
and type in the name of the country you wish to research in the search field.
This site is a great source to find information
for almost every European country.
Another valuable site to help find a person, maps, etc. - type in the
name of any
country you wish to research. This service is free. http://www.webhelp.com/home Global Gazetteer
A great web site. It is a directory of 2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted by country
and linked to a map for each town. A tab separated list is available for each country. www.calle.com/world/
Moving from one town to another
In the past, as it is now, one is required to register with the authorities when moving into town and
to inform the authorities that one is moving when leaving for another place. Records of moving are
normally stored in the local Stadtarchives. Unfortunately, many documents were lost during the war.
Archives
List of archives in former
German or German occupied territories. The list includes:
General request or uncertain cases can be directed to: Central State Archivesin Prague: Ministerstvo vnitra Ceske republiky Statni ustredni archiv v Praze 11801 Praha 1 - Mala Strana Karmelitska 2
Note: one of the problems is the frequent name changes, not just of families, but of towns in which they lived. Check out this site that Miriam Margolyes wrote about which contains a list showing most of the hundreds of town name changes from
German to Polish in 19th Century Posen Province http://www.posen-l.com/TownSearch.php
This German-language newspaper that was published in New York from September, 1944 through September 27, 1946, printed numerous lists of Jewish Holocaust survivors located in Europe. There are 33,357 names that have been computerized
http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Holocaust/aufbau.htm
This is Germany's largest and oldest state and have more than 900 museums.
There is a series of books on the Jewish communities between the rivers
Aisch, Aurach, Ebrach and Seebach in Franconia.
The series is called "Mesusa: Traces of Jewish Past on the Aisch, Aurach, Ebrach and Seebach". The 2002 publication covers
the Jewish cemeteries from Zeckern, Walsdorf, Aschbach, Uehlfeld, Mu'hlhausen, Lisberg, Burghaslach and Reichmannsdorf.
"Kindergarten Mu'hlhausen," "Traces of Jewish Past in Adelsdorf,"and three volumes of "Mesusa", covering different aspects
of the areas studies, all undertaken by a team headed by Johann Fleischmann.
Another book in the series is a "Memorbuch" undertaken by Dr. Christine Kolbet on the
Jews from Adelsdorf and Weisendorf. All of these books are written in
German. "Mesusa 3" includes photographs of the tombstones along with their printed text in
Hebrew and the German translations.
From a posting by Martha Levinson Lev-Zion.
"Bibliography on
German-Jewish Family Research and on Recent Regional and Local
History of the Jews
This is a CD available from
Avotaynu at a recently quoted cost of $65. Produced by
Angelika Ellmann-Kruger and her husband, Dieter Ellman.
The sources include not only books, but also articles from old
and current journals, newspapers and collective works - more
than 32,000 published sources, mostly in German or English.
The CD has a
full-word search engine. Ordering information for
the CD can be found at
http://www.avotaynu.com/books/kruegercd.htm.
Cemeteries
Nearly 2,000 Jewish cemeteries exist today in the
Federal Republic of Germany. The total number of Jewish gravestones have been estimated at 600,000. Photographs of about 54,000 Jewish tombstones in
Baden-Wurttemberg are now in possession of the Central Archives.
TheCentral Archives
Stores photographs of more than 5,000 Jewish gravestones of
Lower Saxony.
The oldest Jewish cemetery in
Hamburg area is located in Konigstrabe in Altona and dates back to 1611. There are approximately 2,500 Sephardic and 6,000 Ashkenazi graves. The Sephardic Jews preferred gravestones lying flat on the ground with rich ornamentation whereas Ashkenazi Jews usually placed them standing upright.
Hamburg Jewish cemeteries Date back to 1663. Although no gravestone information is offered on-line, the write-up on each cemetery details the number of graves, whether any graves have been relocated, whether the cemetery is still open and the district it is located in. http://www.studyweb.com/links/2081.html
Central Archives for Research on the History of the Jews in Germany
A very interesting site.
Gayle Riley put on Viewmate, an example of a most interesting list of
householders from Gemeinde Dzikow (Tarnobrzeg)"When Gayle asked
me about this last week, I suggested that she post it on Viewmate so
that others more expert in German than I have a crack at
interpreting the material. But, in short, it is a list of householders."
This was a typical list constructed for the
purposes of taxation. The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish
People has such lists for many districts but most of them are much, much
later than the 1853 list given to Gayle. Indeed, the ones I've seen are
from the 1920-1935 period when the territory was Polish."
"The left side of the page simply lists the householder and house
number. The word "Gattung" means kind in English
but all of the places in the column in Gayle's example appear to be of
the same kind. What the word is, I have no idea."
"The heading over the first columns on the right side of the page refers
to the building where the householder lives, with one side saying
something about the contents and the other seemingly referring to the
annual tax in florins and kroner. I can't see the words in the next
narrow column under that heading."
"The next bifurcated column is for the recording of the householder's
worth in terms of assets, investments, etc. The final column, is, as
always, for Anmerkung or comments."
"These lists are extremely valuable because, although they don't list
wives and children like censuses, they provide a window into every male
adult living in the Gemeinde in that year and the approximate and
relative worth of the family." From a posting by Suzan Wynne http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/institute/sonst/aj/
Click on "For English Summary" if you cannot read German. There is a list of records available from 1945 to 1995 and papers of the Cantor Edmund Capell from 1905 - 1937, plus
various family papers.
Central Council of Jews
Salomon Korn replaced Michel Friedman as a vice president. The President of the Central
Council of Jews in Germany is Paul Spiegel.
Denk.Mal Project
On 5 May 2008,
Austria’s
National Commemoration Day Against Violence and Racism in
Remembrance of Victims of National Socialism, students
from all over Austria constructed an elaborate and moving
Holocaust memorial on Vienna’s Heldenplatz - The
Denk.Mal.
This memorial was dedicated to the more than 80,000
Austrians
– Jews, political and religious dissidents, homosexuals, people
with disabilities, Roma (gypsies), and other groups and
individuals singled out by the Nazis for persecution and
extermination – who were murdered in the Holocaust. http://www.lettertothestars.at/en/page_id_108.html
Disease
Old disease terminology and symbols, professions terminology and genealogical symbols (much in German, but the same site offers a translation service) plus more at http://www.genealogienetz.de/genealogy.html
Europages
Business 2 business company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access,
international and European business directory (professional services, addresses and business classifieds http://www.europages.net
In the final days of WW II,
an elite unit of the British marines and navy was charged with a
particularly dangerous task on the front lines. The
Thirtieth Assault or Advanced Unit (30AU), otherwise known as
the "Document Commandos," was allegedly the brainchild of
Ian Fleming; its mission was to seize German archives before
they were destroyed. The reason why this was so important
was that he realized that the horrors of the Holocaust were so
incredible that they would have to be meticulously documented to
be believe.
The entire naval archives
had been moved from Berlin to Tambach Castle, not far
from Nuremburg. They had been slated for
destruction; gasoline and wood had been obtained to burn them,
but in the harsh winter of 1944-45, the fuel had been put to
more constructive use.
Three hundred tons of
German documents were eventually seized, crated and shipped
to London. By prior agreement, all seized documents were
owned jointly by the British and the Americans.
The U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence immediately began
to microfilm the Tambach archives. The project
ended up with 4,061 rolls of microfilm. The National
Archives' collection of German documents captured includes far
more than WW II material as they include 1,624 reels of naval
documents (800-900 frames per reel) from before 1920.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/special_forces_in_world_war_two.htm
German and European Passenger Departure Records Links
Genealogy/german-faq offers lots and lots of links and answers to questions about German genealogy.
