Metadata: Jewish Community Boizenburg/Elbe; Jewish Community Gadebusch; Jewish Community Grabow; Jewish Community Krakow; Jewish Community Marlow; Jewish Community Malchin; Jewish Community Neubukow; Jewish Community Rehna; Jewish Community Schwerin; Jewish Community Stavenhagen; Jewish Community Sternberg; Jewish Community Tessin; collections
Collection
- Country:
- Germany
- 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 Bo 4; 1 A Ga 1; 1 A Gr 1; 1 A Kr 1; 1 A Ma 7; 1 A Ma 9; 1 A Ne 10; 1 A Re 3; 1 A Schw 3; 1 A Sta 3; 1 A Ste 2; 1 A Te 3; 1 E, Nr. 230/1
- Title:
- Jewish Community Boizenburg/Elbe; Jewish Community Gadebusch; Jewish Community Grabow; Jewish Community Krakow; Jewish Community Marlow; Jewish Community Malchin; Jewish Community Neubukow; Jewish Community Rehna; Jewish Community Schwerin; Jewish Community Stavenhagen; Jewish Community Sternberg; Jewish Community Tessin; collections
- Title (official language):
- Jüdische Gemeinde Boizenburg/Elbe; Jüdische Gemeinde Gadebusch; Jüdische Gemeinde Grabow; Jüdische Gemeinde Krakow; Jüdische Gemeinde Marlow; Jüdische Gemeinde Malchin; Jüdische Gemeinde Malchin; Jüdische Gemeinde Neubukow; Jüdische Gemeinde Rehna; Jüdische Gemeinde Schwerin; Jüdische Gemeinde Stavenhagen; Jüdische Gemeinde Sternberg; Jüdische Gemeinde Tessin; Sammlungen
- Creator/accumulator:
- Jewish Community Boizenburg/Elbe (Jüdische Gemeinde Boizenburg/Elbe); Jewish Community Gadebusch (Jüdische Gemeinde Gadebusch); Jewish Community Grabow (Jüdische Gemeinde Grabow); Jewish Community Krakow (Jüdische Gemeinde Krakow); Municipal authorities of the City of Marlow (Magistrat der Stadt Marlow); Jewish Community Malchin (Jüdische Gemeinde Malchin); Jewish Community Neubukow (Jüdische Gemeinde Neubukow); Jewish Community Rehna (Jüdische Gemeinde Rehna); Jewish Community Schwerin (Jüdische Gemeinde Schwerin); Municipal authorities of the City of Stavenhagen (Magistrat der Stadt Stavenhagen); Jewish Community Sternberg (Jüdische Gemeinde Sternberg); Jewish Community Tessin (Jüdische Gemeinde Tessin); Central Archives of the German Jews (Gesamtarchiv der deutschen Juden)
- Date(s):
- 1769/1935
- Language:
- German
- Hebrew
- Extent:
- 1.25 linear metres (119 archival units)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
-
The fonds of the Jewish community in Boizenburg/Elbe comprises eleven files from the years 1799-1862: general administration of the community (decrees of the government and the Jewish High Council, communications from the state rabbi, minutes of the board, personnel matters), synagogue construction (invoices, debt settlement), financial documents (register of income and expenditure and receipts). One volume contains the statutes and receipts and expenditures of the Nursing and Funeral Charity, circa 1800. Also included is a lottery receipts book of M M Behrend.
From Gadebusch only a ledger for the years 1801-1843 remains.
Seven files from the period 1823-1901 are extant from the Jewish community Grabow (now Grabow (Elde)). The first file contains the community regulations for the Jewish residents in Grabow, including printed matter of the Israelitischer Oberrat: fundamentals of a Jewish community regulation, 1844, and the community regulations for the Jewish residents of the town of Goldberg, undated, and the hamlet of Ludwigslust, 1846. One file concerns the elections to the Oberrat, 1839-1853. Other files relate to the general administration of the community, including decrees by the authorities, notifications and decrees from the Jewish High Council and the state rabbi, community meetings, religious and legal matters.
The fonds of the Jewish community of Krakow (now Krakow am See) comprises 21 files from the years 1820-1905. The first series contains files on the general administration of the community: decrees of the authorities and the Israelite Superior Council, communications from the state rabbi, elections to the Superior Council, community meetings. Two files contain personnel matters of religious officials, including prayer leader and teacher Gedalia Blumenthal (d. 1884). Other files relate to the construction of the old synagogue (1820) and its leasing to the community as well as the construction of the new synagogue (1865-66), with architectural drawings, fire insurance and mortgages. The financial files contain budgets for 1849-50 and 1902-1904 (with names of tax-paying members), income and expenditure 1902, and tax returns, 1899-1905. Finally, there is a file on religious instruction, 1885-1902, and a file on appeals and collections, 1854-1884.
Twelve files from the magistrate, especially the tax office, from the period 1818-1914 are available for the Jews of Marlow. They contain, among other things, matters relating to protected Jews, i.e. protective letters and trading permits, tax matters as well as births and deaths.
