Coswig
General information: First Jewish presence: 18th century; peak Jewish population: 65 in 1845; Jewish population in 1933: 9
Summary:
At the beginning of the 1770s, several Jewish families obtained
residency rights from the Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg. The
Jews of Coswig attended services in the synagogue of
neighboring Woerlitz until 1800, when they built a small,
half-timbered house of worship on Domstrasse; the building
was renovated approximately 100 years later. Beginning in
1832, the community belonged to the rabbinate of Anhalt-
Bernburg. Always small (membership began to dwindle in
the 1850s), the community was never able to hire a chazzan.
Herman Cohen (1842-1918), the Jewish philosopher
and one of the founders of the Marburg School of Neo-
Kantianism, was born in Coswig.
Local Jews established a cemetery (on Heidestrasse)
and a cemetery hall in 1800 and 1843, respectively. The
cemetery was leveled during the Nazi period, and many
tombstones were stolen. As of this writing, 36 tombstones
are still intact.
On Pogrom Night, the synagogue, which had been in use
until 1928, was severely damaged; it was finally demolished
in 1939.
At least three Coswig Jews perished in the Shoah. A
memorial plaque has been unveiled at the former synagogue
site.
Author / Sources: Beate Grosz-Wenker
Sources: AJ, EJL JL, YV
Sources: AJ, EJL JL, YV
Located in: saxony-anhalt