An excellent place to start. http://www.genealogienetz.de/faqs/sgg.html
German Migration Resource Center Research tools at this site include a selected list of books about German
Genealogy and German migration and links to other sites http://www.germanmigration.com/
German Roots An especially helpful web site for the beginning or intermediate genealogist is this site which offers
links to the 'best of' on-line resources for census records, emigration, databases, history and maps http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/
German Jewish Records
On-line information about microfilmed reels and what they contain including lists of Jews
deported from Germany and extensive material from concentration camp records, primarily from camps located in the US occupied zone of Germany,
though there are records from other camps, as well.
The microfilmed copies are now housed at the US National Archives (NARA) and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum
(USHMM, Washington, DC) has a catalog of the 189 reels (about 189,000 frames or pages). Deportation lists from various cities are included, varying by city.
Until Arolsen International Red Cross Records are made public, or until Israel permits the filmed collection of these records (prepared in the 1950s and held in Yad Vashem) to be copied and made available outside of Yad Vashem, this is the largest available collection. It can be seen at NARA in College Park, Maryland, or at the USHMM. The bulk, however, are
concentration camp records, including arrival and 'departure' (releases, transfers and death) lists.
Given the enormity of the collection, it would be impossible for NARA staff to search for family names or even individuals
unless very specific information on the person being sought is provided. If you have such information available, you can
send an inquiry via e-mail tojames.kelling@nara.gov or you may request searches at the Holocaust Museum at
registry@ushmm.org Remember to make any requests as specific as possible and the USHMM staff will search this and
other collections.
The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation has an office in
Wurzburg, Germany which offers to assist those who are searching for
their Jewish Roots in Germany. It is The "Ephraim Gustav-Hoenlein Genealogy Project". Rabbi Binjamin Krauss is
the director of the foundation's Frankfurt Center and archivist Michael Schneeberger oversees the work at the
Wurzburg
office.
Queries are processed through the Lauder office in Frankfurt at
bbkrauss@hotmail.com Phone: 011 494 69 7137, or Fax 011 49 69 7137 4629 www.rslfoundation.org
German Jewish Newspapers
Der Israelit Published from 1860 to 1938 in Frankfurt and was a major newspaper for observant Jews. the Leo Baeck Institute may
have copies lbil@interport.net and their address was
123 East 73rd St.,
New York 10021. It is now part of the Center for Jewish History in New York.
Names including Kaufmann, Handelsmann, and Handler.Because of the 'skewed' societies, from a modern view, in which the Jews lived in Central Europe, these commercial terms are almost meaningless, for the following reasons.
The area at the time was divided into social classes which were: Nobility, Clergy, Peasants, and Commoners. The Jews
certainly didn't fit into the first 3, while the Christian population of the 4th were mainly concerned with keeping Jews out (hence, the 'shtetls', guilds, etc.). Notice, no merchants, craftsmen, etc., except for Group 4. The Jews partly filled the gap, such as it was, becoming an 'alternate commercial class'. So, it was very common for a Jew to be a "Trader" (Handler),
whether this meant retailing goods from a wagon or a backpack to remote farms and villages, or being a cattle dealer, a pushcart vendor, or door-to-door peddling (Hausierer) or whatever. Some of this was done part-time, in addition to farming
or whatever.
There are stories, no doubt true, of how much ingenious frantic activity was carried out for ridiculously small profits. Still,
it was common for them to know nothing else.
National governments, especially in German lands, considered this anti-social behavior, and basically opened trades to Jews, and made the old occupations more and more unpleasant for
them, to force them into them, besides other restrictions. Some of them learned a trade, but quickly emigrated after doing so. This turned out to be a wise (and/or lucky) move.
The above information was posted by Edward Konig
konige@worldnet.att.net
"Thus, the German government today still determines the structure and nature of local Jewish communal authorities
(known as Israelitische Kultusgemeinde), the qualifications of rabbis, teachers and other officials--and pays their salary."
"In about 1830/1840, in
Wurttemberg(Germany) the State passed a law that only university graduates or similar could
be a rabbi. They also had to be able to deliver a sermon in German. This I found in this following very interesting book:
"Portraits of Our Past: Jews of the German Countryside"
Author: Emily C. Rose - Publication Date: 2001- No. of Pages: 372
Publisher: The Jewish Publication Society 2100 Arch St., 2nd Fl. Philadelphia, PA 19103 Tel: 800-234-3151; fax: 215-568-2017 http://www.jewishpub.org
Comments: over 75 illustrations, maps, tables, family trees; bibliography Available at: Leo Baeck Institute. It is based on the lives of the antecedents of Emily Rose who came from
Wurttemberg.
She links their lives to the political and economic developments of the times. My own family has similar origins in Southern Germany."
From a posting by Nick Landau London, UK. Landau@btopenworld.com
Zentralwohlfahrtsstelle der Juden in Deutschland e.V. D-6000-1 Frankfurt, Germany
Judische Gemeinde Dusseldorf D-40476 Dusseldorf, Germany
Judische Gemeinde Munchen D-80469 Munich, Germany
Jewish Festival in Germany - (in German)
Homepage der Tage dere judischen Kultur Chemnitz Seit 1992, Theater, Literatur, Ausstellungen, Kinderprogramme http://www.tdjk.de/
Jewish Life in Germany
A site about Jewish life in Germany, with resources, addresses and many other things. Site is in German http://www.judaism.de/
Books
"Judische Geschichte in Berlin" In German, about German life in Berlin from 1300 to 1994. Published in 1995 ISBN 3-89468-181-0
Jewish Museum of Berlin
Houses the largest Jewish Museum/Holocaust memorial in Europe. Exhibitions are planned that will shed light on the
lives and fates of German speaking Jews. There is a virtual tour of the building at
http://www.jmberlin.de
The institute is a research, study and lecture center whose library and archives offer the most comprehensive
documentation for the study of German Jewish history. Located at The
Center for Jewish History 15 West 16th St. New York, NY 10011 lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org Telephone: 212 744 6400 Fax 212 988 1305. There is also two branches:
LBI 4 Devonshire Street London
A reference library. The Director is Dr. Peter Honigmann Zentralarchiv Bienenstr.5,
69117 Heidelberg, Germany Telephone: +49 0 6221/164141 Fax: +49 0 6221/181049
E-mail: Zentralarchiv@urz.uni-heidelberg.de
Maps
Former German area maps now in
Poland, Russia, Czech Republic - a commercial site offering maps of
Western Pomerania, East Brandenburg - Lower Silesia, Trans Pomerania, SouthernPomerania Middle Silesia, Upper Silesia, SouthernEast Prussia, West and East Prussia, Northern East Prussia including the
Memel (Klapedia) area, Eger and Northern Bohemia, Eastern Bohemia and more http://www.genealogyunlimited.com/hofer.html
At the web site, you can download Gothic 1 Regular for Macintosh and Gothic Zip for Windows and there is additional links
to more information about German fonts that maybe of help in your translation of old
German scripts http://babel.uoregon.edu/yamada/fonts/germanic.html
According to an e-mail I received from Michael Bernet, "The 'gothic' alphabet won't be of much use to any researcher into
Jewish genealogy -- it's a face created by Bishop Ulfilas (A.D.c311-c382), Christian bishop to the Goths who translated the Christian Bible into the Gothic language." "I doubt that a dozen Jews at that time even understood Gothic, and I'm pretty
sure none left any records written in Gothic."
The Journal of German-Jewish Genealogical Research - Werner L. Frank, Editor. The scope focuses on
Germany and
includes Austria, Switzerland, Alsace, Bohemia and other areas with linguistic and historic relevance. TheStammbaum
website http://www.lbi.org/Stammbaum.html
This site includes a walk-through several pre-Holocaust German synagogues. One is the synagogue on
Oranienburgerstrasse in Berlin and another is one in Frankfurt/Main.