The fonds of the Jewish community of Malchin contains only one folder with an excerpt from the synagogue regulations for the synagogues of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (made in 1852), and a ledger for income and expenses of the community, 1814-1845.
The minutes of the community meetings and meetings of the community board for the years 1845-1930 have survived from Neubukow.
There is a file from Rehna on the general administration of the community, 1859-1867 (including, among other items, the petition of the Mecklenburg communities to the Reichstag regarding civic equality for Jews, 1867), as well as eleven files with invoices from the community treasury on income and expenditure and receipts for the years 1868-1882.
Eleven files have survived from the Jewish community in Schwerin. Seven "General" files from the years 1771-1828 relate, among other things, to the legal status of the Jews (issuing letters of protection and business licenses, citizenship rights, adopting permanent family names, being drafted into the military). One file contains documents on synagogue construction, 1771-1814. There is a cash book with the statutes of the Chevra Kadisha (1817-1830, in Hebrew script), which is unfortunately badly damaged. There is also correspondence and invoices for burials and grave care from the Jewish Burial Society in Schwerin, 1909-1919. An antisemitic newspaper article on the history of the Jews in Schwerin from 1935, which comes from the collections of the Central Archive, has survived in the appendix to the fonds.
A file from the magistrate on Jewish matters from 1769-1813 is extant from Stavenhagen (above all letters of protection, trading and peddling privileges). The file is severely damaged.
14 files from the years 1825-1898 have survived from the Sternberg Jewish community. Several of them relate to the general administration of the community (including decrees by the authorities and the Israelite High Council, letters from the state rabbi, minutes of community meetings, 1846-1853, property matters, including the lease for the cemetery, 1825, and synagogue, finances). One folder contains a copy of the community regulations for the Jewish residents of the town of Goldberg, which were sent to the Sternberg community as a template. Three files concern the personnel matters of the religious officials, 1860-1876. One file contains the contract for the purchase of the land and the construction of the synagogue, 1854-1855. The financial files from the period 1847-1879 contain, among other things, the budget and invoices of the community treasury, receipts as well as resolutions and decrees determining the contributions of community members. Finally, there is a file of requests for assistance, 1865-1874.
The holdings of the Jewish community of Tessin include 25 mostly small files from the years 1815-1889. One file contains official orders, including marriage matters, and another contains documents on general community administration (e.g. finances, insurance). Eight files concern the personnel matters of the religious officials, 1846-1884. The financial files include income and expenditure documents, a statement of the budget, receipts, as well as collection of community contributions and deductions, contributions to the state rabbinate fund, tax returns and a legacy from the merchant David Salomon (1836). There are also files on the procurement of kosher meat and matzoth as well as on poor relief.
In the collections from the former Central Archive there is also a folder with the community regulations for the Jewish residents of the city of Waren from 1845.
There is a separate record for the fonds of the Jewish community of Güstrow.
- Archival history:
- The files of the Jewish communities in Mecklenburg-Schwerin were previously held by the Central Archives of German Jews. The magistrate’s filed from Marlow and Stavenhagen were also transferred to the Central Archive. All were transferred in 1996 by the Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archive) to the archive of the Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum (Foundation New Synagogue Berlin - Centrum Judaicum).
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Even in the Middle Ages, few Jews lived on the territory of Mecklenburg - e.g. in Boizenburg/Elbe, Krakow am See, Malchin and Sternberg. From the 14th century there were several pogroms against Jews for alleged desecration of the host, culminating in the trial in Sternberg in 1492, as a result of which 27 Mecklenburg Jews were executed and all the others expelled. No Jews lived here for almost 200 years, and it was only in the second half of the 17th century that the Schwerin sovereign brought court Jews into the country with privileges for the tobacco trade to consolidate their finances. Only a few Jews lived in the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (from 1815 Grand Duchy, from 1919 Free State); around 1750 there were around 200 families. They lived in the residence city of Schwerin and mostly in smaller towns, since they were not allowed to settle in the country and the Hanseatic cities of Rostock and Wismar also prohibited them from settling there until 1867. For a long time Jews were not allowed to acquire real estate in Mecklenburg; the emancipation process also dragged on for several decades. After a petition by two Schwerin court Jews for legal equality in 1811, the Schwerin Duke Friedrich Franz issued the constitution of February 1813, which declared the Jews in Mecklenburg to be equal citizens – under pressure from the Estates and the Duke in Strelitz, this was repealed as early as in 1817. Protection money was only abolished in 1847, and in 1869 Jews in Mecklenburg were granted full legal equality. In 1840, the Israelitischer Oberrat was set up to administer the Jewish communities in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, to which two state representatives, five representatives of the communities and the state rabbi belonged. The first state rabbi in Schwerin was the reform-oriented Samuel Holdheim (1806-1860), followed in 1847 by David Einhorn (1809-1879) and in 1853 by Baruch-Isaak Lipschütz/Lüpschütz (1812-1877). The last two long-standing rabbis were Gabriel Fabian Feilchenfeld (1827-1910), who served from 1876 until his death, and from 1910 Siegfried Silberstein (1866-1935). Around 1845, community regulations were issued for the Jewish communities by the sovereign. After 1850, the mostly smaller communities lost many members through emigration, so that they were dissolved or merged and their synagogues had to be given up. Around 1907 about 1,480 Jews lived in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in 1913 it was some 1,400, in 1932 1,225.
