Leipzig, a city in the German state of Saxony, has historically been a center for Jews. Jewish communities in Leipzig existed as early as the 13th century."Or Zarua" Isaac ben Moses of Vienna Discrimination against the Jews of Leipzig was recorded as early as 1349 and perpetuated under Nazi influence.Deutsch, G., & Porges, N., n.d. Jewish Encyclopedia Vol. 12. "Leipsic". Despite mass Jewish deportations and emigration forced by the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s, Leipzig's Jewish community began to grow again in 1945 and continues to grow today.Records of the Leipzig Jewish Community 1422–1997

Jewish life in Leipzig (pre-1933)

13th century

The first documentation of the existence of a Jewish community within Leipzig came from a collection of responsa between 1250 and 1285 that was compiled by Rabbi Yitshak ben Moshe of Vienna, the famous Isaac Or Zarua or Riaz. In one particular responsum, Rabbi Yitshak acts as an arbitrator in a dispute between his son-in-law from Leipzig and a Jew from another town. The documentation of his answer to the dispute indicated that the Jews of Leipzig already had a synagogue at this time, and their main source of income appeared to come from finance. Jews in Leipzig were generally respected at this time, largely due to their success in commercial trade. In 1248, Henry III, Margrave of Meissen published a document thanking Leipzig's Jews for their contributions to the commercial development of Leipzig. Leipzig's central location attracted Jewish traders from all over Europe to the Leipzig Trade Fair, an important fair that cultivated foreign relations among European nations and served as a meeting place for politicians. The Trade Fair regulations of 1268 reflected this as well, as Jewish merchants were granted rights equal to the rights enjoyed by Christian merchants, and the market day was changed from Saturday to Friday in respect for the Jewish Sabbath. The relatively relaxed merchant regulations made the Leipzig fairs very popular across Europe.

14th century As far back as 1349, the Jews of Leipzig began to face discrimination. In February 1349, Margrave Frederick "the Earnest" exterminated Leipzig's entire Jewish population by burning. Their residences and other belongings were confiscated. After the mass expulsions in the aftermath of the Black Death (1348–1349), eventually, Jews were permitted to return to Leipzig. For a short while, Jews experienced many rights and privileges they had before 1349. By 1352, a synagogue had been established in Leipzig. In 1359, records mention a Judengasse (Jewish Street) and a Judenburg (Jewish Town). The Judengasse stretched in front of the city wall along the Pleißemühlgraben (roughly at the level of Fleischerplatz). Jews were relatively safe in Leipzig at this time, and they did have some protections, but anti-Jewish regulations grew in prevalence and severity over time.

15th century By the beginning of the 15th century, Jews were faced with harsh regulations aimed to discriminate against their culture. Starting with a ban on public prayers within synagogues, the regulations reached a radical peak in 1430, when the Jews of Leipzig were expelled from Saxony, and their property was also confiscated. The Jews were still valued as merchants, however, as they continued to be admitted to Leipzig for the fair, but with many restrictions. They were not allowed to stay in Leipzig any time outside of fair days, every Jew who came to the Leipzig fair was required to pay protection many and present documentation issued by authorities, and they were forbidden from selling on the main streets or during Sundays and Christian holidays.

16th, 17th, and 18th century As Jews were, for the most part, only allowed short stays in the city between the 16th and 18th century, a permanent Jewish community was virtually non-existent. The Jewish presence in Leipzig consisted mainly of traders and merchants that remained only for the duration of Leipzig's Trade Fair. Between 1668 and 1764, 82,000 Jews attended these fairs, and played a major role in the development of Leipzig as a center for trade. Due to the overwhelming number of Jews temporarily staying in Leipzig during fair periods, many merchants established prayer rooms. An authorized synagogue, the Brody synagogue, was established in the Brühl, Leipzig, in 1763, and Jews taking part in the Fair stayed in the Brühl and the surrounding streets and alleys.

In 1713, Gerd Levi of Hamburg, a mintmaster and purveyor, was the first Jew to be granted citizenship in Leipzig since the event of February 1349. This was the first of what is considered the "privileged" Jewish households that were allowed residence in Leipzig. By the middle of the 18th century, the number of permanent Jewish settlements grew to seven, and by the end of the century there were roughly 50 Jewish merchants and their households living in Leipzig.

19th century The beginning of the 19th century marked a revival of the Leipzig Jewish community. Starting in 1810, Polish Jews who came to Leipzig to trade were allowed to stay. From there, the Jewish community expanded. Jews were once again allowed to hold public prayer services, and in 1815 the municipal council agreed to open Leipzig's first Jewish cemetery. On May 18, 1837, Leipzig's growing Jewish community received permission to form a religious community, though their request for permission to build a synagogue was not granted. On August 16, 1838, they were granted civil rights, with the exception of municipal and political rights. During this time, Jews began to take a more active role in Leipzig's academics. In 1839, Julius Fuerst became the first Jew to lecture at the University of Leipzig. Leipzig Jews even served in prominent judicial positions during this time, like Martin Eduard Sigismund von Simson, who served as the president of the law courts in Leipzig from 1879 until 1891. However, it was nearly impossible for Ostenjuden, foreign Jews, to obtain Saxon citizenship. In order to do so, Ostenjuden had to be born in Leipzig and 21 years of age, or a resident of Saxony for at least thirty years.Grubel, Fred and Mecklenburg, Frank. Leipzig: profile of a Jewish community during the first years of Nazi Germany, Vol. 42. New York: Leo Baeck Institute, 1997. p. 159. The Jewish community as an officially state-recognized organisation was established only in 1847 and only by then were Jews allowed to settle in Leipzig without any restrictions. Reform movements of the mid-19th century eventually led to the construction of the Leipzig Synagogue in the Gottschedstrasse in 1855, nearly two decades after Rabbi Zechariah Frankel attempted to found a Synagogue in Leipzig in 1837 and was rejected. The first Rabbi to serve the Jewish community in Leipzig was Rabbi Dr. Adolph Jellinek, who served from 1848 to 1855 and set the precedent of the Chief Rabbi's role in uniting the Jewish community of Leipzig. Towards the end of the 19th century, Antisemitism began to intensify. Several Antisemitic newspapers began to appear around this time, and the frequency of targeted harassment and discrimination against Jews increased.