Many towns have websites. It would be something like www.dortmund.de
Affaltrach
Cemetery Has a well kept Jewish cemetery
Augsburg
One of Germany's oldest cities, it was founded by Augustus Caesar's stepsons in 15 B.C.E. Between the 15th and 17th centuries, it was one of Europe's highest finance centers, attracting medieval Jews from all over Central Europe. The first known mention of Jews was Joseph von Augsburg in 1212. By 1259, a teaching academy existed, and in 1298 and in
1336, city authorities stopped potential massacres.
Vintners, cattle dealers and moneylenders lived below
Judenberg and near Karlstrasse. By the 20th century, there were
1,156 Jews who were also involved in textiles and commerce, and a book business - The Shocken Press. More information about this area can be found in an article "The Romantic Road" - authored by Phyllis Ellen Funke, and published in the June/July 2002 issue of Hadassah Magazine. See the archives at http://hadassah.org
This city's architecture dates from the 15th through the 17th centuries and is a city of 70,700. The city's industries
include beer as well as textiles and leather goods. It was ruled by prince-bishops from the 13th century until 1801
and annexed by Bavaria in 1802.
The town dates to the year 902, and began to prosper in the twelfth century.
Bamberg was the second city (after Mainz)
to introduce book printing. It has a beautiful medieval inner city that was renovated and restructured in baroque times.
Cemetery There is a Jewish cemetery visited by Michael Bernet in 2000.
On
May 28, 1942, approximately 200 Berlin Jews are executed in
retaliation for the burning of the anti-Soviet exhibition on May
18th.
The elected president of Berlin's Jewish community is Alexander Brenner, replacing Andreas Nachama on May 2, 2001.
The Berlin Jewish community, Germany's largest, has increased from about 6,000 to about 12,000 during the last 10
years with the arrival of new immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Joel Levy is the founding Chair of the Ronald S.
Lauder Foundation in Berlin.
Berlin Stiftung "Neue Synagogue Centrum Judaicum", apparently holds civil records . For your information, they state that
they hold includes files from almost 400 German Jewish Communities, including more than 1000 files from
Berlin
(1827-1945), and inventories of Jewish organizations, smaller estates, and collections. This inventory has been
microfilmed and digitized, and can thus be viewed on reader-printer or computer. http://www.cjudaicum.de/ Berlin Address
Book Offering both addresses and streets from 1799 until 1943. It is *not* the Jewish address book discussed in 2000 on
GERSIG. It is a general one and it is online! However it is slightly tricky since the addresses and names are in Gothic
alphabet and though there are instructions in English the text is in German. It has some drawbacks especially with
umlauts and the combination of the letters c+h. It also gives the profession but no telephone number.
From a posting by Jacob Rosen on JewishGen http://adressbuch.zlb.de/index.htm
Cemeteries WeissenseeCemetery The Centrum Judaicum does have records from the Weissensee Cemetery on microfilm, you can get a copy of burial cards, burial permits, and other information by writing to the cemetery in German, preferably, directly.
There are 115,000 graves. The Centrum
Judaicum does not have copies of death certificates or any other information that is not at the cemetery.
For copies of death certificates, you need to know the neighborhood in Berlin where the death occurred and was
registered. That information should be on the burial permit you get from the cemetery
A documentary, "In
Heaven, Underground" directed by Britta Wauer, has its
somber moments, but its tone is mostly cheerful as it explores
the history behind the gravestones. www.7thart.com
Berlin Death Records You should be able to obtain the death certificate for the person through the office covering the area in which the person
died. The Berlin registration office (Standesamt) addresses are obtained
http://www.berlin.de/standesamt1/standesaemter_in_berlin.html
TheBerlin's New Synagogue Used for worship until 1940 when the building was sequestered, and its vast cellar was then used as an air-raid shelter
before being destroyed by an air-raid. It was rebuilt in the late 1980s and is now the Jewish Center.
Obituaries The Jews of Berlin, from about 1900 until 1933, published their death
notices in a daily paper, Berliner Tageblatt, and that is the
best place to search for deaths. The paper was a liberal daily,
read by all of the Jews of Berlin and it was considered to be "the
Jewish paper".
The death notices are
often large, black framed ads, full of information about the deceased, a
list of surviving family members, etc. The entire run of the paper
is available on microfilm at major libraries.
From a posting by Jim Bennett http://www.berlinertageszeitung.de/
Reinickendorf
A district in northern Berlin and includes: Tegel, Wittenau, Dalldorf, Hermsdorf, Frohnau, Waidmannslust, Luebars,
Borsigwalde, Tegelort, Konradshoehe, Joersfeld, Heiligensee, Freie Scholle and Schulzendorf. Few, if any Jews lived in
this area.
A former
West German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, opened a synagogue and community center inKrefeldon
9-14-08
for the growing Jewish community. In 2008, there were about 300 Jews living in and around the area. The original
synagogue was destroyed by fire in 1938. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0003_0_02951.html
Birthplace of Ludwig Beethoven, Bonn was once a
Roman colony with a population of
300,000. It survived WW II bombings that leveled one third
of the city's inner core and served as West Germany's capital
from 1949 until after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_ 0004_0_03309.html
Boppard
A resort town on the Rhine River, about 2 hours north of
Frankfurt.
Synagogue There is an old Jewish cemetery in the woods
behind the sports complex that is in good condition.
"Es is Nicht Leicht, Daruber Zu Sprechen: Der November
Pogrom 1938 in Kreis
Borken" (It is not easy to talk about it: the November 1938 pogrom in County Borken)
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html
Brandenburg Prussia Emigration Index
A commercial site. These records are also available on microfiche from the
Family History Library under the title: Brndenburgishes Landeshauptarchiv Potsdam.
FHL microfiche #6109219, a
total of 22 Fiches http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/emigration.html
"Brunsvicensia Judaica Gedenkbuch fur die Judischen
Mitburger der Stadt
Braunschweig 1933-1945; Waisenhaus-Buchdruckerei und Veriag
Braunschweig Autotypien" (The Jews of Braunschweig: Memory Book for the Jewish Citizens of the city of Braunschweig 1933-1945) http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html
A Society for the Promotion of the former Jewish Community Center in Breisach, is headed by Dr. Walesch-Schneller and
other residents of the town. They are researching local Jewish history, organize visits for Jews originally from
Breisach
and offer other cultural programs. There are three Jewish families now living in the town.
Bremerhaven The port of the city of
Breman, both of which together form part of the German state of Bremen.
Today's zip code of the
city center which includes the town hall with its archives, would be D-27568.
There appears to be between twenty to thirty microfilms containing records of this Jewish community in the FHL
Archives. Births: 1184384; Marriages 1184389; Families: 1184402
Breslau Had become an entrance gate to
Prussia and other parts of Germany for Jews from
Galicia and the Posen province
probably because the "Schutzjuden" were only allowed to many one son in
Breslau -- so that many stayed only for one generation in
Breslau.
Cemetery
There is a Jewish cemetery located behind the sports complex near some woods.
It is surrounded by a chain link fence and is in good condition with about 150 graves, some recent, some 19th century,
some overgrown and some well-kept. All had names, dates and some in Hebrew with some in
German or a combination
as reported by Sherry Levy-Reiner who visited the area Slevyrei@aol.com
Buttenhausen
There was a Jewish presence prior to WW II.
Ivan Greenhut drgreen@knology.nethas an English translation of
"Jeden in Buttenhausen".
Buttenheim
A market town in northern
Bavaria near Bamberg where Levi Strauss (the inventor of 'Jeans')
was born. There is now
a museum dedicated to 'Jeans' in the town. Jews settled in this town in the 17th century. A synagogue was built around
1740 and by 1810, Jews were one-fifth of the town's population.
Cemetery
A Jewish cemetery was established on a low hill just
outside of the town in 1819.
