Jewish Community

Simple community center with art exhibitions, lectures, courses and special events.

The Israelitische Cultusgemeinde Zürich was founded by 12 men on March 29, 1862, then still known as the "Israelitischer Kultusverein", after the legal restrictions for Jews in the canton of Zürich had been lifted. Previously, Jews were only allowed to live in the Surbtal communities of Endingen and Lengnau. In 1880, the name of this association was changed to "Israelitische Cultusgemeinde".

The buildings, which originally belonged to the Prague Burial Brotherhood, were the headquarters of several departments of the Jewish religious community. Among other things, the personnel office and the statistics office, the housing department and building administration, the social welfare department and the administration of Jewish social institutions were located here.

In October 1945, the Chief Rabbinate was established at the Central Committee of the Liberated Jews in Bavaria. The two Lithuanian rabbis Samuel A. Snieg and Samuel Ros were at its head. In addition, Rabbi Baruch Leiserowksi was on the council representing the urban district of Munich. The council was responsible for all religious matters and appointed representatives in all DP camps.

The IRGW is the Jewish community for the Württemberg region of Baden-Württemberg. Its roots go back to 1832, the year in which the Jewish community in Stuttgart was formally founded. In 1912, the IRGW was recognized as a corporation under public law. Since its re-establishment in 1945, the IRGW has grown to more than 2,500 parishioners. In addition, there are numerous family members cared for by the IRGW who are not Jewish themselves.

Immediately after the end of the war, the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde München (IKG) moved back into premises at Herzog-Max-Strasse 7 and had its administrative headquarters there. It was in the immediate vicinity of the place where the main synagogue had stood, demolished in June 1938 on direct orders from Adolf Hitler. The IKG’s efforts in 1949 to establish a green space to commemorate this destruction were rejected by the City of Munich, with the argument that parking spaces were urgently needed in the city center.

In the Munich district of Feldmoching, a separate Jewish DP community with up to 300 members had been founded, probably toward the end of 1945. In addition to a Talmud Torah school, the community also had a kosher kitchen. The Makabi Feldmoching football club played in the Jewish regional league; later the club merged with Hakoach Freising to form the Jüdischer Sportklub Feldmoching-Freising, which continued operating until toward the end of 1948.

So-called ‚Judenhaus‘ Bautzner Straße 20