History of the Jews in Hamburg

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The history of the Jews in Hamburg in Germany, is recorded from at least 1590 on. The Jews of Hamburg have lived primarily in the Jewish neighbourhoods of Grindel and Neustadt, where the Sephardic Community „Newe Salom“ [1] was established in 1652. Since 1612 there have been toleration agreements with the senate. Also Reformed Dutch merchants and Anglican Britons made similar agreements before. In these agreements the Jews were not permitted to live in the Inner-City, though were also not required to live in ghettos.

From 1600 onwards, also German Jews settled in Hamburg, but in 1649 these Ashkenazi Jews were driven out of the city. From then on, only Sephardi Jews were permitted to live in Hamburg.

Around 1925, about 20,000 Jews lived in Hamburg. When the Nazis came to power, most synagogues were destroyed and soon the associated communities also were dissolved. In 1945, a Jewish community was founded by survivors of the Shoah. And finally in 1960 the new Synagogue "Hohe Weide" was built.

Origins

The Jewish Community in Hamburg, began with the establishment of Sephardic Jewish from Spain and Antwerp. They came around 1577, as they were expelled from Spain. Before the destruction of the Jewish community by the Nazis, Eimsbüttel was the center of Jewish life in Hamburg. There were several synagogues, the most famous were the "Neue Dammtor-Synagoge" (1895), the "Bornplatzsynagoge" (1906) and the Temple in Oberstrasse (1931).

Sephardic Jews

Haskalah / Jewish emancipation

Approximately 6,500 Jews lived 1800 in Hamburg. Thus they represented a share of 6 percent of the total population. This was the largest Jewish community in Germany. Because Altona and Wandsbek were dissolved in 1812 by a French decree 1821 the "German-Israelite Community" was founded in Hamburg. The decisive assistance in the fight for equal rights came because in the elections 1848 the Jews had voting rights. To get those votes, two opposing groups promised them equal rights. Then, in February 1849, they received all citizens rights and integration began.

Holocaust

The Neuengamme concentration camp was established in 1938 by the SS near the village of Neuengamme in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg.

Many Hamburg Jews are commemortaed by Stolperstein.

References

  1. ↑ location of sephardic Community „Newe Salom“

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Judaism in Hamburg.