Located near
Bergen-Belsen, it has a synagogue Im Kreise 23-24 Phone 49-58-1971-2584
Synagogue Synagogue was built around 1740 and has been restored and houses an exhibit about the
Jewish Community's history
Chemnitz
There was a Jewish presence here before WW II. A new synagogue was inaugurated on May 24, 2002 in
this eastern German city which costs $4.1 million to replace the synagogue destroyed by the Nazis. The
building also houses a
library and center for the city's 500 member Jewish community. http://levi-strauss-museum.com
Chusum
There was a Jewish presence here before WW II
Cologne
There was a Jewish presence here before WW II. It is a significant railroad center and a port of great commercial
importance. Industries include textiles, pharmaceuticals, chocolate and the perfume, eau de cologne. The old part is characterized by a maze of narrow, crooked streets.
On May 31, 1942, the RAF deployed the "Thousand Bomber Raid" for the
first time against this city and the raid proved as impressive as it
was destructive. By dawn, Cologne lay in ruins.
Museum in Cologne In German, but Google will translate into English.
You can
search for victims of the Nazi-regime from the Cologne area. http://www.museenkoeln.de/homepage/default.asp
Liberal Jewish Congregation Cologne, Gescher LaMassoret e.V This is the website of the Liberal Jewish Congregation Cologne, Gescher LaMassoret e.V. Contact, links, activities.
Located on Roonstrasse. Paul Spiegel is president of the German Jewish Community in 2005. http://www.gescherlamassoret.de/en/
Constance
Cemetery There is an old Jewish cemetery in this town.
Sigmund (Zygmunt in Polish) Nissenbaum, built a synagogue in this
community after moving here and
making his mark in real estate and import-export businesses. Sigmund, after
returning to his native Poland after 40 years, and finding the Jewish cemeteries in Poland in terrible condition, funded
the
restoration of many cemeteries and synagogues throughout Poland thorough his Nissenbaum Foundation
in Warsaw.
He died in August, 2001 and is buried in Constance Jewish cemetery.
"The Jewish Community of Cottbus 1930s -
1945" A list of about 800 names of Jewish families from this city, located southwest of
Berlin www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/cottbus/cottbus.html
Creglingen
There is a Jewish Museum
(Juedisches Museum Creglingen) Badgasse 3
The court Jew's residence is now the green
baroque Gruener Hof Inn. Cemetery There are several Jewish cemeteries and in nearby
Archshofen
Synagogue The Wuerzburg synagogue in the community center complex serves a growing Jewish
population today.
The original synagogue location is marked by a plaque. A canal with a waterwheel fed the 1821
mikva'ot'oth.
Regional Special Interest Groups
The site includes links to Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG,
Hungary SIG and Stammbaum
German SIG at http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html
Dietesheim am Main
A book, authored by Mr. Joeg Neumeister-Jung, discusses the Jewish population of the town. Further information is
available by contacting Steven Warner SWarner317@aol.com
Dinkelsbuehl
Jews that can trace their roots here include the Feuchtwangen family which includes the writer Leon and musician Peter. Nearby
Schoplach retains its original timbered Jewish school, and on an opposite pink wall, a synagogue memorial. Jews
once comprised over 300 of the total population. A patois developed here, a mix of Yiddish, Hebrew, German and the
local dialect. Called Lachoudisch - and supposedly a secret traders-only language - virtually all inhabitants spoke it. More information is available at the Hadassah web site's Archives http://hadassah.org
Doerzbach
Situated northeast of
Heilbronn.
Information about this town may be obtained by writing to
Rathaus of Kuenzelsau German Zip Code: D-74677
Dobrzyca (Kordeshagen,
(Koszalin, Poland)
Formerly called
Kordeshagen, Pommem (Pomerania), Germany; now Dobrzyca (Koszalin), Poland. It is located on the
coast in northern Poland, near Koszalin. Part of the former province
Pommern, Prussia (Germany) pre-WWI, it is now
in the re-designated province of Zachodniopomorskie.
Dobrzyca
(Schneidemuhl) Another town by the same name is located northwest of
Poznan and just north of
Pil~a (Pil~a was known as
Schneidemuhl during the Prussian era). It was part of the former province of
Posen, Prussia (Germany) pre-WWI and
today it is the province of Wielkopolska.
Dobrzyca
(Dobberschutz, Posen, Germany, now Dobrzyca (Pleszew)
Poznan, Poland)
Another town by the same name is located southeast of Jarocin and northeast of
Krotoszyn, due west of Pleszew. It was formerly known asDobberschutz, Posen, Germany, but now Dobrzyca (Pleszew)
Poznan, Poland. It was part of the
former province of Posen, Prussia (Germany) during pre-WWI. Today, it is in the province of
Wielkopolska.
Prussia,
or Preussen, Was a very large German Kingdom which included parts of both western and eastern Europe in its heyday. The LDS
Family History Library holds microfilms of the Jewish and Civil Records (in varying numbers for each separate place)
for all three Dobrzycas. Just run a place search for Dobrzyca in their on-line catalog at http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhic.asp
Dresden
There are slightly more than 30,000 living today in this city that was totally destroyed in WW !! The city is located on
the banks of the Elbe river and not far from the Czechcapital of
Prague.
Hatikvah Meeting Place A source for cultural and historical information about the city's Jewish community
Mr. Goldenbogen, is the historian and director.
Synagogue A new synagogue, that has room for 300 worshipers, has been constructed in this former
East German city.
Rabbi Shneer Havlin runs a Lubavitch congregation. Roman Koenig is president of the
Dresden Jewish community. On November 9-10, 1938 the Dresden
synagogue was one of many synagogues burnt in the infamous Kristallnacht, however, a 24 year old fireman saved the
Jewish Star of David and returned it to be used in the rebuilding of a new synagogue. On that same night, nearly 100
Jews were killed and tens of thousands of Jewish men were arrested.
Twenty-five Jews were living here in 1828, but the community was not
established until 1875, when it numbered around 50. In 1814, there
were three Jewish families, in 1828, 25 and in 1880 there were 50 or
5.8% of the total population of 866. The dead were buried in the
Cemetery in Gross-Gerau. http://www.alemannia-judaica.de/erfelden_synagoge.htm
Synagogue There is/was a Steelerstrasse Synagogue in Essen which consisted of a 100 foot dome abutted by four stair towers. A
similar design was created for the Congregation Beth Israel in Portland, Oregon www.bethisrael-pdx.org
Esslingen
Had a Jewish community
Falkenberg (Sachsen)
Located south of
Berlin. Names from this town from 1812-1874 appear on microfilm available through the LDS Family
History Centers and the film number is 1418020: Austerlitz, Berliner, Cohn, Courland, Dienstfertig, Epstein, Forell,
Fraenkel, Glaser, Goldstein, Heymann/Heimann, Sax/Sachs, Schindler, Silberberg, Ullmann and Welsch.
Feldatal
This region includes the villages of
Kestrich,
Windhausen, Ermenrod, Stumpenrod, Stondorffand many other villages and towns in the
Vogelsberg area. Contact for further information is
Ed Schechter edtioga@comcast.net
Synagogue
A municipality of in
Oberhausen, Germany dedicated a Rural Jewish Museum. The
building site was the former synagogue of the town which was looted but
not destroyed during Kristallnacht.
Floss
Regional Special Interest Groups The site includes links to Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and Stammbaum - German SIG at http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html
Forsterweg
Located within the district of
Langenfelde and was founded in 1886/87.
Cemetery
It has a small Jewish cemetery that is not in
use today.
Franconia
There was once a Jewish presence here.
Frankfurt
Germany's financial center and transportation hub as well as the host of some important trade fairs.
