Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Foreword to the English Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Translator’s Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Chapter 1
Excluded, Persecuted, Ridiculed
1.1 From the Middle Ages Until the 19th Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Persecution of the Jews in the Middle Ages
Financial Transactions Between Jews and Abbots
An Official Document Refers to Jews
The Jewish School
The Royal Prerogative (Judenregal) To Rule Over the Jews
The Great Plague is Blamed on the Jews
The Return of the Jews
The Landgraves Assume Responsibility for the Judenregal
The Reformation and the Jewish Question
Philipp the Magnanimous and the Ordinances for the Jews (Judenordnung)
Philipp’s Successors and their Ordinances for the Jews (Landesordnung)
Provincial (State) Councils and Provincial Rabbis
Compulsory Church Attendance for the Jews
Baptizing of Jews
The Landgravine Writes to the Hersfeld City Council (Hersfelder Rat)
The Census of the Jews
The Ordinances for the Jews of 1749
1.2 Anti-Semitism and Emancipation in the 19th and 20th Centuries . . .25
Elector (Kurfürst) Wilhelm I Returns in 1813
Jews are not Welcome in Hersfeld
The Rejection of the Jews in the Surrounding Villages
Hersfeld Merchants Against Jewish Tradesmen
No Money Lending Allowed
Land Transactions and Money Lending by the Jews
New Laws Bring No Relief
No Right of Citizenship for Jews
Karl Sunkel of Hersfeld Appears Before the Provincial Assembly
The Revolution of 1848-No Excesses in Hersfeld
Comparison of Jewish Occupations in Kurhessen
The Situation After 1850
1868-1871: Jews in Germany Gain Equality
The Emergence of Anti-Semitic Political Parties
Caricature and Satire as a Means of Jewish Defamation
Hersfeld Elects the Anti-Semite Ludwig Werner
The German People’s Movement and Other Right Wing Parties
Chapter 2
Jewish Life In Hersfeld
2.1 The Jewish Citizens 1809-1861 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Napoleon Rules Europe
The Old Jewish Cemetery
The Israelite (Jewish) Citizens and Their Families
The Beermann Dellevie Family
The Jonas Brecker (Breckes) Family
The Peritz Dellevie Family
Carl Dellevie, Doctor of Medicine
The Period Following 1845
2.2 The Israelite (Jewish) Community in Hersfeld 1877 . . . . . . . . . . .58
The Establishment of the Synagogue Congregation
The First Members of the Congregation
The Facilities of the Congregation
The New Jewish Cemetery
The First Religious Services and the Jewish School
The Ritual Bath (Mikveh)
The Jewish School in the Rittergasse
The Report of the State Rabbi
The Second Location for Religious Services
The Early Years of the Reich (Gründerzeit) to the First World War
Jewish Firms and Shops
Jewish Butchers and Kosher Meat Preparation
Comparisons Between Christian and Jewish Merchants
List of Jewish Taxpayers in Hersfeld, 1894
The Bank of Jakob Hahn
The Congregation Builds a Synagogue
The Dedication of the Synagogue
A Jewish School is to be Built
The Dedication of the School, 1898
The Jewish Teachers
The Jewish Graduates (Abiturienten) of the Gymnasium
Cultural Societies
The First World War 1914-1919
Jewish Soldiers Killed in the First World War
Chapter 3
The Jews Of Hersfeld In The Third Reich
3.1. Disenfranchisement and Persecution 1933 to 1939 . . . . . . . . . .87
Development of the Local Party (NSDAP)
The Takeover of Power By the Nazis
Even the Churches Conformed
Was the Unemployment Problem a Factor?
The Election for the Hersfeld City Council (Stadtparlament)
The NSDAP Becomes the National Political Party
Party Members Occupy Senior Positions
The Hierarchy of the Hersfeld NSDAP
District Office of the NSDAP
Neighborhood NSDAP Groups
Cell Leaders
Block Leaders
Hitler’s Plan and Methods
The Jews are Bullied and Intimidated
The Boycott of the Jews
The Masterminds Were in the NSDAP
The State Secret Police/Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei)
The First Concentration Camps
Laws and Ordinances Against the Jews
The Hersfelder Zeitung is Banned for Three Days
Clubs and Social Groups are “Aryanized”
“My Homeland” (“Mein Heimatland”) and the Historical Society
Restrictions on Jewish Recreation Activities
Expulsion of Jewish Club Members and Schoolchildren
Many Teachers Were Party Members
The Honor Roll of the Gymnasium
Schools in the Period of National Socialism
Introduction of the Identity Card
The Identity Card of the Lawyer Dr. Theodor Dellevie
Identity Papers (or the Control Over the German Jews)
Jews From Other Countries Were Also Kept Under Surveillance
Emigration and Resettlement
Jews Desiring to Emigrate were Hindered
Difficulties Abroad
The 1938 Pogrom in Hersfeld
The Official Reports
The Organizers of the Assaults
Jews are Placed into “Protective Custody”
Recollections of Witnesses
The Jews are Punished
Ordinances, Circulars, and Laws
Jewish Houses are in Demand
Wertheim, Breitenstrasse #22
A Dubious Acquisition
Jewish Communities and Organizations Lose Their Rights
Jewish Community Properties are in Demand
The Jewish Cemeteries
Fewer and Fewer Jews
Residential Rights of Jews are Revoked
Occupants of the “Judenhaus” at Bahnhofstrasse #11
3.2. The War Worsens the Situation for the Jews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
The “Final Solution of the Jewish Question”
The Deportations and the Disposition of Jewish Property
The Hersfeld Victims of the Holocaust
List of Hersfeld Holocaust Victims
Clarification of the List of Holocaust Victims
Acquisition of Jewish Winter Garments
The Weekend of Deportations in Hersfeld
The Last Jews are “Resettled”
Biographical Data of the Hersfeld Deportees
The Deportation of the Last Jews in the District
Seven Jews from Niederaula
The Last Jews in the District of Hersfeld
1945: Jews Live in Hersfeld Once Again
In Retrospect
Chapter 4
The Fate Of Individual Hersfeld Jews Between 1933 And 1945
4.1. Many Paths Led to Freedom or to Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163
Jakob Rothschild, Reluctant Emigrant
Ruth Rapp (née Friedmann), The Tragedy of the St. Louis
Jack Hahn – Jack of All Trades
The Aftermath of the 1938 Pogrom
Mail From Germany
Jack Hahn in England and Canada
Berta and Karl Katz–Wounded in War But Still Deported
The Landsberg Children–Many Paths to Freedom
4.2. Rescue Initiatives for Jewish Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .188
The Schmidt Children
The Goldschmidt Boys
The Speier Girls
Jakob Hahn of Klausstrasse #18
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194
Napoleonic Decree of January 27, 1808
Jewish Businesses in Hersfeld
Persons Mentioned in the Text
The Last Jewish Burials in Hersfeld Through 1939
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206
Reference Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210
The Naming of Persons in the Text *
In accordance with the commonly used practice of identifying the names of
persons mentioned in historical texts, the following is applied: names of former
Jewish citizens, or witnesses to past events, or of contemporaneous important
personalities such as mayors or district and provincial administrators, are
spelled out. Names of Nazi Party members, who gained notoriety through their
unlawful acts, or who died years ago are, as a rule, spelled out. Former party
members who occupied minor official positions are not named.
*Cf.: Volksgemeinschaft und Volksfeinde, Kassel 1933-1945, Kassel 1984, Vorwort.
*Cf.: Kropat, Wolf-Arno, Kristallnacht in Hessen, Wiesbaden 1988, Einleitung,
Seite 6 f.