Early 20th century One Rabbi, in particular, that was especially prominent in liberal Jewish activism within Germany, Rabbi Dr. Felix Goldmann, assumed the role of Chief Rabbi of Leipzig in 1917. Rabbi Goldmann helped found the Jewish Agency for Palestine and Keren Hayesod, and he was also praised for his scientific work and works discussing Antisemitism. The Jewish community continued to grow steadily during this time. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were approximately 6,000 Jewish inhabitants in Leipzig. In 1910, that number grew to 9,728, and by 1925 Leipzig officially held the largest Jewish community in Saxony with 13,047 Jews. During this peak in the Jewish population, many Leipzig Jews were members of the upper-middle-class, which included businessmen, craftspeople, white-collar workers, physicians, and lawyers. The Jewish community of Leipzig established several programs to help the needy, and by the start of World War I there were 48 active charities. Various charitable institutions were opened during this time, including a Jewish hospital founded by Haim Eitingon in 1928, and a Jewish retirement home was established by the Ariowitsch family around the same time. The hospital has been called the Eitingon Hospital (Eitingonstrasse 12) again since 1992 and is under the administration of the St. Georg Municipal Hospital.In: ltm-leipzig.de As a result of the Nazi's rise to power, Leipzig's Jewish population decreased. The German Reich completed a population census on May 19, 1939, in which they determined that 0.5% of Leipzig's citizens were Jewish, where 4,470 were Jews by descent and 4,113 by religion.Blau, Bruno. The Jewish Population 1939–1945 Vol. 12 No. 2. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press 2018. p. 164.

Nazi rule (1922–1945) The NSDAP

The NSDAP created a Leipzig chapter in 1922, indicating the first Nazi presence in the area.Gibas, D.M., Briel, D.C., Knoller, P., and Held, S., 2009. "Aryanization" in Leipzig Drive out. Robbed. Murdered. p. 4. http://www.juedischesleipzig.de/arisierung_engl09.pdf (March 20, 2018). The NSDAP regional administrative authority, along with the head revenue office and state police, were responsible for the implementation of Anti-Jewish policies. In the fall of 1939, the NSDAP created Judenhauser, in which Jewish residents and non-Jewish spouses of "mixed-marriages" were forced to live in close quarters.Gibas, D.M., Briel, D.C., Knoller, P., and Held, S., 2009. "Aryanization" in Leipzig Drive out. Robbed. Murdered. p. 16. http://www.juedischesleipzig.de/arisierung_engl09.pdf (March 20, 2018). The majority of the 47 Judenhauser were located in the Nordvorstadt and the Waldstraßenviertel, bordered by Nordstrasse and Funkenburgstrasse. Families were constantly shuffled throughout Judenhauser, with some forced to move seven times in a year.Wahrman, Shlomo, Lest we forget: Growing up in Nazi Leipzig, 1933–1939. Brooklyn NY: Mesorah Publication, 1991. p. 132.

Emigration

Leipzig's Jewish community assembled a department to deal with the anticipated emigration of the city's Jewish families.Grubel, Fred and Mecklenburg, Frank. Leipzig: profile of a Jewish community during the first years of Nazi Germany. Vol. 42. New York: Leo Baeck Institute, 1997. p. 162. The department worked closely with Palastina-Ami to ensure safe arrival to Erez Israel, and with Hilfsverein der Juden in Deutschland for emigration to all other countries. However, receiving the proper paperwork to emigrate was rather difficult for Leipzig's Jews. In order to obtain the necessary certificates, Jews had to be trained for specific types of labor in which their target country was in need of. Because many of Leipzig's Jews worked in business and the fur trade which was not needed in the country they wished to emigrate to, many of them enrolled in re-training courses where they learned blue-collar jobs such as bricklaying or carpentry.Grubel, Fred and Mecklenburg, Frank. Leipzig: profile of a Jewish community during the first years of Nazi Germany. Vol. 42. New York: Leo Baeck Institute, 1997. p. 163.

Political life

The city's mayor from 1930 to 1937, Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, although being national-conservative, was a noted opponent of the Nazi regime in Germany. He resigned in 1937 when, in his absence, his Nazi deputy ordered the destruction of the city's statue of Felix Mendelssohn. In mid-1938, Jews were first banned from using park benches in the Rosental Park. By the end of the year, Jews would be banned from all public parks in the city.Association of Jewish Refugees

First deportations