The development of Jewish life in Potsdam Das Landwerk

Zeitpfeil ››
e
p
o
r
u
E
n
i
y
r
o
t
s
i
H
ish
Jew
s
t
c
e
j
o
r
p
l
a
c
o
l
f
o
n
o
i
t
a
t
n
e
s
e
r
p
d
n
a
s
p
e
i
o
r
t
h
s
n
k
u
r
o
o
c
W
n
a
e
p
o
r
u
E
in four
German Group
The German group, consisting of students of the University of Potsdam, worked on different local projects. One project is
connected with the history of the city of Potsdam and presents an overview of the history of the Jewish community in Potsdam. The other projects deal with Jewish history in different parts of Brandenburg. Both projects show the change of Jewish
life during the 1930s in Germany.
The development
of Jewish life in
Potsdam
Das Landwerk
Ahrensdorf
In spring 1671 fifty Jewish families, displaced from Vienna ask for
a permission to live in the march of Brandenburg. In May 1671
they sign the contract and start living under the authority of the
elector Friedrich Wilhelm. One of this so called “Protected Jews”
was David Michel, who is the first one proofed to live in Potsdam
in 1690.
Das Landwerk der Hachschara in Ahrensdorf war eine Stätte der
Kinder- und Jugend-Hachschara.
Similar to other cities the Jews are allowed to live and work there
just by paying different taxes. In 1740 the first Jewish Community
was founded. Three years later, the king Friedrich II 1743 gave
them the area at the so called “Judenberg” (today: Pfingstberg) for
having their graveyard there, outside the city. 1765 they bought a
ground and built a synagogue in Potsdam, which they rebuilt. The
second one was consecrate in September 1802. More than hundred years later, there was the first service in the new build synagogue at the Wilhelmplatz (today: Platz der Einheit) on 17th June
1903. During the November pogrom, at 09th November 1938 the
synagogue was desecrated but wasn’t burned down because
the post office is the bordering building. 1945 the building was
destroyed by an aircraft bomb. Two years earlier the last executive manager of the Jewish Community was deported and died in
Theresienstadt. On 6th April 1949 the Local Court eliminates the
association, because there is no executive manager left in Potsdam.
There is no Jewish life in Potsdam for decades, because of the
political ideology of the GDR’s government, which didn’t accept
active religious communities, including Jewish life in Potsdam. On
21st March 1991 the Jüdische Gemeinde Land Brandenburg e. V.
(Jewish Community in the State of Brandenburg) was founded,
whose members celebrated the first service after decades on 30th
August 1992. Because of the immigration of the so called “Kontigentflüchtlinge” from the succession states of the UdSSR the focus
of the communities’ work became the integration into religious
Jewish life and into the way of life in the new environment.
In 1999 a new Jewish community was founded. The so called
„Gesetzestreue Jüdische Landesgemeinde Brandenburg“. The
„Bauverein Neue Synagoge Potsdam e. V.“ which was founded
in 2005, aims to build a new synagogue in the center of the city.
According to the original plans it should be build in 2012, but
because a big infighting of the different Jewish communities and
associations the government of the State of Brandenburg refused
to spend the money until the different groups agree on how the
synagogue should look like. Until today (February 2012) a green
building pit is a silent witness of this disagreement.
Eine jüdische Hachschara-Stätte im
Land Brandenburg
Hachschara bedeutet in der wörtlichen Übersetzung aus dem
Hebräischen „Tauglichmachung“ und dies war auch das Ziel der
einzelnen Stätten der Organisation. Die jüdischen Kinder und Jugendlichen sollten auf die Alija (hebräisch: Aufstieg) und das
Leben in Palästina vorbereitet werden. Dabei war deren Erziehung
zu künftigen Pionieren (Chaluzim) vorrangig.
Das Ausbildungsprogramm beinhaltete Hebräisch-Unterricht sowie
die Lehre handwerklicher, gärtnerischer und landwirtschaftlicher Fähigkeiten. Darüber hinaus stand das Leben, Arbeiten und
Lernen im Kollektiv im Vordergrund.