Protected Jews were again allowed to settle in the Schwerin Residence after the mid-17th century. Around 100 years later, at least 25 Jewish families lived here, and by the end of the 18th century around 50 families. A cemetery was first established in 1694, and again in 1717. The construction of a synagogue was approved in 1773, a new synagogue was built around 1820, which was rebuilt in 1866. In 1830, 314 Jews lived in Schwerin (approx. 3% of the population), in 1875 the number of community members reached its peak at 391, in 1900 there were around 300, in 1924 around 200.
In Boizenburg/Elbe, Jews were again resident from the first half of the 18th century, most of them engaged in trade. In 1799 the community built a synagogue, around 1800 five Jewish families lived here. The number of community members reached its peak around 1830 with over 60, in 1892 there were still 19. In the same year the synagogue - which had been extensively remodelled in 1864 - was sold to a Masonic lodge; the building still exists today.
A few Jewish families had lived in Gadebusch since the end of the 18th century, and in 1806 they built a synagogue. The deceased were buried in the cemetery in Rehna which had been established in 1799. Around 1810 the congregation had 35 members, around 1825 almost 60, after this their number fell.
Protected Jews also settled in Grabow from the second half of the 18th century (four families around 1770). In 1819 44 Jews (8 families) lived in the city, around 1860 around 40, after that the number fell rapidly (1892: 20, 1913: 14). The synagogue, built at the beginning of the 19th century, was sold in 1932 and then used as a residential building.
Jews settled again in Krakow am See after 1750, and in 1760 four Jewish families lived in the city. Around 1820 around 60 Jews lived here, in c. 1865 it was around 110 (almost 6% of the population), 61 (16 families) in 1892 and 22 in 1913. The community sold its synagogue, which had been inaugurated in December 1866 and had not been used for a number of years, to the city in 1920. After 1930 the community broke up, the remaining members joined the community in Güstrow. The former synagogue building was used as a gym until 1986, later restored and now serves as a cultural centre.
The renewed settlement of Jewish residents in Malchin began around 1750, when several protected Jews were admitted. At the end of the 18th century there were 18 families. Community membership peaked at almost 130 in 1830, after which the number fell again. The synagogue, built in 1837, was sold in 1923 and the congregation dissolved shortly thereafter.
Jewish families settled in Marlow for the first time at the end of the 18th century. In 1819, 29 Jews lived here. It is likely that there was no separate Jewish community and no synagogue in Marlow. In 1913, eight Jews who belonged to the community in Ribnitz lived here.
Jews settled in Neubukow for the first time in the second half of the 18th century; around 1850 more than 100 Jews lived here. After 1860 the number fell rapidly, in 1910 there were still 37, around 1930 around 20. The synagogue, built in the mid-19th century, was sold around 1930 and has been used as a residential building ever since.
Two Jewish families settled in Rehna in 1744; in the following years, a Jewish community developed here, which in 1818 consisted of almost 100 people (about 5% of the population), in 1860 there were 93. Since the number of Jews living in Rehna fell rapidly from this point onwards, the community dissolved in 1883 and the remaining members became part of the community in Gadebusch.
In the first half of the 19th century, the Jewish community in Stavenhagen was one of the larger communities in the Grand Duchy. Jews also settled here for the first time in the second half of the 18th century. Eight Jewish families lived in the town around 1765 and eleven in 1797. The Jewish cemetery was established in 1764 and the synagogue was built in 1820.
A Jewish family settled in Sternberg around 1780 with a letter of protection, and around 1825 seven families lived here. The cemetery was established from 1825 and by 1855 the community had built a synagogue. In the middle of the 19th century there were about 50 people in the community, after that the number decreased. In 1937 the synagogue building was sold to the town, which demolished it.
Jews lived in Tessin from the second half of the 18th century and received permission to build a cemetery in 1821 – the deceased had previously been buried in Neubukow. Around 1835 the congregation reached its peak with about 100 members.
- Access points: locations:
- Boizenburg/Elbe
- Gadebusch
- Goldberg
- Grabow (Elde)
- Krakow am See
- Ludwigslust
- Malchin
- Marlow
- Neubukow
- Rehna
- Schwerin
- Stavenhagen
- Sternberg
- Tessin
- Waren (Müritz)
- Access points: persons/families:
- Behrend, M M
- Blumenthal, Gedalia
- Salomon, David
- Yerusha Network member:
- Centrum Judaicum
- Author of the description:
- Barbara Welker with Sabine Hank; Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum; 2022