Institut fur Stadtgeschichte Frankfurt www.stadtgeschichte-ffm.de
By 1848 Fuerth’s Jews constituted 17.5 percent of the general population. As late as 1935, 50% of the
wholesalers,
14.5 % of the retailers. Go to Google and search: Fuerth Jews for a wealth of information.
Fulda
Regional Special Interest Groups
have Germany information and links. The site includes links to
Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG,
German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and Stammbaum - German SIG at http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html
The Jewish population, (or Kehila), in this, the Czartoryski Territories in 1776, obtained from Appendix I
of the book
"The Lords' Jews, Magnate-Jewish Relations in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
during the 18th Century"
by M. J. Rosman amounted to 1.024. http://www.jewishgen.org/cemetery/e-europe/Ukra-gr.html
The Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer refers to its entry for
Grodzisk which is on a railroad line in Poznan
Province. In 1946, it had a population of 6,015. Shtetl Finder Gazetteer authored by Chester G. Cohen lists
a number of names for people from
this town.
Here you will find much information and other photos, plus family homes. This web site was created by students in
Gunzenhausen, Germany (about 100 km SW of Fuerth and Nuremberg). The teacher had students research the Jewish Households that lived in the town before WWII and made a website out of what they learned--including photos of the
homes of the families, family names, some documents, etc. They researched house ownership as far back at the 1600s
in some cases. They keep adding information to the website, like advertisements for the family businesses in old
newspapers. Perhaps you can find people related to you at the site. Carol Zsolnay
carol@zsolnay.org provided this information and the URL for this site.
Halle
Emil Fackenheim, renowned Jewish thinker was born here. He died in
Jerusalem, September 2003. His
works included
'Paths to Jewish Belief, God's Presence in History' and "To Mend the World'.
The first Jews to settle here was in the 1580s and were
Portuguese traders - Conversos who "passed" as Christians.
Hamburg is Germany's largest port and is 75 miles inland from the North Sea. Detailed information about this city can
be read in an article authored by Lois Gilman in the November 2008 issue of Hadassah Magazine.
In 1612, 125 Sefardim were granted official residence permits for five years on the payment of 1,000 marks. The
Jewish population grew to over 600 by 1663 and was relocating to the Neustadt area.
A second Jewish community was established in the nearby fishing village of
Altona which was under Danish rule and
more liberal. Around 1842, after the great fire, two prominent Jews were Gumprich Marcus Warburg and Salomon
Heine.
Warburg's two eldest sons founded M.M. Warburg & Company which grew into an international private banking firm.
Some 6,400 Jews lived in Hamburg by 1800. Other special events occurring during this era were: the opening of the
Talmud Torah School for the Poor by Mendel Frankfurter, grandfather of the famous Orthodox rabbi, Samson Raphael
Hirsch.
At the turn of the 20th century, many Jews had moved from
Neustadt to the
Grindel area
(known as little Jerusalem).
In 1906, the community built an imposing Romanesque synagogue in Bornplatz; it was set afire on
Kristallnacht in
1938 and demolished in 1939. Bornplatz was renamed Joseph-Carlebach Platz to honor Chief Rabbi Joseph Carlebach
who served from 1936 until his deportation
to Riga.
BallinStadt Family Research Center
You can get details about passengers who embarked between 1850 and 1934; birthplace, place of residence, occupation, destination and other family members. The digitized archive of five million
names is free onsite and is also available for a fee at www.ancestry.com
Hamburg became a "free Imperial city" as far
back as 1510. There was also (pre-Hitler), a small state
of Hamburg, including the city, which had a bicameral legislature.
Hamburg was one of several Free Hanseatic cities.
The Jewish population peaked at 20,000 in 1925 from a total of a million overall population. In 2008, the total population
of the city is 1.75 million residents in an area of 300 square miles and is
Germany's second largest city. The Jewish
community now numbers about 3,500, though the actual true figure is really not known as many Jews still hide their
identity as Jews. http://english.hamburg.de/
Cemeteries Judischer Friedhof Cemetery
Located on Konigstrasse and has been in use from 1611 to 1869. Guided tours are available from
Der Museumdienst
Hamburg (49 40 428 1310) http://www.txmx.de/grafix/jufried/index.html
Judische Gemeinde
Located at Grindelhof 30 Phone: 011-49-40-440-0440) http://www.jghh.org
Liberale Judische Gemeinde Hamburg Phone 49 40 3208 6677 www.davistern.de
Emigration During the 19th century,
Hamburg was a key city in the European migration to the New World. Five million emigrants,
first from Germany and later from Eastern Europe and Russia passed through the port. The head of the Hamburg-American line (HAPAG) was Albert Ballin, a Jew who used cut-rate fares to lure travelers to
Hamburg and then claimed
"my field is the world".
In 1901, the HAPAG company opened an emigration town to house the emigrants-to-be.
BallinStadt, south of the Elbe
River on Veddel Island. It was a self-contained village of red-brick dormitories, dining halls with a kosher canteen, stores, church, synagogue and hospital that served up to 5,000 emigrants at a time - man of them Jewish. www.ballinstadt.de
Hospital
In 1841, the Israelitische Krankenhaus - The Jewish Hospital
- opened at
2 Simon-von-Utrecht Strasse in the St. Pauli district.
Millerntor Gate During the 17th and 18th centuries was where Jews, such as those who lived in neighboring Altona, were permitted to
enter or leave the city. It is in the St. Pauli district.
Museum for Hamburg History
Located at Holstenwall 24 Phone: 49 40 4281 3223-80 There is a small permanent exhibit on Jewish life in Hamburg from 1580 to the present. www.hamburgmuseum.de
Rabbi Eduard Dukesz officiated in
Hamburg prior to WW II and published several books and articles on the
Hamburg Jewish Families. Stepping Stones Honoring those who were murdered www.stolpersteine-hamburg.de
Synagogues
Bet Israel synagogue (long gone)
was established at what is now Alter Wall 48/49, near the intersection of downtown's Alter Wall and
Mönkedamm. Gemeinde's Synagogue 34 Hohe Weide Was built in 1960. To attend a service, you must call ahead. http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035//1joseph.html
Founding of a Reform temple
happened in 1841 - The New Israelite Temple Society; and the building of its first temple at
43/45 Erste Brunnenstrasse.
Map
of city provided to Ted and Shirley Margulis when they stayed at
Zimmerausweis Hotel
The city dates back to the 12th century and much has been preserved having avoided damage during WW II.
The University Library houses the 14th century Manesse Manuscript of medieval songs.
"There is much history to this part of Germany, of
course, but the origin of Hessen-Kessel really goes back to Philip,
Landgrave of Hessen, one of the greatest of Hessen rulers, who reunited
many of the then disparate territories during the Lutheran Schmalkaldic
War of the 1540s. In 1526, Philip had introduced Lutheranism and
the following year founded the University of Marburg. He was also
one of the leaders of the Schmalkaldic League in 1531. When he
died in 1567, his Hessen was divided among his four sons into
Hessen-Kassel, Hessen-Marburg, Hessen-Rheinfels and Hessen-Darmstadt.
Hessen-Kassel at this time, was shaped something
like a very broad Y lying on its side, and extended from Karlshafen
in the north to Ziegenhain in the south, and from Fitzlar
in the west to Eschwee in the east. It had been given to
Wilhelm IV (the Wise) (1532-1592), Philip's eldest son; it
encompassed about 1/2 of Philip's holdings The Herrschaft
Schmalkalden, in Thüringen, was added in 1583, at the death of
his brother Philip, and later Plessa and parts of Hoya and
Henneberg.
By 1650 (after the Peace of Westfalen of 1648
ending the Thirty Years' War), Hessen-Kassel included various
territories as far west as Frankenberg, Brendenkopt and Marburg. In 1736, the Graftschafte (countships)
Hanau-Lichtenberg and Hanau-Munzenberg were added to
Hessen-Kessel which by this time was a much more powerful Duchy.