Das Landwerk Ahrensdorf existierte von 1936 bis Oktober 1941.
Insgesamt 287 junge Menschen haben zeitweise in der brandenburgischen Hachschara-Stätte nahe Trebbin gelebt. 137 von ihnen
erreichten ihr Ziel, mit einer Jugend-Alija-Gruppe nach Palästina zu
gelangen. Weiterhin konnten 21 Jugendliche in andere europäische Länder und die USA gerettet werden.
Die verbleibenden 168 Jugendlichen haben aufgrund der
Schließung der Hachschara-Stätte Ahrensdorf durch die Nationalsozialisten die Alija nach Palästina oder die Rettung in ein sicheres Land nicht geschafft.
Das Jüdische
Erholungsheim in
Lehnitz
Das Ehepaar Sachs aus der Jüdischen Gemeinde Berlin gründete1899 die Stiftung „Jüdisches Genesungsheim Lehnitz“. Das
Jugendstilhaus in (dem zu Oranienburg gehörenden Ort) Lehnitz
wurde im Mai 1900 eingeweiht. Es sollte primär der Erholung von
Frauen und Kindern dienen und war bis 1933 nur im Sommer in
Benutzung.
Spätestens nach der Machtübernahme der Nationalsozialisten
wurde das Haus um- und ausgebaut (u. a. Bettenzahl erhöht), sodass es danach ganzjährig genutzt werden konnte. Im Juni 1934
wurde die Wiedereröffnung des nun als „Erholungsheim“ dekla­
rierten Hauses gefeiert und Frieda Glücksmann als neue Leiterin
eingesetzt.
Von nun an erfüllte das Haus mehrere Funktionen: es diente als
Erholungsheim, übernahm aber auch die Funktionen eines Kinderheims, einer Hauswirtschaftsschule für junge Frauen und die
Funktionen eines Tagungszentrums. (Durch die vielfältige Nutzung
des Hauses wurde es für die unterschiedlichsten Menschen jüdi­
schen Glaubens zum Zufluchtsort in feindlicher Umgebung.)
Außergewöhnlich ist wohl das Entstehen einer Synagoge in
einem ehemaligen Kohlenkeller im Jahr 1935. Im selben Jahr begannen allerdings auch die antisemitischen Ausschreitungen der
örtlichen NSDAP-Gruppe gegen die Bewohner des Hauses. Diese
gipfelten im Novemberpogrom 1938, dass dem jüdischen Leben
und Wirken in Lehnitz ein jähes Ende setzte.
Das Heim wurde 1939 dem Oranienburger Krankenhaus als Hilfs­
krankenhaus angegliedert und behielt diesen Status auch in der
DDR- Phase bei. Nach der Wende bis zum Jahr 2001 diente das
Haus einer Schule für körperlich und geistig Behinderte und einer
Wohngemeinschaft für behinderte Menschen als Unterkunft.
Das Haus ist im Besitz der Jewish Claims against Germany Conference, steht aber leider seit 10 Jahren leer.
Zeitpfeil ››
e
p
o
r
u
E
n
i
y
r
o
t
s
i
H
ish
Jew
s
t
c
e
j
o
r
p
l
a
c
o
l
f
o
n
o
i
t
a
t
n
e
s
e
r
p
d
n
a
s
p
e
i
o
r
t
h
s
n
k
u
r
o
o
c
W
n
a
e
p
o
r
u
E
in four
French Group
The French group was composed by people from different backgrounds and formed a very eclectic
group from Jews, genealogist researchers, artists...
So the works of the French group are various as well, and are divided into three different actions:
1.
Website
2. Genealogical
researches
3.
Shabes song
Our website tends to follow the developments of all the meetings
of the European Jewish Histories, compiling the different works
that were made.
Among the French group, two members worked on genealogical researches. The common point of these two families is that at
some point, their history passes through Verdun.
