Heidelberg

Summary: The Jewish community of Heidelberg was annihilated in 1348/49; in 1390, another community was expelled together with all Jews from the Palatinate region. In 1660, several Jewish families were again living in the city, and in 1724 Jews were admitted to Heidelberg University. The medieval Jewish community maintained a synagogue and a cemetery, the latter of which was cleared in 1391. A prayer hall was used from in the late 17th century onwards, and in 1737 a synagogue was inaugurated at Mantelgasse; the synagogue was rebuilt and enlarged in 1878, in 1934 and on several other occasions. The community was home to a district rabbinate and, after 1921, an Orthodox association. We also know that local Jews inaugurated a synagogue and mikveh (at 35 Ploeck) in 1932, and that the city was home to three Jewish cemeteries, the most recent of which was consecrated in 1876. Many Jewish students from Russia, including the poet Saul Tschernichovsky, the historian Joseph Klausner and the Zionist leader Nachum Goldman, moved to Heidelberg. Nobel Prize Laureate Otto Meyerhof taught at the university. The Jewish community of 1933 (1,102 members) employed Fritz Pinkuss as its chief rabbi. One hundred and seventy-five schoolchildren studied religion under the guidance of two teachers who also performed the duties of cantors. In April 1933, all Jewish university professors and lecturers were dismissed from their posts; in 1934/35, all Jewish pupils were segregated from their Christian peers, a policy that triggered, in 1937, the creation of a regional Jewish school. Rabbi Pinkuss emigrated in 1936, after which Ulrich Steuer became chief rabbi. Eight Polish Jews were deported to Poland in 1939, followed by six others in 1939. The Mantelgasse synagogue was incinerated on Pogrom Night; one week later, the Torah scrolls and ritual articles were transferred from the police station to the university, where they, too, were set on fire. The community house, the Orthodox synagogue and the prayer room were also destroyed, as were many Jewish homes and stores. All male Jews were arrested, and 150 were sent to Dachau. After the pogrom, Jews were forced to clean the streets. In 1939, the synagogue ruins were cleared at the community’s expanse. The municipality appropriated the site in 1942, and the Orthodox synagogue was demolished in 1959. Approximately 800 Jews fled Heidelberg; 121 died in the city; 281 were deported to Gurs on October 22, 1940; 11 were deported to Theresienstadt in August 1942; and 22 were deported to the same destination in February 1945. Evangelical pastor Hermann Maas smuggled abroad approximately 100 Jews, a heroic act for which he was recognized by Yad Vashem as a “Righteous among the Nations.” At least 288 Heidelberg Jews perished in the Shoah. A new community was established in Heidelberg in 1945. Several memorial plaques have been unveiled in the city, and a new synagogue and community center were inaugurated in 1994.

Author / Sources: Magret Liat Wolf
Sources: AJ, EJ, PK-BW