In 1803, Bonaparte raised
Hessen-Kassel to
the status of an electorate, and it was then known as "Kurhessen", after
Jena in 1806, it was occupied by the French. In 1807, he joined
Hessen-Kassel to Westfalen along with Braunschweig and
Hannover. In 1816, the old lands of Fulda were restored, but
Katzenelbogn was lost; as compensation, Hessen-Kassel was raised to a
Grand duchy. Various small additions and deletions of territories
continued to occur as they had for decades, but by 1866, the Grand duchy
of Hessen-Kassel looked like a backwards "C", with the top of the "C"
being very thick. It now extended from Karlshafen in the north to
Hanau and Gelnhausen in the south; the top, thick part of the "C" had
extended s far west as Frankfurt. The Grand duchy still included
the separated territory of Schmalkalden in Thüringen, but also
now included Schaumburg in Schaumburg-Lippe.
Finally, in 1867,
Hessen-Kassel ceased to exist as
an entity; most of its territory was absorbed into the "new"
Hessen-Nassau, a large doughnut-shaped territory that extended as far
west as Koblenz and Katzenellenbogen, with and area from
Homburg to Frankfurt, and from Schlitz to
Wetzlar being the doughnut's "hole". From a posting by P. S. Wyant.
Cemetery The Jewish cemetery within the district of
Ohlsdorf was established in 1882/83 by the Ashkenazi and Sephardic
communities following contracts with the City of Hamburg, which remained owner of the land. It is the only Jewish
cemetery in Hamburg in use today.
Jebenhausen
A Jewish community in
Wuerttemberg from 1777 to 1900.This site
contains links to information on the Synagogue, Cemetery and Families of this Jewish village http://www.worldzone.net/family/jebenhausen
Jenfelder Strabe
Located with the district of
Wandsbek and was founded in 1886. It has a small disused Jewish cemetery.
Cemetery Has a Jewish cemetery which still shows signs of war damage
Klausenburg
A major city and important Jewish center
Koblenz
A 2,000 year old city at the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine rivers and the center for the wine trade of the Middle
Rhine region. It was originally a Roman military outpost (about 9 BC) and then in the 13th century the city was a
member of the Hanseatic League, a commercial federation of European cities. Following the
French Revolution in
1799, Koblenz came under French rule, and a short time after that, in 1815, it was
Prussia's turn. After WW I (1918),
it was occupied for a time by American and French troops. During WW II it was heavily damaged from bombings. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0012_0_11315.html
The
Standesamt,
has records from 1800 on. The building itself was damaged in WW
II, but records were not. Standesamt Bergen Postfach 1199. D-29296 Bergen http://members.cox.net/hessen/archives.htm
Situated northeast of
Heilbronn. It is probably the district's main place. Write to the Rathaus of Kuenzelsau for
further information. German zip Code: D-74653 http://findingaids.cjh.org/?pID=394394
Located in northern
Germany and about 40 miles northeast of Hamburg. The town is famous for its red-brick Gothic architecture.
It has a small Jewish population that
has been growing with the influx of Russian Jews.
Synagogue There is a synagogue which has had several bomb threats and in March, 1994, was firebombed by
neo-Nazis. The synagogue is located at St.-Annen-Strasse 13 in the Old Town.
Synagogue There is a mid-eighteenth century synagogue behind Judengasse 4 that survived Kristallnacht and is currently a
museum commemorating the area's Jews. Among displayed memorabilia are a concentration camp jacket; a tiny
Swabian Torah; and bits from the Geniza, accidentally rescued when page fragments from sacred books were noticed
in a trash can. There is a local contact Dieter Kleinhass telephone 795 532-42. Further information about this area
can be found in an article "The Romantic Road" in The Hadassah Magazine of June/July 2002 http://www.Hadassah.org
A book, authored by Mr. Joeg Neumeister-Jung, discusses the Jewish population of the town.
Further information is available by contacting Steven Warner
SWarner317@aol.com
There was a large Jewish presence here before WW II, today it is the second largest Jewish community, after
Berlin.
A new community center is being constructed in the heart of this city on Jakobsplatz and will feature a glass-topped synagogue, a Jewish school, museum and kosher restaurant. It is expected to be completed in 2005. The current community headquarters, in
Munich's cultural and political center, is tucked into a small building with an enclosed
courtyard.
Now currently Prudnik, Opole, Poland. The archive address is
Urzad Miasta i Gminy w Prudniku, ul. T. Kosciuszki 3, 48-200
Prudnik, Poland. Database at www.doew.at
A walled 13th century city of 490,500 people. In 1806,
Bavaria acquired control of Nuremberg, and in 1835 it became
the final stop on the first German railroad. From 1933 to 1938 it was the site of the annual conventions of the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi Party). It was at a 1935 meeting that the notorious Nuremberg Laws were put into
effect, depriving German Jews of many civil rights.
During the 14th and 15th centuries, it was a great intellectual
center of Europe.
Nurnberg was devastated by bombs in WW II. Much of the city was rebuilt and its Old World charm was restored.
Germanic National Museum Contains the largest collection of Germanic art and culture from pre-history to the present. The museum is a cluster
of buildings, from a 13th century monastery to one built in 1993 by Israeli architect Dani Karavan, all celebrating the culture, technology and crafts of Germany from prehistoric times through to the present.
Gerhard Jochem of the
Nuremberg City Archives contributed additions and corrections to the necrology and by
following the links from this site you will find additional information
http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor
Micheline Gutmann, of the GenAmi French Genealogy Society, has authored an article in the Number 14 GenAmi
Newsletter, entitled "A Touristic and Genealogical tree in Germany"
which includes Nurnberg, Rothenburg,
Fuerth, Bamberg, Weimar and Leipzig http://asso.genami.free.fr
Oberglogau
Once located in Prussia, but now is known as
Giogowek, Poland.
Synagogue The Jewish cemetery was founded in 1663 with approximately 1,000 graves. In 1941, it was desecrated
by the National Socialist regime and disturbed by the building of bunkers in 1939 and 1942/43. In 1995, the
"Mercado" shopping center was erected on the spot, after consultation with a rabbi from Israel. A plaque has been
erected at the site. http://www.itz.uni-hamburg.de/rz3a035/jew_cem.html
One of Germany's oldest and most picturesque medieval cities. It is located at the eastern edge of
Bavaria near the
Austrian border. It is situated at the confluence of the Danube, the Ilz and the Inn Rivers. Called the Dreifluessestadt
(City on Three Rivers) because of its location, Passau is an elegant town. An interesting photo site of
Passau and other German and Czech cities are available at Bill Ernst's web site http://billernstphotography.com/main.asp
SelectEuropefor some fantastic photos - a real treat and definitely of interest.
Pommern
Listing of the municipalities in the province
Pommern (conditions: May 1939) in both German and in English http://members.aol.com/pommern1/
Books
"TheNaturalized Jews of the Grand Duchy of Posen
in 1834 and 1835": Revised Edition
compiled by Edward David Luft.
A list of the original 5,173 persons
living in the Grand Duchy of Posen with information on
names, towns of residence, occupation, and additional
commentary. The law that created the census and an
English translation is included. Genealogists
searching for 19th-century ancestors in Posen (today
Poznan) will find this work essential
http://www.avotaynu.com/books/posen.htm
Located outside Berlin, a new synagogue will be built for a community that has grown to 800 from practically nothing
before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Jews appeared in 1180 when a rabbi's presence was noted and a community was first recorded in 1241. Rabbi Meir
ben Baruch (the Maharam) arrived and established a leading learning center in 1246. In 1298 there were more
than 500 Jews out of a total population of 3,500, and most were massacred during the Rindfleisch persecutions.
