City walk Leipzig

"Seek the best of the city..." (Jeremiah 29:7)

In Leipzig's Augustusplatz, the collective trauma of loss and reappropriation of history is particularly evident. Individual Jewish places are also part of this.

Augustusplatz, laid out in front of the Grimmaisches Thor starting in 1785, still reflects the highs and lows of Leipzig's city history. Until the devastating air raid of December 4, 1943, it was considered one of the most beautiful squares in Germany, followed from 1945 by the urban transformation into Karl-Marx-Platz. The trauma of the destruction is particularly evident in the University Church of St. Pauli. Blown up in 1968, it stood for Leipzig's tradition as a university city (since 1409) and site of the Reformation (since 1519/39). The new Paulinum(2007-17) is now trying to close this gap. Next to it rises the renovated City-Hochhaus (1968-72), an open book intended to remind us of Leipzig as a center of book printing and book trade. Finally, the New Opera House (1954-60) and the New Gewandhaus (1977-81) connect with Leipzig's bourgeois cultural and musical tradition - as well as with the Peaceful Revolution of 1989. In the midst of it all, yet hardly perceived as such, are individual Jewish sites: The Krochhochhaus (1927/28), once home to the banking house of Hans Kroch (1887-1970), is considered Leipzig's first high-rise building made of reinforced concrete. The builder died in Jerusalem, his wife Ella was murdered in Bernburg in 1942. The Königsbau, to the left, was built in 1911 for the Bamberger & Hertz clothing store. It went up in flames in the November pogrom of 1938. Only one of the five Bamberger brothers survived. Since 2003, a memorial plaque commemorates the family.

"Mein Leipzig lob' ich mir..." (Goethe, Faust. Der Tragödie erster Teil, 1808)

At the Old Town Hall on Leipzig Market, a stone relief recalls the presence of Jewish merchant families since the 13th century. At Brühl, they founded the center of the smoked goods and fur industry.

Taking Grimmaische Straße, past Auerbach's Cellar, you reach Leipzig's market - the heart of the city. The Renaissance building of the Old Town Hall (1556/57) has housed the City History Museum since 1909. During the reconstruction work in 1906-09, a stone relief was inserted into the arcades on the north side, facing the Salzgäßchen, showing - in keeping with the cliché of the time - two "East Jewish" merchants. In fact, Leipzig's rise as a European trade fair city was firmly linked to the trading activities of Jewish families from the middle of the 13th century. In 1352/59, there is evidence for the first time of a "Judengasse" or "Judenburg" outside the city walls, for example in the area of today's main fire station (Goerdelerring 7), including a synagogue. By the end of the 15th century, however, all Jewish inhabitants were probably expelled from the Saxon territories. After that, a stay in Leipzig was only possible during the trade fairs: against payment of high taxes, the "Meßjuden", mostly from Eastern Europe, had to take up quarters in the old Judengasse, after 1700 mainly at the eastern end of the Brühl. With various business premises, storerooms and prayer rooms, the "Judenbrühl" eventually developed into an international center for the smoked goods and fur trade. At Brühl 74, an inscription of the "Gebr. Assuschkewitz" has been preserved. At Brühl 71 (today 65), in the house "Zum Blauen Harnisch", was the prayer room of the Brody merchants (from 1763/64).

"Why the black response of hatred to your existence, Israel?" (Nelly Sachs)

The Leipzig "Temple", the first and largest synagogue of the Israelite religious community, was inaugurated in 1855 on Gottschedstraße. Since 2001, a memorial marks there the gap torn in 1938...

