Research
Information on former Jewish citizens of the city of Aschaffenburg can be found in many ways.
About us
The Jewish community of Aschaffenburg once was one of the largest in Lower Franconia and had its highest level in 1932 with 700 members. Its foundation dates back to the 13th century and is first documented with the mention of a Jewish school (= synagogue) in 1267.
With the destruction of the synagogue during the pogrom night of 1938 and the persecution by the National Socialist regime, the Jewish community was completely wiped out in 1942.
INSTITUTIONS AND RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
- Municipal institutions such as the Museum of Jewish History and Culture and the city and abbey archives preserve historical sources and objects relating to Jewish life in the past.
- The database of the association Jewish life in Lower Franconia provides access to thousands of personal information.
- For both Jewish cemeteries there are gravesite records, which make it possible to find any gravesites. The “Stolpersteine” (stumbling stones) – brass plates embedded in front of the last freely chosen place of residence of those deported – commemorate the people who were once integrated at the heart of social life.
- Since 2014, high school students of the Karl-Theodor-von-Dalberg-Gymnasium have been researching biographies and make them accessible through an app.
- The association “Förderkreis Haus Wolfsthalplatz” has been working since 1985 to preserve the Jewish heritage and has played a key role in shaping the culture of remembrance and commemoration in the city.
Jewish places
Numerous places and reminders today still give an impression of the once rich Jewish life in the city: Wolfsthalplatz, the rabbinate house, memorial stones (1946, 1984), “Stolpersteine”, the old town’s Jewish cemetery, the Tahara house, the Jewish cemetery at Erbig.
Culture of commemoration and remembrance
The city of Aschaffenburg has been reappraising its Jewish history since the 1970s and invited Jewish citizens to visit their former hometown for the first time in 1978. Since then, a diverse culture of commemoration and remembrance has evolved.
