Metadata: Jewish Community Wolfenbüttel; Samson Family Legacy Fund, Wolfenbüttel
Collection
- Country:
- Germany
- Holding institution:
- New Synagogue Berlin - Centrum Judaicum Foundation, Archive
- Holding institution (official language):
- Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum, Archiv
- Postal address:
- Oranienburger Str. 28-30, 10117 Berlin
- Phone number:
- 0049-30-88028-425
- Web address:
- www.centrumjudaicum.de
- Reference number:
- CJA, 1 A Wo 2; 1 C Sa 1
- Title:
- Jewish Community Wolfenbüttel; Samson Family Legacy Fund, Wolfenbüttel
- Title (official language):
- Jüdische Gemeinde Wolfenbüttel; Samsonscher Legatenfonds, Wolfenbüttel
- Creator/accumulator:
- Jewish Community Wolfenbüttel (Synagogengemeinde/Jüdische Gemeinde Wolfenbüttel); Administration of the Samson Family Legacy Fund (Verwaltung des Samsonschen Legatenfonds); Samson School (Samsonschule); Central Archives of the German Jews (Gesamtarchiv der deutschen Juden)
- Date(s):
- 1755/1936
- Language:
- German
- Extent:
- 3.0 linear metres (110 archival units)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
-
33 files have survived from the Jewish community of Wolfenbüttel. Only a few documents date from the 18th century. A first group of files on the administration of the municipality contains, among other things, statutes or municipal regulations from 1843 onwards, a log book of the municipal assemblies, 1879-1918, and four files with general correspondence from the years 1755-1925 (decrees of the authorities, finances, regional rabbis, teachers and schools, religious matters). One file concerns the position of the regional rabbi with regard to the communities. There is also a file with applications for the post of cantor, teacher and slaughterer, 1877-1883. The second group contains files on real estate and buildings, including the construction of the new synagogue and the inauguration on 21 June 1893, installation of an organ in 1898, as well as inventory lists, especially of the community's ritual objects, 1843, 1851. A third group contains financial files, including a cash book in Hebrew script, 1806-1828. One file concerns the securing of ritual food during and after the First World War. Finally, there are files on charity, especially appeals for donations and collections, 1911-1925.
The files of the Samson Legate Fund and the Samson School in Wolfenbüttel, which it administers, are closely related to the holdings of the Wolfenbüttel community. In addition to a file on the statute of the foundation from 1840 and later amendments, 1837-1920, and a book of minutes of the conferences of the administration, 1891-1918, the collection mainly consists of 56 files on the administration of the legacy fund, 1805-1927, usually one volume per year. The content is very variable, in some cases there are mainly receipts, for other years extensive correspondence, etc. on the general and economic situation of the Samson School and matters relating to the directors and teachers. Three files contain correspondence between the school management and the administration, 1914-1928. There is also a file with personnel documents of the director Ludwig Tachau (employment contract, 1888, pension payments to his widow) as well as a file with applications and documents for his replacement in the director's position, filled by Hermann Cohn, 1919-1920. Another file contains documents relating to the planned rebuilding of the school, in particular the purchase of the property in 1893. There are also files relating to the finances of the foundation and the school, including a cash book, 1909-1923, and annual accounts, 1895-1905. One folder contains the wills in which the legacies that were later incorporated into the legacy fund were donated including those of Samson Gumpel (around 1701-1767), 1761, of Meyer Samson, 1767 and 1783, and Philipp Samson, 1795.
One file contains correspondence with descendants of the Samson family and genealogical records, 1892-1910.
The collection also includes a family tree of the Samson family from 1887 (printed) and a folder with printed matter from the Samson School, including: Festschrift for the centenary of the school in 1886, the school's regulations from 1891 and 1910, reports from the school between 1879/80 and 1910/11 (with gaps), the school's brochure after moving into the new building in 1896 (with a view and floor plan of the building).
Some files in the Samson Legacy Fund are in a poor state of preservation.
- Archival history:
- The collection of the Jewish Community of Wolfenbüttel and the Samson Legacy Fund were probably part of the former Gesamtarchiv der deutschen Juden [General Archive of German Jews]. The pamphlets (collection items) were kept in the general archive in a separate collection (Collection Süßmann). These two collections were transferred in this state in 1996 by the Federal Archives to the archive of the New Synagogue Berlin Foundation - Centrum Judaicum.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
There was a state rabbinate in the Duchy of Braunschweig(-Wolfenbüttel) [Brunswick] from the 18th century, which was administered by Israel Jacobson (1768-1828) from 1795. The region was a centre of the Jewish Enlightenment around 1800. Under French rule, Braunschweig belonged to the Kingdom of Westphalia, which granted the Jews civil equality. In 1808 the consistory of the Israelites was established in Kassel, with Israel Jacobson as president. After the defeat of Napoleon, civil equality was withdrawn, but letters of protection and protection money were not reestablished in Braunschweig. In 1848 Jews finally gained legal equality. With the law on the legal status of the Jewish communities of 1 April 1908, the communities could become legal corporations, to which all Jews in a certain district belonged. The Duchy of Braunschweig existed until 1918, after which it existed as the Free State of Braunschweig, since 1946 it has been a part of Lower Saxony.
After the deportation of the Braunschweig Jews in the 16th century, Marcus Gumpel was the first ‘protected Jew’ who settled in Wolfenbüttel again in 1697; he worked as a banker for the dukes. Gumpel also established the first private synagogue. His grandson Philipp Samson (1743-1805) founded a synagogue in the courtyard of his house in 1781.
By 1893 the community had built a new synagogue. In 1770 36 Jews lived in Wolfenbüttel, in 1890 200, 1910 302, 1925 125.
In addition to the synagogue, Philipp Samson founded a Talmud Torah school in 1786, which in 1807 was merged with another educational institution, which was founded in 1796 by Schendel, the widow of his brother Herz Samson (1738-1794), to form the Samson School. Most of the students came from outside Braunschweig and also lived in the house. A famous student, then also a teacher at the school, was Leopold Zunz (1794-1886), the founder of the academic study of of Judaism. Under the direction of the inspector Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg (1773-1853), who was in office from 1807, the school was fundamentally reformed - the indigent Jewish boys admitted there free of charge were to receive a school education that would enable them to train in crafts, arts or as elementary teachers. During the directorship of Philipp Ehrenberg (1811-1883), the institution, now called Samson School, moved into a new building at the end of 1858 and also took on paying pupils. From 1881 the school was also attended by Christian students from the city and established as a secondary school in 1888. Since the number of students increased rapidly, a new building was built by 1896. After the First World War, the school lost its importance, and in 1928 it had to close for economic reasons.
In 1840, the legacies of various members of the Samson family were combined under the name of the Samson Legate Fund. According to the statute, the purpose of the foundation was to maintain the Samson Free School, to support needy family members and to provide poor brides from the Samson family with dowries. The fund was administered by three members of the Samson family (the so-called Administration).
- Access points: locations:
- Braunschweig
- Wolfenbüttel
- Access points: persons/families:
- Ehrenberg, Philipp
- Ehrenberg, Samuel Meyer
- Gumpel, Marcus
- Gumpel, Samson
- Jacobson, Israel
- Samson, Herz
- Samson, Meyer
- Samson, Philipp
- Zunz, Leopold
- Finding aids:
- An online finding aid exists.
- Links to finding aids:
- www.findbuch.net
- Yerusha Network member:
- Centrum Judaicum
- Author of the description:
- Barbara Welker; Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum; 2020