The three musicians of the French group worked on a Yiddish
song “Shabes”, that they recorded. You can find it on the
website www.hje.asso.st. Here are the lyrics:
It also includes the important documents that
were found by the French group dealing with
the Jewish History, either in Verdun, in Meuse, in
France or on a European level.
http://www.hje.asso.st
›› SZLECHTER family: an example of Jewish European History -
Shabes
Shabes shabes shabes shabes shabes soll sein yiddle
Shabes soll sein
Shabes soll sein
Shabes oyf der ganzen Welt
from Western Wolyn in 19th century to Eastern France and Israel
in 20th century
European Jewish History is a very long and complex subject. It is
an accumulation of migrations, struggle for life, culture - and very
often the Shoah is for most Ashkenazi families the story conclusion. But fortunately there is also happy conclusions among sad
family memory and here is an example of Ashkenazi Jewish family History with happy conclusion.
The following presentation is the result of a 15 years family research to understand what was the story of the family of my
maternal grandmother Estera SZLECHTER who died in France in
December 1993. As very often in survivor’s families, she never
mentioned her youth in Poland neither her family except her Judishkeit, the name of her parents and the place where she was
born (Krylow am Bug) and where she went to Polish high school
(in Zamosc).
This story is also interesting because my grandmother came to
Nancy (North EasternFrance) in November 1931 to study. She was
like hundreds of Jewish students, especially girls, coming from
Poland, Lithuania or Latvia in the interwar period to try to escape
orthodox Jewish way of life.
The presentation is split into three parts:
First part: life of SZLECHTER older ancestors in Ukraina and Eastern Poland (Lubelski – Krylow area) – from 1850 to 1919
Second part: division of the family and living conditions during
interwar time (1919-1939)
Third part: from 1939 to 2011, war time in France and Eastern
Europe; postwar separate life of two parts of SZLECHTER family
from 1945 until the reunifcation of the family in March 2011.
Lichtig1 lichtig lichtig lichtig lichtig soll sein yiddle
Lichtig soll sein
Lichtig soll sein
Lichtig oyf der ganzen Welt
Simkhreh2 simkhreh simkhreh simkhreh simkhreh soll sein yiddle
Simkhreh soll sein
Simkhreh soll sein
Simkhreh oyf der ganzen Welt
Freylach3 freylach freylach freylach freylach soll sein yiddle
Freylach soll sein
Freylach soll sein
Freylach oyf der ganzen Welt
Sholem4 sholem sholem sholem sholem soll sein yiddle
Sholem soll sein
Sholem soll sein
Sholem oyf der ganzen Welt
Shabbat shabbat shabbat shabbat let the shabbat be brothers
Let the shabbat be
Let the shabbat be
Shabbat all around the World
1 Light, 2 Quiet, 3 Freedom, 4 Peace
Zeitpfeil ››
e
p
o
r
u
E
n
i
y
r
o
t
s
i
H
ish
Jew
s
t
c
e
j
o
r
p
l
a
c
o
l
f
o
n
o
i
t
a
t
n
e
s
e
r
p
d
n
a
s
p
e
i
o
r
t
h
s
n
k
u
r
o
o
c
W
n
a
e
p
o
r
u
E
in four
Polish Group
As a local project Polish group would like to establish an internet website about Cracow’s Jewish Comunity in
the XX-th Century. Website will consist of a few sections:
›› an interactive map of Kazimierz – Jewish district, with short descriptions of particular places
›› Timeline with the most important events which took place in Cracow (Kazimierz)
›› Educational materials for teachers (with the possiblity to download them)
›› List of articles about the history of Jewish life in Cracow
›› Section which is related to the history of Second World War (photoes, archiwal sources, articles, pieces of testimony)
An inspiration to our website is already existing page done by Auschwitz Jewish Centre in Oswiecim (about Jewish Community from the city of Oswiecim).
This presentation is based on the website about Auschwitz Jewish Community.
Timeline – a piece of history facts
Particular place will have a
short description to read and a photo
Educational materials
They were here, but they’re gone…
We want to remember them name by name…
Children’s perspective…Second World War
http://kroke.czulent.pl/
Examples of educational materials