Metadata : Archive of the Jewish Community Kreuzlingen
Collection
- Country:
- Switzerland
- Holding institution:
- Archives of Contemporary History at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archiv für Zeitgeschichte der ETH Zürich
- Postal address:
- Hirschengraben 62, CH-8092 Zurich
- Phone number:
- +41 44 632 40 03
- Web address:
- https://www.afz.ethz.ch/
- Email:
- afz@history.gess.ethz.ch
- Country:
- Switzerland
- Holding institution:
- Archives of Contemporary History at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
- Holding institution (official language):
- Archiv für Zeitgeschichte der ETH Zürich
- Postal address:
- Hirschengraben 62, CH-8092 Zurich
- Phone number:
- +41 44 632 40 03
- Web address:
- https://www.afz.ethz.ch/
- Email:
- afz@history.gess.ethz.ch
- Reference number:
- IB Jüd Gemeinde Kreuzlingen
- Title:
- Archive of the Jewish Community Kreuzlingen
- Title (official language):
- Archiv der Jüdischen Gemeinde Kreuzlingen
- Creator/accumulator:
- Jewish Community Kreuzlingen
- Date(s):
- 1935/2009
- Language:
- German
- French
- Extent:
- 6.65 shelf metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection has some focal points. Central are the files dealing with aid and reconstruction in the French Zone of Germany from 1945 to 1948. These materials do not directly concern the community life in Kreuzlingen. They contain mainly the correspondence of the then president Robert Wieler, which he kept with the SIG (Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities), AJDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) and the Jewish Community of Constance, among others. These materials are supplemented by the institutional files of the board such as minutes, statutes, membership lists and circulars. In addition to the board, the Funerary Society and the Jewish Women's Association Kreuzlingen operated relatively independently. From these associations, minutes, statutes, correspondence and finances have been preserved. In addition, there is material concerning welfare, youth work and Zionism. Interesting here are the records documenting the Switzerland-wide network. The community’s financial files make up a large part of the collection.
The majority of material dates from before the 1960s. After the end of the 1980s, only a few correspondences and financial files are extant.
- Archival history:
- Margot Dreifuss and Erhard Roy Wiehn handed over the colleciton in 2009. The direct contractual partner is Community chairman Rolf Hilb. The Jewish Community Kreuzlingen has already handed over the documents concerning Gurs to Yad Vashem. René Hornung supplied some additional material concerning the youth group Hanoar Haboneh.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Due to the manifold relations with Constance, the help for refugees and the poor was a central concern of the Kreuzlingen Jewish Community from the very beginning. On 22 October 1940, the Jews of Constance were deported to Gurs together with 6,500 Jews from the Palatinate, Baden and Saarland. The Kreuzlingen Jews immediately set up an aid office, which was headed by Erna Veit. The moral and material support lasted until summer 1942, when the remaining Jews were deported to Auschwitz. After the end of the war, the Jewish Community of Kreuzlingen organised help for the "Displaced Persons" who were brought from the Theresienstadt and Bergen-Belsen camps to Constance. In connection with this aid, Zionist efforts were encouraged, such as the departure of the refugees for Palestine. Kreuzlingen was also involved in the religious care of refugee children (Religiöse Betreuung Kinder, RBK), which was coordinated by the Association of Swiss Jewish Refugee Aid and Welfare Organisations (Verband Schweizerischer Jüdischer Fürsorgen, VSJF).
The war and postwar period of the Kreuzlingen Jewish community was strongly influenced by Robert Wieler. He was president from 1941 to 1951 and emigrated to Israel in 1977. His successor Herbert Dreifuss led the Community from 1952 to 1976. In the 1950s, the Kreuzlingen Jews found more time to build up their own community structures. The board intensified religious education and youth work. The Kreuzlingen Youth Group was a member of the Jewish youth organisation Hanoar Haboneh. Especially in the 1960s, it organised numerous camps and evening programmes. There were regular Shabbat and holiday services and lecture rounds. However, the congregation never carried out targeted public relations work. In contrast, the women's association of the Jewish Community Kreuzlingen maintained active relations with Thurgau women's associations. The women also supported numerous needy members of the community.
This cultural and social activity declined sharply in the 1970s and especially in the 1980s due to the ageing of the community. Many members moved to larger cities with better Jewish infrastructure. A great loss for the community was the death of the St. Gallen Rabbi Dr Lothar Rothschild in 1974, who had served the Jewish Community Kreuzlingen for more than 30 years. In 1989, the community had only 17 members. After a unanimous decision of the general meeting on 21 June 2009, the Torah scrolls and the furniture of the prayer room were donated. Since 2009, Dr Rolf Hilb and Prof. Erhard Roy Wiehn have shared the chairmanship.
