City walk Heidelberg on the Neckar

"that ewiclich kein jude oder judynne in slossern und lande der pfaltz und herzogtums obgenant wonen, sesshaftig oder blibehafftig sin." (Electoral Palatinate decree of 1.8.1401) At Heidelberg's market square - the historic center of the city - meet today tourist*innen from all over the world. As a "Jewish place" it tells several times about times of exclusion and persecution...

This walk through the "Jewish Heidelberg" begins in the heart of the city - at the market square. Baroque town hall (1701-03) and Hercules Fountain (1706-09) are popular photo motifs, as is the "Haus zum Ritter" (1592). Souvenir stands are lined up around the Gothic Heiliggeistkirche (1398-1515). Historically, however, the market stands less for cosmopolitanism and the presence of Jewish merchants in the city than for their exclusion and persecution: Although the Palgraves and Electors guaranteed the protection of the families who had been resident here since the 13th century, the city council and guilds always tried to keep Jewish competition to a minimum. After the death of Ruprecht I (1390), his successors agreed to permanent expulsion - for almost three centuries, with individual temporary exceptions. At the same time, the city was considerably expanded. Thus, starting in 1398, the imposing Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Spirit) was converted into the electoral burial place. A visit is worthwhile. Hermann Maas (1877-1970) is mentioned at the entrance: a city pastor for many years (1915-43), a pioneer of Jewish-Christian dialogue, a Zionist and an avowed opponent of the Nazis. In 1966 he was honored in Yad Vashem as "Righteous Among the Nations." Right on the corner, Hauptstraße 187, four "stumbling stones" have been commemorating the Heidelberg tailor family Julius Wertheimer since 2015.

"All residents, so zu Heidelberg wohnen, es sein Christen, pfäffen, laien oder Juden, zu schützen oder schirmen." (Heidelberg City Code of 1357)

The synagogue of the (second) medieval community was located at Dreikönigstraße 25 / Untere Straße 24, and on December 26, 1390, it was rededicated as the Lady Chapel...

A few steps away from the marketplace is today's Dreikönigstraße, until 1832 still called "Judengasse". It is exactly here that the Jewish residential quarter before 1390 can be identified. In addition to the synagogue and Mikveh, the community probably had its own Yeshiva, a rabbinical court and a cemetery (on today's Plöck). The synagogue building was located at Dreikönigstraße 25 (corner of Untere Straße 24), probably a hall building facing east, plus a front house with mikveh, courtyard and garden. The complex probably dates from the time after the plague persecutions of 1348/49, when Ruprecht I - against payment of high protection money - again accepted some Jewish families from Speyer and Worms in Heidelberg. This second medieval community barely lasted forty years until it was expelled in the fall of 1390 under Ruprecht II. He transferred all their possessions - land and houses, synagogue inventory and manuscripts - to the university, which had only been founded in 1386. The former synagogue was rededicated as the Lady Chapel by the Bishop of Worms on Boxing Day 1390 and subsequently used as a meeting and lecture hall. When Heidelberg was destroyed in 1689, the building burned down - it can still be seen on Merian's view of the city around 1620...

"Here stood the Jewish gate of the medieval city fortifications, built in the 13th century..."

A plaque on the corner house at Dreikönigstraße 2 today provides one of the few references to the existence of a Jewish community in medieval Heidelberg - and yet it is out of place...

Along Dreikönigstraße - named in 1832 after the inn "Zu den drei Königen" (Hauptstraße 160) - the path leads down towards the Neckar. Here, at the northern end of the former Judengasse, was once the "Judentor" as part of the medieval city fortifications - as can still be seen on Merian's city view of 1620. However, contrary to what the sign on the corner house to Lauerstraße suggests, the wall ran along the river bank, along today's Neckarstaden: The "Judentor" therefore by no means blocked access to the Judengasse like a "ghetto"; rather, the Jewish families privileged by the Count Palatine were able to settle in all parts of Heidelberg - to the annoyance of the townspeople. The first documentary evidence dates from May 1, 1275 (the "Judengasse" is not mentioned until 1374), but presumably individual "Schutzjuden" were admitted even earlier, in the course of the 13th century. The mention of a "Judenkirchhof" (Jewish churchyard) on today's Plöck (between Sandgasse and Theaterstraße) in 1344 also suggests the existence of a - first - Jewish community. However, this community fell victim to the plague pogroms in 1348/49 and its property was confiscated. The "Judentor" was destroyed in 1689/93, only the archway remained standing until 1805...

