Metadata: Congregation of Altona in Altona and Hamburg (until 1812)
Collection
- Country:
- Germany
- Holding institution:
- Hamburg State Archive
- Holding institution (official language):
- Staatsarchiv Hamburg
- Postal address:
- Kattunbleiche 19, 22041 Hamburg
- Phone number:
- +49 (0)40 428313201
- Web address:
- www.hamburg.de/staatsarchiv
- Reference number:
- 522-1_
- Title:
- Congregation of Altona in Altona and Hamburg (until 1812)
- Title (official language):
- Altonaer Gemeinde zu Altona und Hamburg (bis 1812)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Congregation of Altona in Altona and Hamburg
- Date(s):
- 1621/1934
- Language:
- German
- Hebrew
- Yiddish
- Extent:
- the total extent of registry 131-1 I is 70.9 metres; no individual details are available.
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- This collection consists of the files from the beginning of a Jewish congregation in Altona until the end of the triple congregation Altona, Hamburg, Wandbek in 1812. The collection is divided into five subcategories. 1. general and miscellaneous, especially religion: this subcategory includes, but is not limited to, matters of the principal, letters of protection (Schutzbriefe), correspondence with the Danish government and files on the synagogue; 2. accounts; 3. civil status, matrimonial and inheritance matters; 4. funeral and grave registers of the old cemeteries. Although the collection concerns the congregation in Altona, there are also registers for the cemetery in Wandsbek and for the cemetery at Dammtor, which was on Hamburg territory; 4. relationship of the component parts "triple congregation" (Altona, Hamburg, Wandsbek) with each other: Among other things, there are files on legal matters between the congregations and, for example, files on marriage between members of the three congregations.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Jews who had the status of so-called Schutzjuden [protected Jews] settled in Altona from the 16th century. Altona was attractive to many Jews, as there was no upper limit to the number of permitted Jewish households and there was a right of religious freedom. Altona was also an important economic centre due to its proximity to Hamburg. In 1611, the Jewish congregation was founded and a cemetery plot was acquired. Under Danish rule the congregation developed steadily and achieved equality with the Portuguese Jews in Altona, as well as the legal privilege and the establishment of the Altona Chief Rabbi (Altonaer Oberrabbiner) as spiritual head and judge of the Ashkenazi Jews in Schleswig and Holstein. In 1671, the congregation in Altona merged with the congregations in Hamburg and Wandsbek to form the triple congregation AHW, in which the congregation of Altona played a leading role due to its size, organisation and infrastructure, which was not eclipsed by Hamburg until the end of the 18th century. With the dissolution of the triple congregation, the congregation of Altona, which was now once again a separate entity, began to lose its importance (see 522-1_Hochdeutsche Israelitengemeinde zu Altona).
- Subject terms:
- Cemeteries
- Jewish community records
- Marriage and divorce
- Synagogues
- Wills
- System of arrangement:
- The material is arranged in thematic order.
- Finding aids:
- Overview, finding aid.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://recherche.staatsarchiv.hamburg.de/ScopeQuery5.2/detail.aspx?id=1047115
- Yerusha Network member:
- Institute for the History of German Jews
- Author of the description:
- Esther Yen