City walk Göppingen-Jebenhausen

"With the dwarf bag on the back"
. The majority of the Jewish rural population in Jebenhausen lived from cattle and peddling. Some residential buildings along the Boller Street still bear witness to this today.

The first houses of the new "Jewish colony" were built on today's Tintenbachstraße, Boller Straße (formerly Poststraße) and on Vorderer and Hinterer Berg. Compared to the old farmhouses and craftsmen's houses that had grown up around the castle and church in Christian Jebenhausen, they looked like they were lined up, were smaller and only one-story - without stables, barns or workshops. In Boller Straße 48, 46, 44 and 42 some of these Jewish semi-detached houses have survived. They reflect the weak economic and social position of most Jewish families: Those who were not active in the cattle and horse trade lived from alms or from peddling, often far beyond the borders of Jebenhausen. Agriculture and trades remained barred - with the exception of own (kosher) butcher shops, bakeries and inns. In addition, new opportunities arose in textile manufacturing through the publishing system: While goods were produced decentrally in home work, Jewish publishers provided raw materials and distribution. After Goeppingen was connected to the railroad in 1847, many of these Jebenhausen textile manufacturers actually moved their headquarters to the nearby Filstal. Urban culture and lifestyle had already taken hold in Jewish homes.

"For my house shall be called a house of prayer..." (Isaiah 56:7)
From 1804, the Jebenhäuser synagogue on the former Poststraße served as the religious and social center of the Jewish community - until it was sold and demolished in 1905.

The letter of protection of 1777 guaranteed the free practice of religion, and so the Jewish community first met in a small prayer room, and from 1779 in a prayer house in the Aichgasse (today Tintenbachstraße). Already around 1800, space again became scarce. Only with the help of donations and loans was the poor but growing community able to purchase a plot of land at what is now Boller Straße 36 and in 1804 dedicate its new synagogue: "For my house will be called a house of prayer," was written on the memorial stone on the outside wall. In fact, the simple hall building also developed into the social center of the Jewish village community. In 1862, the synagogue was once again extensively renovated, equipped with new wooden benches, a harmonium as well as five valuable chandeliers. At the same time, however, the number of members declined sharply. When a separate congregation was constituted in Goeppingen in 1867, the rabbinate was relocated and completely dissolved in 1874. (Today, only the former rabbi's house at Boller Straße 31 bears witness to this.) With the last service on December 31, 1899, the nearly 123-year history of the Jebenhausen congregation came to an end. The synagogue building was still used as a warehouse by the Göppingen corset factory Rosenthal, Fleischer & Co. until 1905, but then it was demolished. At the same place the new Jebenhäuser town hall including fire department magazine was built.

"The local Israelite community is looking for a single religious teacher, precentor and shochet..." (job advertisement from 1877)
In 1825, behind the Jebenhäuser synagogue was built its own schoolhouse. But since the enactment of the People's School Act 1836, there were disputes about funding. In the end, the teachers stayed away...

As a part of religious life, school education was also the responsibility of the Jewish community. The instruction in reading and writing (Hebrew and German), arithmetic, religion and history was provided by the rabbi or private teachers in their homes. In the run-up to the Israelite Law (1828), this Jewish community school was transformed into a public elementary school in 1824. However, it remained spatially separate from the Christian school near the Jebenhausen church: in 1825, a separate school building with two classrooms including rabbi's and teacher's apartments could be built directly behind the synagogue - where a playground can be found today. With the enactment of the Elementary School Law of 1836, the situation changed: From then on, the entire local community had to pay for the upkeep and teachers' salaries of the Israelite Elementary School - and there were disputes. The construction of a new common school was out of the question for cost reasons. So it was not only the exasperated teachers who left: when the number of pupils fell below the minimum mark of 15, the Jewish elementary school was closed in 1865. Until 1894, the building continued to house a small Jewish religious school, after which it served only residential purposes - until its demolition in 1974.