Many, including Jews from surrounding areas, fled to the Rothenburg castle, but were incinerated there. Nine
hundred Jews were killed making this the worst medieval pogrom.
In the 1300s, Jews once again established a community and in 1520, they faced 'expulsion' by a so-called 'cleansing' measure'. Only in 1875 did eight families come to start a new community, but membership didn't exceed one hundred.
The thirteenth and fourteenth century houses along the Judengasse comprise one of
German's best preserved Jewish quarters. Beyond the hill's foot is the Imperial City Museum in whose basement is a Jewish section with medieval tombstones.
Off Kirchplatz lies the 12th century partially fortified Kapellenplatz, where the first Jewish quarter existed. The Judentanzhaus (Jewish Dance house) begun in the 14th century and
rebuilt after WW II, borders the Meir ben
Baruch Garden, partially enclosed by a wall embedded with medieval Jewish tombstones. More information about
this city can be found in the June/July 2002 issue of Hadassah Magazine. http://hadassah.org
This is one of the best preserved walled towns in Germany. There is the Judentanzhaus (Jew's dance hall) which was converted to other uses after the Jews were expelled in the 13th century. There are a number of Jewish tombstones incorporated into the wall outside the house. The Imperial Museum has a Judaica room which includes some religious
articles including a Torah breastplate and the Book of Esther and some Jewish tombstones with the translation of the
names on the stones. http://www.rothenburg.de/
Direct-line descendants can get a copy of a death certificate from
Germany by writing to the town Standesamt for
years after 1874. Copies cost 7 EU each and they take cash. You can obtain Euros from your local bank. http://www.jewishgen.org/JRI-Pl/psa/psawroclaw.htm
Staudernheim
Emigration
The town lost part of the original Jews between 1850 and 1915 when they
emigrated to the US. Those Jews who were left behind, in some cases, were able to flee from the Nazis or were
killed by them. John is trying to trace those Jewish families who were in the first wave. http://www.jewishgen.org/cemetery/w-europe/germ-s.html
Synagogue John Floeth
john.floeth@student.hu-berlin.de founded "Museumsverein Synagogue Staudernheim" in 1989 to
restore the former synagogue.
There are at least 26 towns in
Germany named Steinberg - from Bavaria to Schleswig Holstein.
Stettin
A Pomeranian (German) city for hundreds of years. At the end of WWII, Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt awarded
it to Poland in compensation for eastern Polish territories
that were given to the Soviet Union. At that stage
Stettin was renamed Szczecin. The Germans were expelled. The Jewish community, dating in modern times to
1812, had previously been deported in 1940 and later killed by the Germans in Poland. This was the first German
Jewish community to be so treated by the Nazis.
In the Jewish Encyclopedia (in the 1950's)
there were about a 1000 Polish Jews in the city, but that these had mostly left during the
Polish anti-Semitic persecutions in the late 1960's. http://www.codoh.com/incon/inconkirk.html
Cemetery The old Jewish cemetery is completely decimated, but a dozen or so grave stones were preserved and placed in a small square. The
German cemetery was completely destroyed.
Stockstadt
Stockstadt am Rhein is a village of about 2,000
people with two Jewish families in 1938.
With an area of 23,170 km² and 1.79 million inhabitants,
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (German
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) is a Bundesland (Federal state) in northeastern
Germany.
Albert Einstein was born here on March 14, 1879 and died on April 18, 1955 at age 76. His ashes were scattered
at an undisclosed place around Princeton, New Jersey.
The
Steinfelds lived for generations in the town of
Versmold, country NW in Germany. In the testament of
Bernhard Steinfeld, born 1817 and died 1893, something
is written about his children. The mother of Bernhard
Steinfeld was Esther Abraham and the name of his
stepfather was Bendix Heilbrunn. Bernhard s sister was
called Malchen, born 1814. This information is written
in a book by Volker Beckmann title: Judische B|rger im
Amt Versmold.
Bernhard Steinfeld was married to Vogel Nathanson and
they had five children. 1.Mathilde St. was married to
Salomon Wolf. They married in S|dlohn in 1865.
2.Bertha
St. was married to Salli Kaufmann in1874. Salli was a
cattle-trader. They had two children, Therese and Fedor.
Family Kaufmann emigrated to New York.
3.Sprinsgen St. was married to the cattle-trader Simon
Dejong in 1855. Simon was from Ahaus.
4.Julie St., was the owner of a linen shop in
Dusseldorf.
5.Abraham St., born 30.04.1852 and died 1920. He was the
main-heir and after his father s death the owner of a
slaughter firm, a farm with cows and the residence
Wiesenstr. 1 in Versmold. Abraham was married with Julie
Gumprich, born 06.12.1857 in Borghorst No.15. The
parents of Julie were Salomon Gumprich and Sophia
Meyberg. Julie Steinfeld died 11.10.1943 in Theresienstadt. Abraham and Julie Steinfeld had five
children. 1. Erna was married to Mr. Meyer. He was from
Ostercappeln / Osnabr|ck. 2. Alfred, died in the First World War. 3. Selma, born 17.02.1893 and died in
Auschwitz. 4. Bernhard, born 24.08.1894. He died in the Shoa 1945 (in
a Jewish hospital). 5. Alma, born 01.03.1901 and died in
Auschwitz. The documents of the Steinfeld family are now in a
special office for analysis in Versmold. From a posting by Renate Vahrenbrink, Borgholzhausen in
Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. Vahrenbrink1@freenet.de
Lothar Bembenek, a school teacher from this city whose initiative led to the creation of the Active Museum
Spiegelgasse for German Jewish History. Dorothee Lottmann-Kaeseler is the curator of the museum since
1998. http://www.brandeis.edu/departments/cges/pastevents1999.html
Wertheim
Located at the confluence of the Main and Tauber rivers, it is a small, old, Franconian town established as a
market town. Glass making was developed in the area in the 17th century and
Bohemian artisans invented
crystal. There is a Glass Museum in Wertheim. http://www.alemannia-judaica.de/tracking_jewish_history.htm
This city is the home to a rich Jewish heritage. The Jewish Quarter features
Germany's oldest synagogue and
Jewish cemetery, both of which date to the eleventh century. http://www.jewishreview.org/node/9020
A Jewish presence had existed prior to WW II. The first Jew may have come in the 11th century, with an
established community by 1100. The site of the Gothic Virgin Mary Church is built on the former site of the
synagogue that was burned in 1349. A mikva'ot'oth, not normally viewable, lies below the sacristy. It is located
in the state of Bavaria on the Main river and is a commercial center of an agricultural region most noted for its vineyards.
Notable families from this town include the Lehmanns (from
Rimpar); the Gimbels; some Morgenthaus; the
Sachs (of Goldman Sachs fame) and Levi Strauss.
Once prosperous and elegant,
Wurzburg suffered tremendous damage during WW II. It has been successfully
restored.
Wurzburg A new research center, The Ephraim Gustav Hoenlein Genealogy Project, designed to help Jews of Germanic descent trace their origins is opened. Archivist is Michael Schneeberger. Queries will be processed through the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation office in Frankfurt at
bbkrauss@hotmail.com or at
011 49 69 7137-460 or 011 49 69 7137-4629. http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/germany/wurzburg.htm
Zehdenick
There was a Jewish
cemetery that was founded in 1766 and closed in 1898 due to a decreasing
number of members in the Jewish community. The cemetery was
destroyed in March 1933. An organization in Zehdenick was
formed to remember the Jewish community and to restore the cemetery.
The Brandenburg Rabbi and the cantor of the Berlin Jewish community took
part. The organization is called "Sachar / Erinnern e.V. From a posting by Eberhard Zastrau etz.usenet@gmx.de
Luxemburg
Books Books on this country are available using my link to Amazon.com by clicking here
>
Jewish Genealogy
Frequent persecution, such as massacres at the time of the Black Death in 1349 and expulsions in 1391 and
again in 1530, prevented communities from developing roots in Luxembourg. In the 1930s, the small Jewish
population more than doubled, mostly because of immigration from Germany. Amazingly, most of the Jewish
community survived the Holocaust.
