page_title: Erlangen
section_title: Judaism
hierarchical_section_title: Erlangen / Religion / Judaism
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Jakob Herz Denkmal in Erlangen: "Wir denken an Jakob Herz dem Bürger dieser Stadt ein Denkmal setzten und zerstörten."English: Memorial to Jakob Herz in Erlangen: "We remember Jakob Herz, whose memorial was built and destroyed by citizens of this city."
context_page_description: Erlangen is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt and with 113,758 inhabitants it is the smallest of the eight major cities in Bavaria. The number of inhabitants exceeded the threshold of 100,000 in 1974, making Erlangen a major city.
  Together with Nuremberg, Fürth and Schwabach, Erlangen forms one of the three metropolises in Bavaria. With the surrounding area, these cities form the European Metropolitan Region of Nuremberg, one of 11 metropolitan areas in Germany. The cities of Nuremberg, Fürth and Erlangen also form a triangle on a map, which represents the heartland of the Nuremberg conurbation.
  An element of the city that goes back a long way in history, but is still noticeable, is the settlement of Huguenots after the withdrawal of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Today, many aspects of daily life in the city are dominated by the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Siemens technology group.
context_section_description: In 1432 Jews were first mentioned in a document in Erlangen, as was a rabbi in 1478. On 26 March 1515, the Margrave's Diet decided to expel the Jews. This probably also ended the existence of the Erlangen Jewish community. In 1711 Margrave Christian Ernst assured the Huguenot inhabitants of the Neustadt that they would not be allowed to settle or trade in the city. Jewish life was therefore restricted to Erlangen's neighbouring communities of Bruck, Baiersdorf and Büchenbach.
  Since 1431 Jews lived in Bruck, in 1604 a "Judenhaus" (Jews' house) is mentioned, which probably served as a synagogue for the still small Jewish community of six families (1619). However, after their number quickly grew to 37 families (1763), a new synagogue was built in 1707. In 1811 the community had 184 members (approx. 15% of the population at that time), in 1859 it had 108.
  In Baiersdorf, a Jewish community was first mentioned in a document from 1473, but the beginning of its existence is suspected to be earlier, especially because the oldest gravestones on the Jewish cemetery date back to the early 14th century. This cemetery had a wide catchment area as far as Forchheim and Fürth. Already in 1530 a synagogue existed, although after the expulsion of the Jews from the margraviate in 1515 only one Jewish family lived in Baiersdorf. After its destruction in the Thirty Years' War, the synagogue was rebuilt in 1651. The community had grown from nine families in 1619 to 83 families in 1771. As the second largest Jewish community in the Markgraftum Brandenburg-Bayreuth, it was also the seat of the state rabbinate. In 1827 the Jewish community reached its largest number of members with 440 members (30% of the population).
  In Büchenbach the Bamberg cathedral provost allowed 1681 Jews to settle. A Jewish community was formed, which had 74 members in 1811 and built a synagogue in 1813. In 1833 103 Jews lived in the village.
  In 1861 the Bavarian parliament introduced general freedom of movement for Jews in Bavaria. This made it possible for Jews to settle in Erlangen. Many Jewish families from the surrounding communities moved to Erlangen because of better prospects, at the same time the communities in Bruck, Baiersdorf and Büchenbach shrank, with Büchenbach's community being dissolved as early as 1874. In 1867, the new Erlangen congregation already had 67 members, who became an independent religious congregation on 15 March 1873. The community in Bruck was merged into it. In 1891 the community inaugurated its own cemetery. On the other hand, the Rabbinate of Baiersdorf was dissolved in 1894, and after 1900 no Jews lived in Bruck. The Erlangen community, on the other hand, included prominent personalities such as the physician and honorary citizen Jakob Herz and the mathematician Emmy Noether. A monument to the former was erected on 5 May 1875 and destroyed on 15 September 1933. Since 1983, a stele has commemorated this process with an inscription: Wir denken an Jakob Herz, dem Bürger dieser Stadt ein Denkmal setzten und zerstörten. (We think of Jakob Herz, the citizen of this town, for who the citizens of this town erected a monument and destroyed it.)
  During the National Socialist dictatorship, the number of Erlangen Jews initially fell from 120 to 44 by 1938. During the Kristallnacht, the Erlangen prayer hall was destroyed and the synagogue in Baiersdorf demolished. On 20 October 1943, the last Jewish inhabitant of Erlangen was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. 77 members of the Jewish community of Erlangen were murdered by the Nazis.
  Of the original Jewish inhabitants, Rosa Loewi and her daughter Marga returned to Erlangen on 16 August 1945, before both emigrated to the United States one year later. In 1980, Lotte Ansbacher (died 19 December 2010) was the last survivor of the Holocaust in Erlangen to return permanently to her hometown, presumably to take up the legacy of her aunt Helene Aufseeser. A special feature of Erlangen was the position created in 1980 of an honorary "representative for former Jewish fellow citizens". In this funct
caption: The new memorial for Jakob Herz from 1983
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