1. JEWISH LIVE IN THE COUNTY OF HUENFELD
By Elisabeth Sternberg-Siebert

2. Jewish inhabitants lived in 12 townships of the former "county of Huenfeld" during the course of their long history which can be proved since the middle of the 12th century. Those, who still lived in some of those towns during the Hitler dictatorship between 1933 to 1945, were forced to leave, and many of them were murdered. Ever since that time no Jews live there anymore.
Only the Jewish cemetery, since 1690 joint cemetery for the Jews of the county of Huenfeld, reminds us of the centuries of Jewish presence in Burghaun and the surrounding area.
Historical monument - the Jewish cemetery in Burghaun, joint cemetery for the Jews of the county of Huenfeld since 1690

3. Jewish congregations within 12 townships of the former county of Huenfeld (demonstrable 1553 – 1942).

4. Jewish inhabitants within total population (1822 – 1910)
Around 1900 Burghaun featured the second to the largest Jewish congregations of the county totalling 189 members within a total population of In 1939 only 33 Jews were left, and as of September 1942 none at all.
Rothenkirchen, by contrast, in 1822 was bigger than Burghaun but mumbers have dwindled continuously after about 1850.
Jewish inhabitants within total population (1822 – 1910)

5. Jewish inhabitants in the county of Huenfeld 1830 - 1942

6. In former times most of the Jewish men in our traditional farming area were livestock dealer. They moved through the country and traded with the farmers. As well they dealed with all kinds of goods - so to speak as street traders. Later they had shops too - mainly in the district town of Huenfeld.
Livestock dealer Mendel Braunschweiger in Burghaun, in the back his wife Erna

7. INFORMATIONS REGARDING THE JEWISH HISTORY OF BURGHAUN
Symbol of Burghaun: The two churches next to each other
INFORMATIONS REGARDING THE JEWISH HISTORY OF BURGHAUN

8. Total view from Burghaun before 1938
On the left next to both churches you can clearly see the synagogue in the background
The earliest secure mention by name of a Jew in Burghaun is dated at 1559.
On the whole Protestants, Catholics and Jews lived more or less peacefully together in Burghaun - until Hitler came to power.
After centuries of oppression Jews in Germany gradually got equal rights, so 1871 by founding the "Deutsches Reich" the emancipation of the Jews finally was finished. Now they could enjoyed all rights and responsibilities of an equal citizen, therefore they were involved in all fields of the Burghaun society - for example in the fire brigade, sports club and other institutions.
As very national minded and patriotic German soldiers they went to the First World War ( ), three of them died for their fatherland.
Total view from Burghaun before 1938

9. Julius Braunschweiger 1915 as soldier in WW1

10. Advertisements in the local newspaper 1881 - 1926
Towards the end of the 19th century some of the Burghaun street traders established stores too and advertised in the local Newspaper.

11. Of course the Burghaun Jews allways had their place of worship
Of course the Burghaun Jews allways had their place of worship. The Burghaun new Synagogue was the most beutiful one of the rural Synagogues far and between and had been consecrated in The previous old half-timbered Synagogue, however due to ill repair and the rapid growth of the Jewish congregation had to be replaced with a more spacious one.
In the centre of the photo you see the 'Ringstraße', where many Jewish families lived and where the Synagogue and the Jewish grade school where located too.
The new Synagogue of Burghaun located in the 'Ringstraße‘ (photo: Mr. H.J. Ruppel)

12. Postcard of the new
Burghaun Synagogue, the most beutiful of the rural Synagogues far and between, erected 1910.

13. Every year some storks favoured the roof of the Synagogue as a resting place on their migration to the south.
As of 1855 the Burghaun Jews had an independent state-run school. The building on the photo was used as elementary school since about The only one classroom was on the halftimbered side, whereas the teachery was in the stucco part on the right side. In the background you see the roof of the Synagogue. On their migration to the south some storks favoured it as a resting place.
The Jewish school had to close in 1933 due to the small number of students. Therefore the remaining 17 boys and girls were distributed among the ‘christian’ schools. Since the Nazis didn’t want to tolerate Jewish students in ‘christian’ schools any longer they started a so called district school in the former Jewish school in Burghaun in Sept The few Jewish students who still resided within the county of Huenfeld had to attend this school.
The Jewish school in the 'Ringstraße - The classroom was on the halftimbered side, whereas the teachery was on the right side of the building.

