Einbeck

Summary: Records suggest that Einbeck’s 14th century Jewish community maintained a synagogue and a cemetery. In 1886, when the community recorded its peak population figure, most Einbeck Jews were traders; later, many became craftsmen, manufacturers and professionals. (The town was home to a Jewish dentist in the mid-1700s.) The early community maintained a school, a mikveh and a prayer room, the last of which was, presumably, used until 1798, when the community dedicated a synagogue on Baustrasse and re-consecrated the medieval cemetery on Judenkirchhofsfeld. In 1896, a new synagogue was inaugurated on Bismarckstrasse; sold in 1906, the old house of worship became a residential building. Einbeck’s new Jewish cemetery, consecrated on Rabbethgenstrasse in 1832, was used until 1911, when the community began to bury its dead in the central cemetery. The Jews of Einbeck also maintained an orphanage for girls, a social and sports club, two Jewish associations (one for men, the other for women) and a charitable organization. On Pogrom Night, Jewish properties were plundered and demolished, Jews were arrested and the synagogue was burned to the ground by non-local SS men. By 1939, only nine Jews lived in Einbeck. Restored after the war, the cemetery on Rabbethgenstrasse has since been repeatedly vandalized. Memorials were unveiled at the former synagogue site and at the cemetery in 1963 and 1993, respectively. Between 27 and 32 Einbeck Jews perished in the Shoah.

Author / Sources: Heike Zaun Goshen
Sources: AH, HU, JG NB1, SIA