Life_under_Siege_The_Jews_of_Magdeburg_under_Nazi_Rule.pdf

every Shabbes. These people, some of them they cheat, and they have to go on
Shabbes, so to make sure that G-d forgives them!” I’ll never forget that. He
said: “I don’t cheat anybody! I go on Yontef [Jewish festivals], but I don’t
have to go on Shabbes and close my shop!” First he talked very quietly, and
the further he got into it, the more upset he got. That gives you an idea of how
religious we were! 169
From this limited evidence it is possible to discern the level of religiosity of the
community members who belonged to the Shtiblech. The Shtiblech were still
functioning prior to November 1938 and the level of their Orthodoxy is made
clear from the source material. Clearly, however, links existed between the two
groups, as indicated by the community’s Mikvah and the fact that some members
of the Synagogen-Gemeinde did on occasion attend religious services at the
Shtiblech. The reverse did not occur.
Prior to the pogrom of November 1938, religiosity in its two known forms co-
existed. Until this time, however, the two distinct religious variants lived in
separate spheres. In a positive view this also confirms the rich diversity which
existed in the Jewish community as well as the areas of co-operation, indicating
that the lines of division were not as rigid as congregants once thought. Both
continued to meet all of the religious duties of their congregants. In the
Synagogen-Gemeinde the social element of its congregation had always been
strong. Yet, it became even stronger as the synagogue became a focal point for
congregants to meet as their social ostracism in the city increased. For a large
number of community members this also led to a rich, if not forced, (re-)
discovery of their Jewish identities. In this respect, it can be argued that one of the
strengths of the entire community framework in learning how to function and
meet the needs of its members lay in its effective structures and its communal and
169 Poppert, op. cit., 9 January 1998.
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