Jews in Magdeburg
957?: Presumed founding of the first Jewish community in Magdeburg - location: the "Jewish village at Sudenburger Tor (near Hasselbachplatz/see also excavation of Sudenburger Tor on Danzstr.), directly assigned to the archbishop, not the magistrate.
965: Otto the Great's document on Jews in Magdeburg "Magdeburg owes its economic importance to Jewish merchants" (Dr. Ursula Homann).
1207: Archbishop Albrecht II of Magdeburg (1207 to 1232) - "The following anecdote shows how friendly this archbishop was towards Jews: "When he returned from a visit to Rome, the Jews of Magdeburg went to meet him and he showed them his respect by kissing their law book, the Torah." (Homann)
1260: Persecution under Archbishop Ruprecht (1260-1266) for greed: raid at the Feast of Tabernacles and plundering of the Jews
1350 and 1384: Outbreak of the plague, for which the Jews were blamed - looting and burning down of the Jewish village
1410: Archbishop Günter (1403-1440) gives the Jews a letter of protection for six years
1450: Decree by Nikolaus Cusanus (cardinal and papal legate since 1450): Jews must wear special insignia (hats? yellow circle?) - it is not certain whether this was also the case in Magdeburg.
1493: Expulsion of all Jews (1400 people) from Magdeburg under Archbishop Ernst (1476-1513); the synagogue becomes a "Marienkirche", the Jewish village becomes "Mariendorf"; it is completely destroyed in 1550. Jews are banned from Magdeburg.
1631: Destruction of Magdeburg: Jews still banned from staying in the city
1705: King Frederick I: The "Schutzjude" Abraham Liebmann is allowed to trade in the city, later a few more "Schutzjuden".
1806: Napoleon reigns. Jews are allowed to immigrate; in 1809 there are 84 families, including some from Warsaw, Halberstadt and Anhalt.
March 21, 1808: King Jerome's decree: "We ... in consideration that the Jews may no longer constitute a separate society in the state, ... have to merge with the nation of which they are members...". Regulation of the life of the Jewish community and its religious services.
1834-1862: Rabbi Ludwig Philippsohn (1811-1889), teacher, rabbi from 1839, "a staunch advocate of humanitarian and liberal ideas" and "a zealous spokesman for Jewish rights".
1847-1856: Reorganization and independence of the municipality - 1850 first elections to the board of directors and assembly of representatives
1851: First synagogue (800 members)
1862 to 1867: Rabbi Dr. Moritz Güdemann
1867 to 1904: Rabbi Dr. Georg Rahmer
1897: Expansion of the synagogue into a "Moorish temple" (2000 members) with organ and choir. At the same time, new classrooms for religious instruction in the adjacent community center. 1906 to 1939 Rabbi Dr. Georg Wilde
1914 to 1918: First World War 36 young men from the Magdeburg synagogue congregation fell "for Kaiser and Reich" (memorial at the Jewish cemetery)
1925/26: "Affair Blum" (DEFA film) - judicial scandal in Magdeburg surrounding the Jewish entrepreneur Rudolf Haas, falsely accused of murder
1933: The Jewish community has 2300 members (in 1945 there are only 83)
April 1, 1933: First boycott of Jewish businesses / Law on "professional civil servants": Jews not as civil servants
1935: "Nuremberg Race Laws" - ban on marriages between Jews and non-Jews, any kind of cooperation...
Summer 1938: Jewish children are no longer allowed to attend normal schools - Jewish school is set up by the city
28./29.10.1938: Between 15,000 and 17,000 "Polish" Jews are expelled from Germany, including over 70 from Magdeburg
November 9, 1938: Destruction of the synagogue; destruction of all books, files, objects of worship and interior furnishings.
November 10, 1938: Around 120 Jewish men from Magdeburg are arrested and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp with the aim of forcing them to leave the city.
Dec. 1938 to August 1939: "Kindertransports" to England, which also saved many Magdeburg children, but separated them from their parents.
January 1, 1939: Ban on Jewish stores, businesses, medical practices, etc. - "Aryanization"; Jews must adopt the name "Israel" (for males) or "Sara" (for females) as an additional first name
Beginning of 1939: "Jewish houses" and Jewish residential areas are established.