"If there is a poor man living with you ... you shall not be hard-hearted, and you shall not shut your hand to your poor brother." (Deuteronomy 15:7-8)
With the Jewish "poorhouse" in Boller Street 20 has survived to this day a remarkable example of lived charity and solidarity.

Charity - actually intended as "help for self-help" - is firmly anchored in Jewish everyday life as a religious commandment of the Zedaka, both personal and communal. Since the Middle Ages, the Jewish community took on many of these tasks, for example, through the poor fund, soup kitchens and clothing stores, care for the sick, or funeral brotherhoods - a tradition that was also continued from the 19th century onward in numerous civic charitable associations and foundations. In rural communities such as Jebenhausen, a lottery system with the names of the heads of households (the so-called "plettes") ensured that each person passing through in turn could hope for a meal including overnight accommodation. The local poor were also taken care of in Jebenhausen - whether Jewish or non-Jewish. At Boller Straße 20, there is still an elongated building, popularly known as the "Judenbau," which was erected in 1782 as a communal residence for eight poor families. For this purpose, some wealthier members of the community had granted a loan - quite according to the biblical model - and even when there were difficulties with the repayment after four years, a charitable solution was found for this by means of weekly installments...

"When the scene was open, the members of the orchestra put away their instruments and burst into applause with the audience." (Review of the performance of the opera "La Juive" in Vienna on April 15, 1868)
The Royal Chamber Singer and "opera star" Heinrich Sontheim (1820-1912) was born in Jebenhausen - and set himself a monument with the Villa Wieseneck in Boller Straße 8/1.

Not far from the former "poorhouse", along the Boller Street, lies the Villa Wieseneck  - next to the castle the only stately home in Jebenhausen. Built in 1873/74 as a retirement home for the royal court and chamber singer Heinrich Sontheim, the villa has been part of the Wieseneck Foundation children's home since 1913  - until today. Sontheim is considered Jebenhausen's best-known son: he was born in 1820 at Vordere Judengasse 9 (today Vorderer Berg), where his parents ran the König David inn. The boy's singing talent was discovered at an early age in school and synagogue. Against the will of his religious father, he began his artistic career in 1839 at the Karlsruhe Court Theater, from where he moved permanently to the Württemberg Court Theater in 1850. Although "shackled to Stuttgart with the most liberal golden chains and for life" (Wilhelm Speidel), Sontheim was also celebrated as the "king of tenors" on foreign stages, for example in his brilliant role of Eleazar in Fromental Halévy's opera La Juive (1835). Again and again he was drawn to the rural Jebenhausen, here he wanted to spend his retirement from 1872 on. But after a comeback in 1874, Sontheim returned to Stuttgart, where he died highly honored in 1912. He sold his Jebenhausen estate in 1889.

"The Jews shall provide a Jewish innkeeper, who shall tap wine, beer and brandy to Jews, [...] but shall give neither drink nor food to any Christian or stranger, ..."
. The Schutzbrief of 1777 helped Jebenhausen to a thriving kosher "pub scene". First opened in 1799 the inn Zum König David in the Vorderen Judengasse.

The most striking exhibit in the Jewish Museum Göppingen (and today's identifying mark) is a simple tin sign from around 1800: King David with harp. This very sign once showed all locals and transients the way to Jebenhausen's first kosher inn: Zum König David. In 1799, it opened its doors at Vordere Judengasse No. 127 (today Vorderer Berg 9), initially only for Jewish guests. How popular the musical monarch was, however, is shown by the fact that the name was retained by all non-Jewish owners from 1869 onwards, even after the house was rebuilt in 1968 (it was not until 1984 that it was renamed Pension Elisabeth). The privilege of serving wine, beer and spirits - the latter two are kosher in principle, except on Passover - was also used by other Jewish families: Around 1850, the Rößle, the Ochsen and the Waldhorn (today Boller Straße 16, 18 and 21) still invited to "drink and eat". In the Vordere Judengasse No. 130 (today Vorderer Berg 16) there was also a kosher bakery. It was run by the Jebenhausen couple Julius and Jette Koch until 1852. Whether their grandson, Albert Einstein, ever bought his rolls here is not documented. Today, these would no longer be kosher.

