Tuebingen

Summary: Jews were expelled from Tuebingen in 1348/49, in 1456 and again in 1477. In 1848, Jews once again established a presence in the town as members of the Jewish community of Wankheim. The community’s headquarters were moved to Tuebingen in 1882. Local Jews attended services at the Wankheim synagogue until 1882, when the community inaugurated a synagogue at 33 Gartenstrasse. Jewish schoolchildren studied religion under the guidance of teachers who also served as cantors and ritual slaughterers. Burials were conducted in Wankheim. Fourteen schoolchildren studied religion in Tuebingen in 1933, and several Jewish associations and branches of nation-wide organizations were active in the town. The synagogue’s interior was destroyed on Pogrom Night; Torah scrolls and ritual objects were thrown into the Neckar River, after which the synagogue building was burned down. Five Jews were sent to Dachau. Sixty-eight local Jews emigrated, 49 relocated within Germany, ten died in the town, two committed suicide and 14, the last, were deported to Riga, Izbica, Theresienstadt and Auschwitz in 1941 and 1942. At least 42 Tuebingen Jews perished in the Shoah. A plaque was unveiled opposite the former synagogue site in 1983. The site was remodeled in 1998 and now contains a fountain and a memorial stone.

Author / Sources: Heike Zaun Goshen
Sources: AH, AJ, EJL, PK BW
www.geschichtswerkstatt-tuebingen.de
www.bustan-shalom.org