"I love the place of your house and the place where your honor dwells." (Festive sermon on Psalm 26:8 for the dedication of the synagogue on April 12, 1878)

At the "Old Synagogue Square", between Großer Mantelgasse and Lauerstraße, Heidelberg's third Jewish community found a new home from 1714 - and here they lost it in November 1938...

A few steps along Lauerstraße lies the "Old Synagogue Square." Even after it was named in 1956, there was not much here, at the site of Heidelberg's second synagogue. A first memorial stone of the Jewish community (1948) - today again at the old place - had been shipped to the mountain cemetery in 1952/53, the restituted property had been sold to the city in 1955. It was not until 2001 that the decision was made to redesign the area as a "walk-in" memorial, followed in 2004 by a memorial plaque for the Jewish Nazi victims. The history of the (third) Heidelberg congregation begins at the end of the 17th century. Services were only allowed to be celebrated in private rooms, for example in the house of Feist Löw Oppenheimer (Merianstraße 3) since 1700. After protests from the neighboring Jesuit College, the congregation moved in 1714 to the secluded house "Zur blauen Lilie" (Große Mantelgasse 1), where - as the police commission found - "no one could be incommoded nor annoyed." The Heidelberg synagogue was built on the same site in 1875-78. In 1913 it was extended to the east, and an organ replaced the harmonium. In the early morning of November 10, 1938, the house of worship was looted and set on fire by Heidelberg SA men. In February 1939, the ruins were demolished. Less than two years later, the Orthodox prayer hall (Plöck 35) served as a replacement...

"To the living spirit" (dedication by Friedrich Gundolf, 1930)

Emphatic openness and scientific excellence characterized the University of Heidelberg since the beginning of the 20th century. On May 17, 1933, books were burned here as well...

The path to Universitätsplatz leads past Heumarkt 1, the "Sibley House," Heidelberg's first student dormitory (1927). From 1823 to 1926, the kosher-run inn "Zum goldenen Ross" was located here, a focal point of Jewish life in the city, for countless celebrations and gatherings, for families and clubs. This included the "Badenia," Heidelberg's first Jewish student fraternity, founded in 1890 in response to the growing anti-Semitism in the German Reich (and especially in academic circles). Heidelberg also initially had difficulty with the ideas of freedom and tolerance: from the 16th century, the university had developed into a center for Hebrew studies, although the first Jewish medical student was not admitted until 1724. After 1809 - theoretically - all faculties were open, but no Jewish full professor was found before 1861. A good sixty years later, they made up about 18%, and Jewish students were also an integral part of the life of the city: "Dem lebendigen Geist" (To the living spirit), a dedication by the literary historian Friedrich Gundolf, was emblazoned over the portal of the New University from 1930/31... Then the exodus began. In 1938, the Torah scrolls of the destroyed synagogue burned on University Square.

"Bejt Olam - House of Eternity"

At the foot of Heidelberg's Gaisberg, outside the old city walls, there were once three Jewish cemeteries. Only the youngest one from 1702 - 1876 has survived in the Klingenteichstraße.