"Will the Lordship ... make a well and let build a little house over it, for their maintenance but then the Jews to provide." (Letter of protection from 1777)
The first location of the Jewish immersion bath in Jebenhausen is unknown - the second can still be found today quite hidden at Hinterer Berg 10/2.

Parallel to the street Vorderer Berg runs in Jebenhausen the Hintere Berg - in the vernacular once called Judensteige, Judenberg or Judenbuckel. Historically, this was the Vordere and Hintere Judengasse, which together with today's Tintenbachstraße and Boller Straße formed the original L-shaped "Judencolonie". Under National Socialist rule, any memory was to be erased from the street names as well, and so in 1934 Judenberg simply became Berg. In fact, many a hidden place can still be found in Jebenhausen: Where, for example, the first mikveh, the ritual immersion bath, was to be found from 1778 is unknown. According to the letter of protection, this was to be set up by the Liebenstein local lordship on their land. A few steps away from the Vorderer Berg (along the path below house no. 10), at Hinterer Berg 10/2, there is the second - documented - location of the Jebenhäuser mikvah: Due to the dilapidation of the old bathhouse, it was newly established here, at a discreet location, in 1841 and used until 1875. After the sale, the building was converted and expanded into a residential house. Even today only a narrow, fenced path between house No. 8 and 10 leads to the back... A hint is missing.

"Always on Fridays we carried our barches to the baker Veil on the front mountain." (lnge Auerbacher)
For more than a century, the family of the cattle dealer Max Lauchheimer (1871-1939) lived in the Green House at Vorderer Berg 23 - until the expropriation and deportation in 1941/42.

When the cattle dealer and butcher Max Lauchheimer died on May 26, 1939 in his house on the Vorderer Judenberg as a result of protective custody in the Dachau concentration camp, an era came to an end: of all the Jewish families who had come to Jebenhausen in 1777, his was the longest resident here, and he was the last to be buried in the Jewish cemetery on Kreuzhaldenweg. The house, including the stable building at the rear, had been in the family since 1839. Max Lauchheimer, born in Jebenhausen in 1871, continued to run the parental business together with his wife Betty, née Leiter, even after all the other cattle dealers - around 1863 there were 23 - had settled in Göppingen or elsewhere. The later chemist and writer Inge Auerbacher (born 1934), who found a last refuge here with her parents in 1939-41, remembers the good times in her grandparents' house. In August 1942, the entire family was deported from Göppingen to Theresienstadt. All three survived and emigrated to the USA in 1946. Betty Lauchheimer was already deported at the end of 1941 and murdered near Riga. Since 2007, she has been commemorated by a stumbling stone, and since 2017 - supported by the Haus Lauchheimer association - by a second one commemorating her husband.

"The Lordship will acquire the Jews a burial place of one acre, selbigen make and fence, for its maintenance but the Jews then to provide."
. In the letter of protection of 1777 was also promised the creation of the Jewish cemetery on today's Kreuzhaldenweg. As the last was buried there in 1939 Max Lauchheimer.

Besides synagogue and mikvah, the cemetery is one of the main facilities of a Jewish community. With new settlement it was usually put on as the first outside of the residential district. In Jebenhausen, the Barons of Liebenstein had even promised in 1777 the provision and fencing of the plot, as well as prosecution in the event of possible desecration - a very unusual arrangement at the time. Already in 1778 a suitable place was found on a slope near the old road to Göppingen, the first burial took place in 1781. Soon the old area (from the present entrance to the east) was occupied, and so the cemetery was extended by twice the area to the west in 1839. The social changes, social advancement and bourgeois life, can be clearly seen in the new graves and their German inscriptions. The members of the Goeppingen community (1867) also continued to be buried here until a separate Israelite section was established in the cemetery there in 1904. The Jebenhausen cemetery survived the National Socialist era largely unscathed; after 1945, four desecrations were counted - most recently in early April 2009. Today, about 350 gravestones remain. The key can be borrowed at the district office (Boller Straße 12).