14. The Jewish athletic club, summer of 1933 in front of the synagogue
The Jewish athletic club in Burghaun was foundet 1933 by the Jewish "Sportbund Schild". The Jewish kids in Germany should have their own clubs because they got thrown out by the Nazis from the local sports clubs.
The Jewish athletic club, summer of 1933 in front of the synagogue

15. Still the synagogue was standing intact at it’s place in the summer of Some storks were favouring its roof as a resting place like usual. However, two months later hell broke loose in ‘Ringstrasse’. The so called “Crystal Night” took its course ...
The synagogue from the back in summer 1938 with storks resting on the roof top

16. “CRYSTAL NIGHT”
In the night of November 9 to November 10 a lot of violent people gathered at market place. The local police force was barely able to prevent hatefilled Burghauners from entering the Jewish homes by force. At daybreak Nazis gone wild, smashed the entire interior of the Jewish school, and then they threw tables and pews into the neighbouring synagogue dousing everything with gasoline. At about 10 o'clock the beautiful synagogue went up in flames and burnt out entirely. - Already at 7 o'clock in the morning the Jewish men had been arrested and thrown into jail.

17. Result of “Crystal Night” in Burghaun !
The next day the men had been transported to the concentration camp Buchenwald where they were forced to stay for about four weeks full of pain. After this monstrous pogrom many Jews fled abroad but some families had to remain in Burghaun (no money) hoping to be able to flee later.
Result of “Crystal Night” in Burghaun !

18. After „Crystal Night“ nothing was like before, life changed totally!
The Nazis enacted more and more laws and prohibitions concerning the Jews and little by little they took all the civil rights away from them. In order to be recognized immediately as Jew they took drastic measures:
- The passport had to show a big red J.
- As of January 1939 all female Jews had to bear the additional firstname ‘Sara’, and all male Jews the name ‘Israel’.
- As of September 1941 Jews needed a written permit issued by the local police to leave their town of residence. Additionally they were forced to wear a special sign of identification - the so called ‘Judenstern’ (Jewish star).
After Germany started WWII there was hardly any opportunity left to escape from Germany. The borders were closed, and not all countries were willing to accomodate Jewish refugees. Furthermore, in order to flee to a save haven abroad one must have well to do sponsors and money to boot. Thus some Jewish families tried to hold out in Burghaun. But December 1941 and September 1942 it happened: The last Jewish families were beeing carried off to the east.
After „Crystal Night“ nothing was like before, life changed totally!

19. 1. Deportation of Burghaun Jews on December 8, 1941 to the Riga ghetto
2. Deportation of Burghaun Jews on May 30, 1942 to the KZ Majdanek
3. Deportation of Burghaun Jews September 5, 1942 to the Theresienstadt ghetto

20. Signs of remembrance in Burghaun:
- Memorial at the Jewish cemetery, erected by survivers about Memorial plaque, put up in the castle yard in Stolpersteine in commemoration of 50 Nazi victims, installed /2012
Now one can see some signs of remembrance in Burghaun:
- Jewish survivors who used to live in the county of Huenfeld had this memorial erected in memory of their 154 murdered relatives and as a permanent reminder for future generations.
did the City of Burghaun memorialize her former Jewish Citizens. The memorial plaque, which was dedicated at castle yard in July 1994, reminds people of the 300year history of the Jewish community at Burghaun and of the Jewish Burghauners, who were murdered during the Shoa.
The inscription reads as follows:
In remembrance of the Jewish congregation of Burghaun and in memory of the Jewish citizens who were persecuted during the Nazis era and of whom more than 50 persons were murdered in the ghettos and concentration camps. The consciousness of that guilt makes reconciliation possible and reminds us always to keep the human rights.
- The German artist Gunter Demnig is the initiator, the sculptor, and the layer of Stolpersteine. Stolpersteine are 10x10x10 cm stone blocks on which brass plates have been affixed. The names and statistical data of people who were persecuted and murdered during the Nazi era are engraved on the plates.
The commemorative stone, placed in front of the victim’s house, shall bring his memory into our daily lives. Each individual stone also symbolizes all of the victims since it is not feasible to lay all of the stones that should be laid.
In Burghaun Elisabeth Sternberg-Siebert took the initiative and foundet the "Initiative Stolpersteine", then the project was realized together with the "Marktgemeinde Burghaun". The stumbling blocks were beeing financed by a lot of people in Burghaun, thus as of September 2011 "Stolpersteine" were dedicated for 50 Nazi victims.

