Dresden

First Jewish presence: 11th or 12th century; peak Jewish population: 5,120 in 1925; Jewish population in 1933: 4,675 (0.7% of the total population).

Records indicate that Jews settled in Dresden as early as the 11th/12th centuries. The medieval community (of the 13th and 14th centuries) maintained a synagogue on the Judenhof (“Jews’ yard”) and a cemetery near Kreuztor. Although Jews were persecuted in Dresden in 1348/49 and in 1430, a new Jewish presence was established there at some point between 1475 and 1550. The modern community was founded in the early 18th century. Services were conducted in prayer rooms until 1840, when local Jews finally inaugurated a synagogue— it was designed by architect Gottfried Semper—on 1b Zeughausstrasse (Hasenberg). Under the guidance of Chief Rabbi Zacharias Frankel, the community observed liberal rites. We also know that Dresden was home to two Jewish cemeteries: on Pulsnitzer Strasse (consecrated in 1751) and on Fiedlerstrasse (consecrated in 1867 and enlarged in 1920). Due to the arrival in Dresden of an influx of Eastern European Jews at the beginning of the 20th century, the city’s Jewish population peaked at 5,120 in 1925. Orthodox Jews conducted their own religious services in several prayer halls. In 1933, 4,675 Jews resided in Dresden. A rabbi, a chief chazzan, a chazzan, a shochet, and a teacher served the community. In 1932/33, 550 Jewish schoolchildren received religious instruction; eighty students attended the Talmud Torah on Cranachstrasse. Active in the community were six social institutions and 15 welfare associations; there was also a library. We also know that the community published a monthly journal in 1933, and that it established a Jewish school in April 1935. On April 1, 1933, the anti-Jewish boycott was implemented in Dresden, as a result of which Jewish-owned stores were vandalized and Jewish residents assaulted. Many Jews accordingly left the city, and in October 1938, approximately 500 Jews of Polish origin were deported. On Pogrom Night (November 1938), the synagogue was incinerated; a member of the fire brigade managed to save the Star of David from the blaze. Jewish-owned shops and homes were looted that night, and more than 150 Jews were taken to Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen. The synagogue ruins were torn down a few weeks after the pogrom. In the fall of 1939, the remaining Jews were forcibly moved into so-called “Jews’ houses.” Later, in November 1942, approximately 300 Jews were taken to the Hellerberg labor camp, which closed in March 1943. At the end of 1944, concentration camp inmates were brought to Dresden to work in the arms industry. Deportations began in January 1942, between then and January 1944, 12 transports carrying approximately 1,300 Jews left for Riga, Theresienstadt and other places in Eastern Europe. After the war, the funeral hall (the Tahara) at the Jewish cemetery on Fiedlerstrasse was converted into a synagogue (1950-2001). In 2001, a new synagogue and a community center were established at 1 Hasenberg, which corresponds roughly to the location of the destroyed synagogue designed by Semper. The original Star of David adorns the new synagogue’s entrance, next to which a memorial stone was unveiled in 1975. In 1994, a cenotaph commemorating Dresden’s Shoah victims was unveiled at the cemetery (Fiedlerstrasse). The cemetery was desecrated several times in the 1990s and in 2010. On Pogrom Night (November 1938), the synagogue was incinerated; a member of the fire brigade managed to save the Star of David from the blaze. Jewish-owned shops and homes were looted that night, and more than 150 Jews were taken to Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen. The synagogue ruins were torn down a few weeks after the pogrom. In the fall of 1939, the remaining Jews were forcibly moved into so-called “Jews’ houses.” Later, in November 1942, approximately 300 Jews were taken to the Hellerberg labor camp, which closed in March 1943. At the end of 1944, concentration camp inmates were brought to Dresden to work in the arms industry. Deportations began in January 1942, between then and January 1944, 12 transports carrying approximately 1,300 Jews left for Riga, Theresienstadt and other places in Eastern Europe. After the war, the funeral hall (the Tahara) at the Jewish cemetery on Fiedlerstrasse was converted into a synagogue (1950-2001). In 2001, a new synagogue and a community center were established at 1 Hasenberg, which corresponds roughly to the location of the destroyed synagogue designed by Semper. The original Star of David adorns the new synagogue’s entrance, next to which a memorial stone was unveiled in 1975. In 1994, a cenotaph commemorating Dresden’s Shoah victims was unveiled at the cemetery (Fiedlerstrasse). The cemetery was desecrated several times in the 1990s and in 2010.

Heidemarie Wawrzyn

Copyright: Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany/ Germansynagogues.com

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