Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

immigrants. 8 Of this figure, 976 were male and 997 were female and they
constituted 0.64% of the city’s population. 9
Three separate religious congregations co-existed: the Synagogen-Gemeinde
zu Magdeburg, the Betverein ‘Ahawas Reim’ 10 and the Jüdische Vereinigung
‘Achduth’. 11 There is also some evidence to suggest that a third Shtibl existed. 12
The Synagogen-Gemeinde, under the spiritual guidance of Rabbi Dr Georg Wilde,
was the largest congregation and was located at Große Schulstraße 2c. The
Betverein ‘Ahawas Reim’ was located at Blauebeilstraße 12 and, whilst it has not
been possible to definitively provide the location of the Jüdische Vereinigung
‘Achduth’, it is known that one Shtibl was located at Im Katzensprung 13 and this
may have been its address. It is also known that the Magdeburg branch of the Zeiri
Mizrachi organisation possessed rooms known as the Zeiri Misrachi-Heim at
Kleine Klosterstraße 1. 14
The vast majority of interviewees recalled and knew of the Shtiblech, but only
two interviewees had ever visited one. They spoke of the vast difference in
Heft 5, Die Glaubensjuden im Deutschen Reich, Bestand R 3102, BAB, op. cit., pp.
15–33.
8
Ibid., p. 15.
9
The population of Magdeburg in 1933 was 306,894. See Statistisches Amt der Stadt
Magdeburg, Festschrift anlässlich des fünfizigjährigen Bestehens des Statistischen
Amtes der Stadt Magdeburg Magdeburg: Trommer-Verlag, 1935, Collection 0.8, File
277, Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem (YVA), p. 34.
10
Minutes of the extraordinary, urgent General Meeting for the liquidation of the
association Jüdische Kultur-Gesellschaft e. V. Magdeburg, 14 May 1933, Bestand
Rep. C 129, Signatur Nr. 2306, Landesarchiv Magdeburg – Landeshauptarchiv
Sachsen-Anhalt, Magdeburg (LHASA MD), pp. 81–89.
11
Religious notices in the Jüdisches Wochenblatt für Magdeburg und Umgegend, 30.
Dezember 1932, Nr. 53, 7. Jahrgang, ASGM, op. cit., p. 342.
12
According to oral history a third Shtibl existed. However, no reference to it has
been located in archival material.
13
Personal interview with M. F. (recorded), Sydney, 27 June 1999. This piece of
information was only recalled owing to the unusual name of the street, which literally
means ‘at the cat’s leap,’ which translates idiomatically to ‘at a stone’s throw.’
14
Religious notices in the Jüdisches Wochenblatt für Magdeburg und Umgegend, 30.
Dezember 1932, Nr. 53, 7. Jahrgang, ASGM, op. cit. p. 342.
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