Leipzig, Germany

Leipzig, in the German state of Saxony, has had a Jewish community since the 13th century.

Background
As far back as 1349, the Jews of Leipzig began to face discrimination. They were blamed for the Black Death (1348–1349) and briefly expelled from the city. The establishment of a permanent Jewish community was restricted.

The beginning of the 19th century, however, marked a revival of the Leipzig Jewish community, which became an officially state-recognised organisation in 1847, when Jews were allowed to settle in Leipzig without any restrictions. Towards the end of the 19th century, antisemitism began to intensify but the community continued to grow. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were approximately 6,000 Jewish inhabitants in Leipzig

Third Reich

As a result of the Nazi’s rise to power, Leipzig’s Jewish population decreased. The Schnitzer Family (Joe Carver was originally Joseph Schnitzer) were expelled from Leipzig in the 1938 ‘Polenaktion’ and deported to Poland. His parents were Polish born Jews who were living and working in Germany. The deportation led to the Kristallnacht pogrom, after which 553 Jewish men were arrested.

The German Reich completed a population census on May 19, 1939, in which they determined that 0.5% of Leipzig’s citizens were Jewish: 4,470 were Jews by descent and 4,113 by religion.

In mid-1938, Jews were first banned from using park benches in the Rosenthal Park. By the end of the year, Jews were banned from all public parks in the city.

Deportations

^{Synagogue Memorial Leipzig}

The deportations of German-Jewish citizens from Leipzig began on 21 January 1942 and lasted until 13 February 1945, when the last 220 Jews were deported to Theresienstadt. In total, about 2,000 Jews were deported from Leipzig.

Aftermath

By 1945 there were only 15 Jews remaining in the city at which point 200 came back from Theresienstadt to re-establish the Jewish community.

Present-day

Leipzig has the most active Jewish community in central Germany.