- Access, restrictions:
- Partially restricted. Subject to application.
- Finding aids:
- An online finding aid is available.
- Links to finding aids:
- http://onlinearchives.ethz.ch/
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Hohenems
- Author of the description:
- Severin Holzknecht; Jewish Museum of Hohenems; 2019
- Reference number:
- IB Jüd Gemeinde Kreuzlingen
- Title:
- Archive of the Jewish Community Kreuzlingen
- Title (official language):
- Archiv der Jüdischen Gemeinde Kreuzlingen
- Creator/accumulator:
- Jewish Community Kreuzlingen
- Date(s):
- 1935/2009
- Language:
- German
- French
- Extent:
- 6.65 shelf metres
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection has some focal points. Central are the files dealing with aid and reconstruction in the French Zone of Germany from 1945 to 1948. These materials do not directly concern the community life in Kreuzlingen. They contain mainly the correspondence of the then president Robert Wieler, which he kept with the SIG (Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities), AJDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) and the Jewish Community of Constance, among others. These materials are supplemented by the institutional files of the board such as minutes, statutes, membership lists and circulars. In addition to the board, the Funerary Society and the Jewish Women's Association Kreuzlingen operated relatively independently. From these associations, minutes, statutes, correspondence and finances have been preserved. In addition, there is material concerning welfare, youth work and Zionism. Interesting here are the records documenting the Switzerland-wide network. The community’s financial files make up a large part of the collection.
The majority of material dates from before the 1960s. After the end of the 1980s, only a few correspondences and financial files are extant.
- Archival history:
- Margot Dreifuss and Erhard Roy Wiehn handed over the colleciton in 2009. The direct contractual partner is Community chairman Rolf Hilb. The Jewish Community Kreuzlingen has already handed over the documents concerning Gurs to Yad Vashem. René Hornung supplied some additional material concerning the youth group Hanoar Haboneh.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Due to the manifold relations with Constance, the help for refugees and the poor was a central concern of the Kreuzlingen Jewish Community from the very beginning. On 22 October 1940, the Jews of Constance were deported to Gurs together with 6,500 Jews from the Palatinate, Baden and Saarland. The Kreuzlingen Jews immediately set up an aid office, which was headed by Erna Veit. The moral and material support lasted until summer 1942, when the remaining Jews were deported to Auschwitz. After the end of the war, the Jewish Community of Kreuzlingen organised help for the "Displaced Persons" who were brought from the Theresienstadt and Bergen-Belsen camps to Constance. In connection with this aid, Zionist efforts were encouraged, such as the departure of the refugees for Palestine. Kreuzlingen was also involved in the religious care of refugee children (Religiöse Betreuung Kinder, RBK), which was coordinated by the Association of Swiss Jewish Refugee Aid and Welfare Organisations (Verband Schweizerischer Jüdischer Fürsorgen, VSJF).
The war and postwar period of the Kreuzlingen Jewish community was strongly influenced by Robert Wieler. He was president from 1941 to 1951 and emigrated to Israel in 1977. His successor Herbert Dreifuss led the Community from 1952 to 1976. In the 1950s, the Kreuzlingen Jews found more time to build up their own community structures. The board intensified religious education and youth work. The Kreuzlingen Youth Group was a member of the Jewish youth organisation Hanoar Haboneh. Especially in the 1960s, it organised numerous camps and evening programmes. There were regular Shabbat and holiday services and lecture rounds. However, the congregation never carried out targeted public relations work. In contrast, the women's association of the Jewish Community Kreuzlingen maintained active relations with Thurgau women's associations. The women also supported numerous needy members of the community.
This cultural and social activity declined sharply in the 1970s and especially in the 1980s due to the ageing of the community. Many members moved to larger cities with better Jewish infrastructure. A great loss for the community was the death of the St. Gallen Rabbi Dr Lothar Rothschild in 1974, who had served the Jewish Community Kreuzlingen for more than 30 years. In 1989, the community had only 17 members. After a unanimous decision of the general meeting on 21 June 2009, the Torah scrolls and the furniture of the prayer room were donated. Since 2009, Dr Rolf Hilb and Prof. Erhard Roy Wiehn have shared the chairmanship.
- Access, restrictions:
- Partially restricted. Subject to application.
- Finding aids:
- An online finding aid is available.
- Links to finding aids:
- http://onlinearchives.ethz.ch/
- Yerusha Network member:
- Jewish Museum Hohenems
- Author of the description:
- Severin Holzknecht; Jewish Museum of Hohenems; 2019
