Jewish Community Nuremberg

History

Traces of Jewish life in Nuremberg go back far into the Middle Ages. As early as the beginning of the 12th century, Jews*Jewesses from surrounding regions find themselves fleeing persecution and settle in Nuremberg. 

On January 28, 1862, the Jewish Community of Nuremberg (IKG) is founded.
Two years later, the Jewish cemetery on Bärenschanzstraße is opened. At the end of the 1860s, 1,254 Jews*Jewesses already live in Nuremberg. After long efforts to find land and build a place of worship, the synagogue, built in Moorish style, is solemnly consecrated on September 8, 1874, with large municipal participation at Hans-Sachs-Platz. 

By 1900, the Jewish community had grown to 1,705 members. Nuremberg Jews*Jewesses make a significant contribution to the industrialization of the city. Several branches of the economy, such as the two-wheeler industry, tin toy manufacturing, as well as brush manufacturing, are significantly shaped and promoted by Jewish industrialists 

In World War I, 1,543 men from the Jewish Community serve in the German army for their fatherland. 178 Jewish soldiers from Nuremberg fall during the war. 

In1922, the IKG counts 9,280 members. In the following years, anti-Semitic tendencies within the city's population increase, which is further strengthened by the anti-Semitic weekly "Der Stürmer." With the seizure of power by the National Socialists on January 30, 1933, conditions for members of the Jewish community in Nuremberg change dramatically. Boycotts, dismissals from office, occupational bans, mistreatment and discrimination against Jewish Nurembergers steadily increase in the course of the 1930s. 

On September 15, 1935, the so-called Nuremberg Laws are promulgated. With this, the National Socialist regime deprives Jewish Germans of a large part of their civil rights. In 1938, the main synagogue in Nuremberg is destroyed. The violent demolition of the house of worship already begins on August 10, even before the so-called November pogroms (November 8/9). In the following years, many Nuremberg Jews*Jewesses are deported to the East. In June 1942, the chairman of the Jewish Community, Leo Katzenberger, is sentenced to death in a show trial. 

In the last year of the war, 1945, the few remaining Jewish Nurembergers escape deportation, as documents and transport routes are destroyed by air raids. In the early 1950s, the community numbers just under 200 members. Among them are many DP's who come to Nuremberg after the dissolution of the camps. 

In 1962, the IKG celebrates its 100th anniversary. Arno Hamburger is elected 1st chairman of the congregation in 1972 and in the same year to the Nuremberg City Council. Thus, after more than 39 years, the community is again represented in the city parliament.

The property Wielandstr. 6, built in 1928, which was used as a retirement home, community administration and prayer house, no longer meets the requirements placed on a retirement home by the government of Ansbach and is also no longer adequate for the number of members as a place of prayer. Thus, after lengthy discussions among the members of the congregation, it is decided to build a new community center.

After only 1.5 years of construction, the new community center on Kilianstr. is opened on September 8, 1984 - exactly 110 years to the day after the dedication of the large synagogue on Hans-Sachs-Platz. It consists of a new synagogue, administrative rooms as well as a senior citizens' residence and nursing home.  

In 2013, the congregation again counts just under 2,000 members, thanks mainly to the immigration of Jewish members from the former Soviet Union. To meet the needs of the growing community, the IKG is embarking on a major building project: Plans call for a new community center with offices, classrooms and a youth center. This should also provide the opportunity to hold large events and eliminate the acute lack of space.
. On September 26,2013, the community says goodbye to its long-time chairman Arno Hamburger. He dies at the age of 90 years. 

On July 3, 2016, the new community center is ceremoniously inaugurated.