Summer 1939: Establishment of a Jewish school in the community center at Große Schulstr. 2b
September 19, 1941: In the German Reich, the "Jewish star" is introduced as a compulsory identification mark for all Jews from the age of six
October 23, 1941: Jews are no longer allowed to leave the country
April 13/14 and July 11, 1942: Two Magdeburg transports to the Warsaw ghetto
November 18 and 25 and December 2, 1942: Deportation from MD to the "old-age ghetto" Theresienstadt
February 22/26, 1943: Largest Magdeburg transport to Auschwitz
January 10/11, 1944: Last deportations from Magdeburg - to Theresienstadt
June 14, 1944 to April 13, 1945: Labor slave camp for women in the Polte OHG, from Nov. foreign Jewish women; munitions factory (prisoners from Ravensbrück/ Riga-Kaiserwald / Auschwitz and Stutthof with 3100 women, later also 600 men, about 600 survivors).
June 17, 1944 to February 9, 1945: Work slave camp "Magda" in Rothensee; bomb clearance; BRABAG; Hungarian Jews (Buchenwald concentration camp outpost with 2175 Jewish forced laborers; 550 perished)
January 16, 1945: Destruction of Magdeburg
April 18, 1945: The Americans liberate Magdeburg - the end of the Nazi era
May 8, 1945: Capitulation/Day of Liberation. The synagogue congregation begins anew with around 80 members; information center for relatives all over the world... Initially Klausener Straße, from 1969? Gröperstr. 1a
November 9, 1988: Memorial in memory of the synagogue destroyed on November 9, 1938 is inaugurated.
After 1990: Immigration of Russian Jews begins - the synagogue congregation grows. 2010 about 600 members (former Russian Jews), community center Gröperstr. 1a
January 27, 2001: Dedication of the Rothensee memorial.
March 18, 2007: First "Stumbling Stones" laid in memory of Jewish Magdeburg residents murdered during the Nazi era.
October 2007: First Week of Jewish Culture and History in Magdeburg (Forum Gestaltung)
January 27, 2008: New memorial plaque inaugurated at the gate of the former women's concentration camp for the Polte OHG company.
after 1806
First parishioners:
- Samuel Isaak Elbtal family (Schutzjude Samuel Isaak)
- Alenfeld family
- (Joseph Lazarus)
- Michael Scheier, Patschierstecher
- Israel Brill Schlesinger, banker
- Itzig Sußmann
- Lazarus Steinthal (see certificate)
- Many more (so that it almost becomes too much for some of those who have arrived earlier)
- Syndici: Sußmann and Elbtal
- 1807-1839 Merchant G. S. Spier is elected four times as town councillor, then A. E. Max and his son Gustav Max
- Oct. 1809 84 families
- 1810 255 souls
- 1811 288 souls
- 1815 /1816 Israelite cemetery
- Around 1840 599, 1850 850 members;
- 1847 "Law on the Status of Jews" Citizens of the Mosaic faith are granted the same civic rights and obligations as their fellow citizens.
- 26.1.1850 First election for representation
- 1856 Statute
Rabbi
- Isaak Heilbronn (1809-1822)
- Moses Salomon (cantor; 1822-1839)
- Dr. Ludwig Philippson (1834-1862; + 1889 in Bonn)
- Dr. Moritz Güdemann (1862-1867; + 1918 in Vienna)
- Dr. Moritz Rahmer (1867-1904)
- Dr. Siegfried Grzymisch (rabbinate administrator 1903-1906; rabbi in Bruchsal, murdered in Auschwitz in 1944)
- Dr. Georg Wilde (1906-1939; field rabbi in the First World War; + 1952 in London)
Magdeburg Synagogue
- Kleine Münzstr. 5
- Prälatenstr. 27
- 1849 Purchase of a plot of land (former Tägtmeyerscher Garten) for 8000 thalers
- 19.9.1850 Laying of the foundation stone
- 14.9.1851 Inauguration
- 14.10.1896: Decision: Community center and enlargement and extension of the synagogue
- 26.9.1897 Inauguration of the new synagogue with organ
- 9.11. 1938 Destruction
Cantors / Teachers
- Moses Salomon (+1839)
- Hölzel (1839-1843)
- A. Nathansohn (1843-1880)
- Salomon Winter (1879-1909;+1910 in Berlin)
- Wilhelm Friedmann (1909-1914 ; from 1914 in Berlin)
- Georg de Haas (1914-1918; from 1918 merchant in Hamburg)
- Meyer (Max) Teller (1919-1939; + murdered in Auschwitz)
- Hermann Spier (1939-1942; deported to the Warsaw ghetto, murdered in Treblinka
CompilationWaltraut Zachhuber, September 2012