Just a few steps away from the University Square, opposite the University Library, you will find St. Peter's Church, the University Church since 1896. In medieval Heidelberg, it was still outside the city walls, and it was precisely there - along today's Plöck, west of Sandgasse - that the Jewish community was able to establish its first cemetery before 1344. After the expulsion of 1390 this was completely destroyed, the gravestones "quartered" and sold as building material (in 1971 such a fragment was found in Untere Straße 20). Also the second cemetery, located since 1688 at today's Plöck 6 (east of St. Anne's Church), had to be abandoned at the latest in 1702. Thus, only the third cemetery has survived, which was established in 1702 "in front of the Klingentor" on a hillside plot. Passing the Gaisberg tunnel, the path leads uphill through the old town gate (around 1650). On the left, between houses 3 and 5, the area is hidden behind high walls. A visit is only possible by appointment. At the entrance gate, a peace dove and a sickle arm greet visitors as a symbol of life and death. 180 gravestones have been preserved, the oldest from 1784. The last burial took place in 1876: After protests of the neighborhood the Jewish community had to move to the municipal mountain cemetery...

"Gladius ultor noster - The sword be our avenger!" (heraldic motto of the "Suevia Heidelberg")

In the Klingenteichstraße 4 you can find the corps house of the "Heidelberger Schwaben" since 1905. Since 1945, the Jewish post-war community was also at home there. In September 1946, it moved to Häusserstraße.

What would Heidelberg be without its beating student fraternities? Their oldest, founded in 1810, is the "Corps Suevia Heidelberg". Since 1905, the listed corps house of the "Heidelberger Schwaben" has stood at Klingenteichstraße 4. The black-yellow-white flag flies proudly in front of the old pub hall on the second floor. Nothing, not even the Internet portal of the "Suevia", indicates today that the American military authorities - after the liberation of Heidelberg on March 30, 1945 - had the first post-war synagogue established here. Where previously, since the suspension of the Corps in 1935, the National Socialist SC comradeship "Axel Schaffeld" had met, "Synagogue Center" was now emblazoned above the right-hand entrance door. On September 1, 1946, Rabbi Herman Dicker, Chaplain of the 3rd U.S. Army, was able to dedicate a second community center at 10-12 Häusserstraße - the site of the present synagogue. The city had made the old "Villa Julius" available to the new religious community with about 250 members. Only a decade later, after the departure of many U.S. military personnel and the emigration of most of the displaced persons, the community had already shrunk to a good 100 members. - For the curious: Right next door, at Klingenteichstraße 6, there is another trace...

"Bakery since 1904"

At "Göbes" in the Plöck 34 generations of Heidelberger*innen bought their rolls - but only from 1938. Before that, the baker was called Friedrich Seligmann. "Stolpersteine" commemorate the escape of the family.

What would Heidelberg be without its "Göbes"? Even Japanese tourists* sometimes find their way to Plöck 34 to buy real German bread here. "Bakery since 1904" is written above the entrance. But the family tradition is deceptive: the business may have been founded in 1904, but the store on site was only taken over after the "Aryanization" in 1938. The old date had been painted over shortly before the (first) laying of four "Stolpersteine" in March 2013. The latter commemorate Julie Jankau (1863-1942), a tenant in the house since 1927, and the original owners: the Heidelberg master baker Friedrich Seligmann (1881-1951), his wife Flora née Hirsch (1887-1948) and their son Ludwig (1910-98). The family came from Rohrbach, and had lived in Heidelberg since 1897. In 1908, Friedrich Seligmann opened his first bakery at Plöck 36 and moved it to the neighboring house in 1920/21 - until 1938. After the boycott of all "non-Aryan" businesses, the Seligmanns were forced to close up store in April and fled to Uruguay. Their son Ludwig had also managed to escape there in 1935. They were no longer able to build up a new professional existence. The mother died in exile in 1948, father and son returned in 1951. Both were buried in the Heidelberg Bergfriedhof.

"...we-hagita bo Jomam wa-Lajla - and ponder over it day and night..." (Joshua 1:8)

Since 1979, the Heidelberg "Hochschule für Jüdische Studien" has enriched the German as well as the European academic landscape. Since 2009, learning has also taken place "day and night" in the new building at Landfriedstraße 12...