From Leipziger Markt it is only a few minutes' walk to Gottschedstrasse, once the site of the Great Community Synagogue of Leipzig. Built in Moorish style from 1854 according to plans by Semper's student Otto Simonson, the "New Israelite Temple" was consecrated by the liberal Rabbi Dr. Adolf Jellinek on September 10, 1855. Although the religious community (officially founded in 1847) had only 81 members when the foundation stone was laid, the magnificent building with its trapezoidal floor plan was designed for 1,600 people, including the trade fair guests. There was also room for an organ in 1868. A few decades earlier, this would have been unthinkable: On the one hand, the ban on Jewish families settling here had only been lifted after 1800 (between 1832 and 1925, the number of Jewish residents grew from 140 to a good 13,000). Secondly, the majority of Leipzig's Jews were Orthodox and met in their own prayer rooms. Like no other building, the temple therefore stood for a new presence of Jewish life in the city. In the November pogrom of 1938, it - like all Leipzig synagogues - became a target of hatred: desecrated, burned down and demolished in a very short time. The gap remained, until today. It has been marked since 1966 by a memorial stone, and since June 2001 also by a memorial site of the city of Leipzig: 140 empty chairs above the old ground plan, symbol of the absence and presence, of the visible as well as the invisible. An orientation board especially for the blind and visually impaired has been installed.

"Mountains cannot approach, but people can approach each other." (Jewish proverb)

In the former Auenstraße 14, the "Saxon Israelite Old People's Home in Leipzig" was inaugurated in 1931. Today, the new cultural heart of the Jewish community beats in the "Ariowitsch House"

From the site of the old temple, it is a good 12-minute walk, via Thomasiusstrasse and Leibnizstrasse, to the Ariowitsch House at Hinrichsenstrasse 14, where the new cultural and meeting center of the Jewish religious community was inaugurated in 2009 - after years of litigation with residents. The centerpiece is a new building at ground level that connects the front and back buildings. Supported by its own association, concerts, lectures, readings and seminars are held here regularly. Every two years, the city of Leipzig participates in the Jewish cultural week "Schalom". The history of the place goes back to the 1920s: after the old people's home in Nordstraße became too small, a foundation by Louise Ariowitsch née Hepner (1856-1939), widow of the smoke merchant Julius Ariowitsch, made it possible to build the new Saxon Jewish Old People's Home. It was to be open primarily to poorer members of all eight religious communities in Saxony. Built from 1928 according to plans by Emil Franz Hänsel, the Ariowitsch Home was inaugurated on May 17, 1931. In 1937/38 the extension of the rear building followed, until 1940 that of the attic. On September 19, 1942, all 350 residents of the home were deported to Theresienstadt, and from 1943 the Gestapo set up an interrogation and torture house here. After the liberation in 1945, the building was first used by the administration of the American, then the Soviet army. Since 1948 it has again served as a home for the elderly - today in the form of a multi-generation house. A commemorative plaque was unveiled by the donor's grandson in 1993.

"It was a magnificent court in every respect." (S. J. Kreutner, My Leipzig, 1992)

The Hasidic Rabbi Israel Friedmann von Boyan resided in the corner house Leibnizstraße 24/ Hinrichsenstraße 10 from 1919-34. Today, the Bürgerverein Waldstraßenviertel can be found here.

The Leipzig Waldstraßenviertel, northwest of the old city center, is considered one of the largest preserved urban areas from the Gründerzeit in Europe. Almost simultaneously with its emergence, Jewish families were able to settle here in increasing numbers, and so their relatively high proportion of the population as well as the presence of various Jewish institutions soon earned the neighborhood the nickname "New Jerusalem." Since 1991, the Waldstraßenviertel Citizens' Association has made it its task to maintain and actively preserve this heritage, including the Jewish heritage. The association's headquarters are located only a few steps away from the Ariowitsch House, even in a historical place: in the corner house Leibnizstraße 24/ Hinrichsenstraße 10. Here, in the middle of the upper middle-class villa district, a Hasidic Rebbe from Bukovina held court until 1934: Israel Friedmann von Boyan (1878-1951), descendant of a widely branched dynasty, came to Leipzig in 1919, where already 30-40 Boyan families were resident. Together with other Hasidim from Sadagóra and Czortków, they now took care of their revered Rebbe, his family and his "court": the villa with apartments, garden, kitchen, storehouses and stables. On the first floor to the left, a larger prayer hall was established, and the Rebbe always prayed separately. In 1934 Israel Friedmann emigrated to Palestine, where he died in Tel Aviv in 1951. The house was foreclosed in 1935...