An article about the Luxembourg, history of the Jewish community, is available in the GenAmi number 6 issue of GenAmi, November, 1998 and authored by Laurent Moyse. The genealogy of two important families coming from
France and established in Luxembourg. The Godchaux family came from Thionville in 1803 and the family Fix
came from Bourbonee-les-Bains. In this family, the general Louis Ferdinand Fix had been the commandant of
the "Constitution" and had an important part in the Civil War. He is buried in Arlington Cemetery.
Jews settled in Zurich at least as early as 1273, 18 years before the establishment of
the first Swiss Confederation consisting of three cantons. There is an oral tradition that
Jews first came to Switzerland with the Romans in the four century, but there isn't any proof. In the Middle Ages, 1,200 Jews arrived in
Switzerland from Alsace and the Upper Rhine area. In 1349, there was an official policy of persecuting, burning and murdering Jews, who were accused of bringing the plaque.
The modern Jewish community was founded in the early 1800s under Napoleonic rule, when
France forced the
Swiss to liberalize religion.
There are about 18,000 - 20,000 Jews living in the Jewish Community today and with the exception of those
affiliated with the Reform movement, are united under the umbrella organization Schweizerischer Israelitischer Gemeindebung (SIG).
In the 1930s, there was extensive immigration of Jews fleeing
Germany -- 29,000 came between 1939 and 1945
-- even with very restrictive immigration laws. About 24,500 Jewish immigrants were refused entry and sent back
to their ultimate death.
Zurich's approximately 6,500 member community, which speaks
Swiss-German, is split along religious lines. The
first woman president of Switzerland was Ruth Dreifuss and Vera Rosenberg is a member of the Swiss Federal
Supreme Court. In Basel, the governor, Ralph Lewin, is Jewish. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/swiss.html
Books on this country can be found at my link to Amazon.com by
clicking here
>
Jewish Genealogy
"Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz,"
Available in English as "Swiss Surnames: A Complete Register"
Historically there were only a limited number of Swiss "surname clans," each of which is listed in this register
along with the surname clan's home community (commune). A Swiss
would be considered a citizen of this home commune by inheritance, even if he/she was born elsewhere, and the home commune would maintain
registration records for him/her. So if you can find one or more communes listed for your surname, you should
write to each of them and ask for information about your ancestor. http://www.eye.ch/swissgen/famnam-m.htm
You can expect that the documents you may receive can be written in
German, Italian, French or some in all
three languages.
TheSwiss National Archive Has the police files for Jewish refugees who sheltered in
Switzerland - there were
approximately 22,000. Should
you write and receive a response from the Archive, you may expect to receive information in
German, Italian
and possibly in French.
Europages
Business 2 business company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access, international and European business directory (professional services, addresses and business classifieds http://www.europages.net
FrenchSIG
This is a discussion group and there is a lot of information about Jewish genealogical research in
France, French Colonies and French-speaking areas including
Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. http://www.jewishgen.org/french/
"Jewish Military Casualties in the Polish Armies in World War II"
History, names and burial places of the Jewish soldiers in the
Polish armies, including those who fought in France, Norway, North Africa and Switzerland. Authored by Benjamin Mertchak - a 5 volume set.
An article authored by Anne-Marie Faraggi Rychner and published in the Sephardi Genealogical and Historical
Society and Review Issue 4, Vol. 2, Spring 1999 issue - is a survey of the cemetery that was established in 1908
near Lausanne. The inscriptions of eighty tombstones (out of 400) with Sephardi surnames are listed.
From the beginning of the seventeenth century until 1862, Jews could not be buried on Swiss soil, instead they
were interred on a small island in the Rhine known as the Judeninsel. Only in 1750 were Jews permitted to
acquire another cemetery, between the two villages of Edingen and
Lengnau.
It was in this city that Theodor Herzl drew up the blueprint of Zionism. By 1910, more than 2,000 Jews had come
from Russia and the cultural identity began to change as Rhineland and
Alsatian culture mixed with Eastern
European customs. Today, it is estimated that there are 2,000 Jews in the city.
Located in
the Canton
of Aargau,
about 15 miles northwest of
Zurich, it has a synagogue with bells and a clock on its facade. Jews lived here
from at least 1678 and built their first synagogue in 1755. In 1850 there were 990 Jews, today only one family.
"In the way of
background, I am a descendent of the Guggenheim family of Endingen. The
village of Endingen today has two Jewish families. Endingen had a
celebration June 18, 1998, of the 1,200-year anniversary of Ober-Endingen
and Unter-Endingen. Endingen’s municipal government
actually invited participation in the celebration by Jewish families
that had departed shortly after the Swiss emancipated them in
1866 (but in fact, in about 1883)
In the way of background, my connection to
Endingen is through my
grandfather, Gustav Guggenheim. Gustav was born, out of wedlock, June
10, 1892, in Ober Endingen, to Henriette Guggenheim." From an email from Alan Guggenheim
alang@bendcable.com
A neighboring town to
Edingenthere has been a Jewish presence since 1622. They spoke a Western Yiddish dialect known as
Surbtal Yiddish. The first synagogue was built in 1755. The one visible today was built in 1847. There
are some 30 Jewish inhabitants housed in Altersheim, a century-old Jewish old-age home with about 50 residents,
Jews and non-Jews. Simon Guggenheim, the grandfather of Guggenheim lived here. In 1848 they emigrated to
the United States, where Meyer and his seven sons amassed a huge fortune in mining. Another personality from
this town was William Wyler who won an Oscar for Ben Hur in 1959. http://www.jewishgen.org/cemetery/w-europe/switzerland.html
Lausanne
There is a Jewish presence in this city and a synagogue.
Along the Arc of the Jura Mountains from
Geneva to Basel, lakes, mountains and valleys lead one into another in a preserved natural environment, where
Swisswatchmakers create the precision movements that tell the time the
world over. Site includes a map of the area and information about the region. http://www.watchvalley.ch:80/e/home/
This busy city has just 360,000 inhabitants and is known as Switzerland's banking and commercial center. Jews
helped shape the city. They provided loans in the Middle Ages. Jews were allowed to live on and around the Judengasse (Jews' Street) and were distinguished by the Judenhut, the conical hat they were forced to wear.
The medieval Judengasse, (today Froschaugasse aka Froschauer or Frog Lane), is a narrow street just a few
minutes' walk northeast from the Fraumuenster Church.
In 1349, many of the city's Jews were disposed, tortured and burned at the stake as rumors spread, ad they did
in most parts of Europe, that Jews had cause the Black Plaque. By 1400 there were no more than 150 Jews out
of a city population of 6,000 and those who stayed, had to leave the city at night.
A plaque on the wall of a building, written in German, translated to English explains that the Jews who lived in
these streets had been the victims of waves of persecution, violence, murder and forced expulsion from
Zurich.
By the 17th century, a few of the traumatized Jewish families were allowed to live in two villages where their
basic rights were protected: Lengpau and Endinge(today these towns are in the canton of Aargau). They were
safe, but there weren't any great prospects for the future, and some -- including the Guggenheim family --
left to make their fortunes in America and elsewhere.
In 1862, Zurich changed its constitution and allowed Jews to return. Today there are
numerous synagogues
and about 7,000 Jews living in greater Zurich.
Lowenstrasse Synagogue The oldest synagogue in the city was dedicated in 1884.
More information about
Zurich, including what to see, can be found in an article in the August/September 2003
issue of Hadassah Magazine and authored by Esther Hecht. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/
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