21. Symbol of Rothenkirchen: The Markus chapel
INFORMATIONS REGARDING THE JEWISH HISTORY OF ROTHENKIRCHEN HOME OF THE NUSSBAUM FAMILY

22. View of Rothenkirchen about 1920
Most probably Jews already temporary lived in Rothenkirchen in the 16th century. Four Jewish families can be proved in among them a Nußbaum family. - The Jewish congregation of Rothenkirchen had the best time of prosperity from the beginning to the middle of the 19th century there was even a Jewish school. The Synagogue was placed in the Brunnenstraße and is still to be seen there, but is to be used as a normal house since 1907.
The congregation did not have their own cemetery rather a joined cemetery at the neighboring town of Burghaun, where at least 60 final resting-places ( ) of Jews from Rothenkirchen are located - among them some Nußbaum-graves.
At the end of 1852 the Jewish congregation had passed its peak and declined continually. In 1906 it consisted of only two families named Strauss who moved to Hünfeld and Burghaun. Finally it break up and dissolved.
View of Rothenkirchen about 1920

23. Historical postcard of Rothenkirchen, in the middle the former Synagogue in the Brunnenstraße

24. The Synagogue after it had been sold about 1907 to the Kehres family ( food store).
At the top of the front there was a beautiful Magen David in the round window.
The former synagogue 2012

25. One of the most famous Jewish families in Rothenkirchen were the Nußbaums – since 1760.
Record of 1852

26. The Wallach family in Witzenhausen
Flora
Amalia
Markus
Louis
Fanny
Frieda

28. Tracks of the Nußbaum family in Rothenkirchen
- 2. Verfügung..
The heirs of Jette Nußbaum (widow of Mendel Nußbaum) have a claim against Adam Witzel in Wehrda about 140 fl. from a contract of 1795.
- 6. Rothenkirchen.
On December 1, 1851 Salomon Nußbaum and his wife Röschen are changing something of their marriage contract from Nov. 27, 1843.
- Stand Vermögensverhältnisse
In a list of fortune from 1851 Salomon Nußbaum is recorded as poor (5 - Salomon Nußbaum - Handelsmann - ist arm). Later on it seems that his income was much better.
List of fortune 1851 – „5 ) Salomon Nußbaum .. ist arm“

29. Nußbaum graves at the Jewish cemetery in Burghaun
Mendel Nußbaum
Mendel‘s wife Jette geb. Klebe

30. Hanna Strauß geb. Nußbaum, Salomon‘s sister 1818 - 1860
Adelheid Nußbaum Salomon‘s daughter
Salomon Nußbaum

31. House Nußbaum in former times (Rothenkirchen Nr
House Nußbaum in former times (Rothenkirchen Nr. 10 – photo: Herbert Jakob)
House Nußbaum nowadays (Eisfeldstraße 3)

32. Former house of the Salomon Nußbaum family in Eisfeldstraße 3
Hidden by the hedge: “Hausstein“ with the year 1791 when the  house was built
In former times the house where the Nußbaums lived had the number 10, nowadays it is Eisfeldstraße 3. After the death of Salomon Nußbaum on July 7, 1886 his heirs sold the house to Chrisian Frick from Burghaun (information of Herbert Jakob, Rothenkirchen).
I suppose, the heirs were: 1. Salomon's widow Röschen née Hahn who moved to Witzenhausen after Salomon's passing, 2. his son Mendel in Leipzig and 3. his daughter Fanny in Witzenhausen.
Former house of the Salomon Nußbaum family in Eisfeldstraße 3

33. Parts of the translation I owe to my brother Martin Siebert
The End
Parts of the translation I owe to my brother Martin Siebert