From the synagogue to the factory

The Leipzig fur trader family Ariowitsch lived in the house at Färberstraße 11 from 1915. In memory of the company founder, they had the Beth Yehuda Synagogue built in the courtyard building in 1921...

A few steps to the east - not far from the Elstermühlgraben - Färberstraße branches off to the right from Hinrichsenstraße. It was named after the medieval dyer families who once lived here in the Ranstädter Vorstadt near the Mühlgraben. Today's Waldstraßenviertel is dominated by the bourgeois houses of the Wilhelminian period: in 1915, the already mentioned fur trader family Ariowitsch - after the early death of the company's founder, Julius Ariowitsch (1855-1908) - acquired the property at Färberstraße 11. The front building served the widow, Louise Ariowitsch, as a residence and meeting place for the widely branched family. The rear building housed various religious institutions, including the business and teaching rooms of the Youth Council or a prayer room of the Jewish Law-abiding Association. In memory of Julius Ariowitsch, the premises were converted into the Beth Yehuda Synagogue (also "Ariowitsch Shul") in 1921. Since 1930 there was even a family foundation, established to finance the Ariowitsch home. Badly devastated in the November pogrom of 1938, the synagogue had to be closed in February 1939. The courtyard building was now used as a homeless and nursing home, the front building as an old people's home until both were designated "Jewish houses" in 1943. The Beth Yehuda Synagogue was used for the last time on April 15, 1946 for the first Leipzig Seder celebration after the Shoah. After that it served as a factory building of the VEB Bettwaren Leipzig. Still in 1993 remains of the old Mikwe were discovered, they also disappeared with the subsequent redevelopment.

"A Jewish school in which children would be free from instruction on Sabbath and festival days ..." (S. J. Kreutner, My Leipzig, 1992)

The Ephraim Carlebach House at Gustav-Adolf-Strasse 7 has been home to the German Central Library for the Blind since 1954. Outside, a memorial plaque recalls the history of the former school building.

With its foundation (1847), the Jewish Religious Community of Leipzig also endeavored to establish its own religious school. Already in 1848 it opened its doors under the liberal preacher Adolf Jellinek. An alternative did not present itself to the Orthodox members of the congregation until 1900, when Dr. Ephraim Carlebach (1879-1936) was appointed director of the new religious school of the Talmud-Thora-Verein. In 1912, on his initiative, the general-education elementary and secondary Jewish school in Leipzig was founded, the first Jewish school in Saxony (since 1935, the Ephraim Carlebach School). From 1913 it was located in the new building at Gustav-Adolf-Strasse 7. In 1914 the Israelitische Schulverein took over the sponsorship. The staff included Jewish and non-Jewish teachers. Carlebach, who from 1917 also served in the Orthodox rabbinate in Leipzig, gave up all his posts in 1935 after falling seriously ill. In 1936 he emigrated to Palestine, where he died. His successor, Siegfried Weikersheimer, was able to save the school from destruction in November 1938, but had to emigrate. After the reopening in 1939 under Daniel Katzmann, classes were finally discontinued in 1942. From 1941-43, the school served as a "Judenhaus", lastly for 206 people. A memorial plaque to the left of the entrance has commemorated their deportation since 1988. The building, which was destroyed during the war, was reconstructed in 1953 and has since housed the German Central Library for the Blind. The house has borne Carlebach's name again since 2008.

In 1934, the Jewish Religious Community established a children's home in the house at Jacobstraße 7. The house performed its function until the deportation of the last twenty children in July 1942. Among them was 12-year-old Rosa Rubinstein.

