Jewish Community Heilbronn

The Jewish community of Heilbronn has a long history. A significant settlement of Jews in Heilbronn existed as early as the 11th century and probably had a first synagogue at that time. The late medieval community had to endure outrages such as the Rintfleisch pogrom or the plague pogroms, but was also under the protection of the German kings and emperors in the imperial city of Heilbronn. Against the will of the emperor, the city of Heilbronn obtained a city ban in the late 15th century, so that Jews were only able to settle in Heilbronn again after the city's transfer to Württemberg and the subsequent legal equality from 1828. The community grew strongly from the middle of the 19th century, mainly due to the industrialization of the city, and reached its highest membership around 1895 with just under 1000 people. It built the Heilbronn synagogue in 1877 and produced important personalities in the form of Heilbronn's honorary citizen Max Rosengart and the Israelitischer Oberrat president Siegfried Gumbel. The community suffered its renewed decline at the time of National Socialism: the synagogue was destroyed during the Reichspogromnacht in 1938, and around 240 people from the Heilbronn Jewish community perished in the course of the persecution of the Jews.