Stuttgart

views updated May 29 2018

STUTTGART

STUTTGART , city in Wuerttemberg, Germany. A small Jewish community with a synagogue was in existence by 1330–40. In November 1348 during the *Black Death persecutions, most of the Jews were burned to death, but some survivors were recorded in *Esslingen in 1385. In 1393 one Jew was recorded as living in Stuttgart. A new community had come into being by 1434, comprising eight families by 1470. Both a synagogue and a mikveh date from that period. Some time after 1492 Jews were banished in consequence of the will (enacted as a state law in 1498) of Count Eberhard Ill of Wuerttemberg. At the beginning of the 16th century Count Ulrich attempted to employ Jews in the economic development of the territory. However, the banishment was reaffirmed by Emperor Charles v in 1521. In 1597 Duke Frederick i invited the Italian-Jewish inventor Abraham Colorni to experiment with saltpeter potassium but imprisoned him after a few unproductive months; Colorni later escaped. The duke's attempt in 1559 to attract a Portuguese-Jewish manufacturer met with ecclesiastical opposition. By 1710 a few Jews doing business with the ducal court were allowed to reside in Stuttgart, and by 1721 there were seven families in residence there. In 1734 Joseph Suess *Oppenheimer was appointed financial adviser by Duke Alexander; he fell into disfavor after the duke's death in 1737 and was executed in 1738. Newly admitted Jews were expelled in 1739. By 1770, four Jewish families lived in Stuttgart, among them Nathaniel Seidel, director of the mint, and the two brothers Seligmann (see *Eichthal-Seligmann family), lessees of the salt-mine concession from 1758.

After the admission of the merchant-banking *Kaulla family in 1779, a new community came into being. In 1831 the Central Wuerttemberg Jewish Council was organized in Stuttgart under state and church supervision. In 1834 a cemetery was acquired (a new one in 1876); in 1835 Joseph Maier, the first Wuerttemberg rabbi with the required Ph.D. degree (from Tuebingen University), was appointed; a prayer hall was consecrated in 1837. The growth of the community followed the two emancipation laws of 1828 and 1864. In 1808, 109 Jews lived in Stuttgart; the numbers rose to 211 in 1844; 847 in 1861; 1,169 in 1864; 1,801 in 1871; 3,015 in 1910; and 3,818 (1.4% of the total population) in 1913. In nearby Cannstatt, incorporated with Stuttgart in 1905, there were 469 Jews in that year. In 1925 the Jewish population of Stuttgart and Cannstatt was 4,870 (1.4% of the total population) and 4,490 in June 1933.

A synagogue was consecrated in 1861, and a separate Orthodox group maintained a prayer hall from 1880. The rabbis Maier (1794–1873) and Moses Wassermann (1811–1892) were raised to the nobility by the Wuerttemberg kings. From the 1890s the community had youth and cultural associations and branches of political organizations. From 1924 to 1938 it published a monthly for the Wuerttemberg Jewish communities, and a Lehrhaus (adult education center) was open from 1925 to 1938. In 1933 Jews in public office (among them eight jurists) and in cultural institutions were dismissed. Karl Adler, director of the conservatory for 11 years, founded the Jewish Arts Council for lay choirs. A Jewish school was founded in 1933, and a school for teachers of physical education in 1935. The B'nai B'rith Stuttgart Lodge was dissolved in 1937, and Polish Jews were deported on Oct. 26, 1938. Following the November 1938 pogrom, Adler organized an Emigration Aid and Self-Help Agency, which was led, after his emigration in May 1941, by the jurist Alfred Marx. The Wuerttemberg Jewish Central Council was dissolved in 1943. By 1941, 2,690 Jews had emigrated. The remainder were concentrated in a Jewish quarter, the older members of the community being evacuated to small towns and villages. From late 1941 through early 1945 Stuttgart was the collection point for the deportation of all Wuerttemberg Jews, beginning on July 1, 1941, to Riga (where the deportees were subsequently massacred), in 1942 first to *Izbica, *Auschwitz (four transports 1942–43), and then to *Theresienstadt (Aug. 5, 1942 to Feb. 1945). About 1,000 Stuttgart Jews died in deportation or in concentration camps.

[Toni Oelsner]

Post-World War ii

About 20 Jews survived in Stuttgart, some by going into hiding; 45 returned from Theresienstadt (among them Alfred Marx) and a few from other concentration camps. In two Displaced Persons' camps in the city in 1945 there were more than 2,000 Jews. By the end of 1946, 1,276 Jews remained in Stuttgart, decreasing to 569 in 1950; in 1968 the community had 480 members. A synagogue (built by the surviving architect Ernst Guggenheim), the only one in Wuerttemberg, was consecrated in 1952; the enlarged community center was completed in 1964. Among the survivors, Dr. Richard Perlen (d. 1961) was appointed president of the Wuerttemberg supreme court. The house of Albert *Einstein's mother's family in Cannstatt-Stuttgart has been preserved. Stuttgart is the seat of the Jewish community of Wuerttemberg, which numbered 677 in 1989. There were 2,881 in 2004, among them about 1,500 members living in Stuttgart. The increase is explained by the immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union. In 1989 the majority were living in Stuttgart; in 2004 about 45% were living outside Stuttgart. In 1999 the community opened an old age home.

[Toni Oelsner /

Larissa Daemmig (2nd ed.)]

bibliography:

M. Zelzer, Weg und Schicksal der Stuttgarter Juden (1964); P. Sauer, Die juedische Gemeinde in Wuerttemberg (1966); Germania Judaica, 2 (1968), 809–11; 3 (1987), 1441–43; A. Freimann, Gazetteer of Hebrew Printing (1946), 69; L. Adler, in: ylbi, 5 (1960), 279–98; K.J. Ball-Kaduri, in: Zeitschrift fuer die Geschichte der Juden, 2 (1965), 73–98; T. Kroner (ed.), Festschrift zum 50 jaehrigen Bestehen der Synagoge zu Stuttgart (1911); A. Taenzer, Die Geschichte der Juden in Wuerttemberg (1937), 5–9, 120–6, 136–43, 162–73; A. Marx, Schicksal der juedischen Juristen in Wuerttemberg und Hohenzollern 19331945 (1965). add bibliography: W. Braunn, Quellen zur Geschichte der Juden bis zum Jahr 1600 im Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart und im Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg (Thematische Repertorien, vol. 1) (1982); Spurensuche: Juden und Judentum in Stuttgart (1991); J. Hahn, Friedhoefe in Stuttgart, vol. 3 (Veroeffentlichungen des Archivs der Stadt Stuttgart, vol. 57) (1992); S. Dietrich, W. Schulze, and J. Wessel, Zwischen Selbstorganisation und Stigmatisierung (Veroeffentlichtungen des Archivs der Stadt Stuttgart, vol. 75) (1998); P. Sauer and S. Hosseinzadeh, Juedisches Leben im Wandel der Zeit (2002). websites: www.alemannia-judaica.de; www.irgw.de.

Stuttgart

views updated May 29 2018

Stuttgart Capital of Baden Württemberg, sw Germany, on the River Neckar. It was founded in c.950 when a German Duke, Liutolf, set up a stuttgarten (stud farm). The capital of the kingdom of Württemberg (1495–1806), Stuttgart's industrial base expanded rapidly during the 19th century. Historically, it is associated with motor vehicle construction; the Daimler-Benz factory is the world's oldest car-plant (1890). Other industries: electronics, photographic equipment, publishing, wine and beer. Although bombed during World War 2, much of Stuttgart's famous architecture has survived. Pop. (1999) 581,200.