Rosel was a lively child. Born on November 17, 1929, Rosa Lea Rubinstein grew up as a half-orphan in Nazi Leipzig. Her mother had already died in 1932, and her father was probably deported to the Polish border region at the end of October 1938 as part of the "Poland Action," along with about 5,000 Polish citizens or stateless persons. In August 1940, Rosel found a new home with her foster mother Irma Rosenhein (1895-1943) at Nordplatz 7, in one of the 47 Leipzig "Judenhäuser" (Jewish houses), as they were set up from 1939: Deprived of their own apartments by the "Law on Tenancies with Jews," Jewish families now had to live there together in very cramped quarters. When Irma's husband died in 1940, she took Rosel in. Her biological daughter Berta was already able to flee to England with the first Kindertransport at the end of November 1938. When the systematic deportations finally began on January 21, 1942, Irma was among the first 700 victims. Rosel was taken to the "Judenhaus" at Jacobstraße 7 on the same day: here the community had set up a children's home in 1934 under the direction of the Leipzig teacher Gertrud Herrmann (1896-1942?). The home continued its activities until the deportation of the last twenty children on July 13, 1942. Among them was 12-year-old Rosel. A stumbling stone in the gateway has commemorated her since 2006. There is no sign on the house itself.

"PLEASE CLOSE DOOR"

For over a century, the administration of the Jewish Religious Community of Leipzig has been at home at Löhrstraße 10. Of the importance of the place is little to guess from the outside.

About the Humboldtstraße or the Löhrsteg one reaches the section of the Löhrstraße located south of the Parthe.

"For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:3)

In 1903/04, the double dwelling house Keilstraße 4-6 was converted into the Brody synagogue. It survived the Nazi era as the only Jewish place of worship in Leipzig, and remains so to this day.

Among Leipzig's Meßjuden, the merchants from Brody in Galicia played a special role: they were the first to settle permanently in the city and were allowed to establish a cemetery in 1814. From 1763/64 they maintained a prayer room at Brühl 71 (today 65), and from 1818 they rented a room in the Kleines Kolleg at Eselsplatz (today Ritterstraße 24). Towards the end of the century, as the number of Orthodox congregation members increased, the call for a synagogue of their own grew louder. In 1903/04, under the auspices of the Talmud-Thora Society, the double dwelling house at Keilstraße 4-6 was purchased and converted into the Brody Synagogue. According to the plans of Oscar Schade, the first floor and the second floor (hardly visible from the outside) were combined to form a hall with a women's gallery running all the way around it and designed in the neo-Moorish style. On the second floor there was a library. Ephraim Carlebach also officiated as rabbi, and the last to sing here was the head cantor of Leipzig, Samuel Lampel. Already in June 1937, the property and building were Aryanized. Because of the danger to the surrounding apartments, the synagogue (as the only one) escaped the destructive arson attacks of the pogrom in November 1938. The interior was destroyed and the building was subsequently used as a soap factory. The rededication on October 28, 1945, now as a synagogue of the Jewish Religious Community, marked a new beginning, but the membership dwindled. It was not until 1991 that there was an increase in membership again due to the immigration of many Jews from the former Soviet Union. After extensive restoration, the Brody synagogue was consecrated for a third time on May 22, 1993, as it once was according to Orthodox rite. Since 2010, Zsolt Balla (b. 1979), an Orthodox rabbi, has been officiating here again.

"Completely removed from the gaze, known by only a few, ..." (Paul Benndorf, in: Leipziger Kalender, 1925)

On Stephanstraße, to the left of the old observatory, Leipzig's oldest Jewish cemetery was located from 1814 until 1937. Today, the allotment gardeners' association Johannistal 1832 e. V. is at home there.

Who has time and desire, it is still recommended to visit one of the three Jewish cemeteries. The oldest of them was located in the Johannistal, a depression towards the southeast, in front of the old Sandtor (today the intersection of Seeburg-/Talstraße), where the "Ratssandgruben" and "Pulverhäuser" were located. Since 1798, the board of Brody merchants had been trying to find their own burial ground, since the Messjuden who died in Leipzig were only allowed to be buried in Dessau or Naumburg. It was not until the end of October 1814 that the city granted the concession: 200 thalers together with an annual rental fee for a narrow plot of land, directly north of the powder houses. Between November 1814 and February 1864, a total of 334 people were buried, including the Hasidic Rebbe Shalom Joseph Friedmann (1813-52) of Sadagóra, an ancestor of Israel Friedmann of Boyan. After the closure, the area in Johannistal became overgrown, surrounded by an allotment garden site parceled out from 1832, the oldest ever in Saxony. If the conversion into a people's park could be prevented in 1927, this served the city of Leipzig in 1936/37 as a pretext to terminate the leasehold agreement: the property had to be cleared, the dead reburied in a communal grave at the New Jewish Cemetery. Only 17 gravestones were preserved. Instead of the Volkspark, more private gardens were created after 1945. To this day, relics of the old cemetery can still be found there: Gravestone fragments, a small building, remains of walls, a gate. A commemorative plaque is missing.