A few steps away from the Plöck, in a hidden place, as it were, is the "Hochschule für Jüdische Studien" (in short: HfJS). Founded in 1979 under the auspices of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, it is the very first (since 1981) state-recognized Jewish university on German soil - a status that was always denied to its predecessor institutions in Breslau (1854-1938) and Berlin (1872-1942). What once began with 16 students at Hauptstraße 120 and Friedrichstraße 9, respectively, developed - in cooperation with the University of Heidelberg - into today's largest academic institution for Jewish Studies in Germany with various bachelor's and master's degree programs. In 1995 it received the right to award doctorates. In 2009, the new building at Landfriedstraße 12 was completed, and in 2010 the "Central Archive for Research on the History of Jews in Germany" (founded in 1987) also moved there. Beyond the purely academic framework, the HfJS, including its kosher cafeteria, became a new center of young Jewish life in the city - and a place of hopeful togetherness for Jewish and non-Jewish students. As a reminder, one of Heidelberg's "Jewish houses" was once located next door, at Landfriedstraße 14...

"The city has provided us with a very nice house..." (Arthur Fuld, letter from Heidelberg, in: Aufbau of September 6, 1946)

Since September 1, 1946, the Jewish post-war community was at home in the "Villa Julius", Häusserstraße 10-12 - until the beginning of 1976. In January 1994, it returned to the old location with a new synagogue.

For those who still have time and strength, a detour to the Weststadt is recommended: to the (third) Heidelberg synagogue in Häusserstraße. After long years of waiting and wandering, the Jewish community with over 500 members found its old new home here on January 9, 1994. The curved building by Alfred Jacoby confidently characterizes today's streetscape. Until December 1977, the "Villa Julius" stood on the same site: built in 1922 for the then director of BASF, it was given to the newly founded "Jewish Community Heidelberg" in 1946, which inaugurated its (second) community center and prayer room there on September 1. The New York "Aufbau" reported. An old people's home was also located here from 1951-70. In 1955, the congregation purchased the land and building, but abandoned it in 1976 for a planned new building, which was not realized until 1992-94. For 28 years the community had to live in two provisional buildings: first in the rear building at Rohrbacher Strasse 18, and from June 1986 in the "Darmstädter Hof Centrum" (Sofienstrasse 9). - Not far from the new synagogue, in Landhausstraße 20, stands the Landhausschule. There was a separate Jewish schoolroom there from 1935-38. The last teacher, Hermann Durlacher (1893-1942?), is remembered by a "stumbling stone" at Hauptstraße 121.

"All you who go by the way, look and see if there is any pain like my pain that has been done to me..." (Lamentations Jeremiah 1:12)

At the Jewish mourning hall in Heidelberg's Bergfriedhof, two memorial plaques at once commemorate the victims of the Shoah. Nevertheless, this quiet place remains a "house of life" - from 1876 until today.

A walk in the footsteps of Jewish life should not omit what is perhaps Heidelberg's most beautiful cemetery, the Jewish section in the Bergfriedhof, east of Rohrbacher Straße. The streetcar stops directly in front of the main entrance, at the crematorium (1891) a few steps to the right, then three Stars of David greet you at the gate and the mourning hall. In 1876, the fourth Jewish burial ground in Heidelberg was established here - after complaints from the residents of the Klingenteich. In 1904 it was extended to the slope for the first time, and in 1907 the mourning hall was built. In 1940, part of it had to be sold to the city - by force. In 1954, a court settlement was reached. Today the area (about 112 ares) is surrounded by Christian graves - and accessible from there even when the gate is closed. A tour is worthwhile and tells a lot about the ups and downs of Jewish life, beyond death, from the end of the 19th century until today. In the meantime, space is becoming scarce: Thus, the growing religious community with a good 450 members already inaugurated its now fifth cemetery on September 22, 2016, as part of the municipal cemetery in the Handschuhsheim district (Zum Steinberg 16). The construction of a mourning hall is planned...