"1914-1918 | Their Sons Departed for the Fatherland | The Grateful Israelite Religious Community" (Memorial by Wilhelm Haller, 1926)

The Old Jewish Cemetery at 123 Berliner Strasse reflects the culture and self-confidence of Leipzig Jewry until 1928. The subsequent ruptures and destruction are still visible today.

After the foundation of the Israelite religious community (1847), the number of members grew rapidly. Thus it was foreseeable that the old burial ground in Johannistal would soon no longer be sufficient. In 1862, a new site was acquired from the landowner Hennig in the suburb of Eutritzsch, on what was then Mockauer Strasse: a long, narrow plot of land facing south-north. On March 2, 1864, Ephraim Friedemann from the Russian Titin was the first to be buried here. Today, the Old Jewish Cemetery contains about 2,700 gravesites in five sections, each to the right and left of the main path, separated by walls, some with impressive hereditary burials, including numerous well-known Leipzig names such as the Adler, Brasch, Deuel, Fürst, Goldschmidt, Jadassohn, Plaut or Rapaport families. Only the ground plan of the ceremony hall, directly at the entrance, can still be seen. It was spared in 1938, but on December 4, 1943 - like parts of the cemetery - it was destroyed in a hail of bombs. On the initiative of the Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten a memorial for the fallen of the First World War was erected in the 5th section in 1926: a total of 121 names. Also in the 5th section are urn graves of concentration camp victims from Leipzig. With the inauguration of the New Jewish Cemetery the old one was closed in 1928. Individual burials still took place thereafter (most recently in 1983). A visit is worthwhile and is daily, except on Shabbat, possible.

"Stronger [!] than death is love" (inscription on the new celebration hall from 1955)

The New Jewish Cemetery at Delitzscher Straße 224 was inaugurated in 1928. To this day, it serves as the religious community's final resting place and brings many old Leipzig stories to life.

The second Jewish cemetery on Berliner Straße also soon became too small for the growing community. As early as 1901, it acquired a large plot of land in the north of Eutritzsch, opposite St. George's Hospital on Delitzscher Strasse.

In 1922, garden architect Otto Moosdorf drew up a first plan for laying out the park-like area in a west-east direction, and planting began in 1925. The architect Wilhelm Haller took over the design of the head buildings. Especially his celebration hall, erected in 1927/28, with its 21.5-meter-high and 18-meter-wide concrete dome, caused a great sensation: "Strong as death is love" (Song of Songs 8:6), was the original inscription. On May 6, 1928, the New Jewish Cemetery could be inaugurated. In the November pogrom of 1938, most of the graves were spared, and the celebration hall also withstood the flames, but was blown up in February 1939. In 1951, a memorial to the more than 14,000 Leipzig victims of the Shoah was erected at the same site. When the new celebration hall was built (1953-55), this was moved to the rear of the cemetery. The cemeteries along the central axis were restored by 1948. In addition to the gravestones of the old Leipzig families, often in Bauhaus or Art Deco style (towards the south), there are now also well-known names of the post-war period (towards the north), including Adlerstein, Eitingon, Goldmann, Gollomb, Licht or Sander. On the stones of more recent date (towards the east) mostly Russian names dominate. In total, there are about 1,500 graves, including the 1937 burial ground with 17 gravestones from the Johannistal as well as a field with urn graves of Leipzig concentration camp victims. A visit is also possible here daily, except on Shabbat.