HEMSBACH (המסבאך)


a town on the Bergstraße trade route about 18 km northeast of Mannheim in Landkreis Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany



Jewish History

In the 16th century, a handful of Jews settled in Hemsbach and primarily made their living selling cheap meats. A Jewish cemetery close to Hemsbach was already in use by 1578 and later contained about a thousand graves. This cemetery is the oldest and largest in north Baden and served eight Jewish communities in the area.
 
In the 19th century, Jews in Hemsbach made a living mainly by selling cattle and also by farming, storekeeping, peddling, and money lending. In 1846, a synagogue was built to replace the former public hall, used for hundreds of years for public prayers, which had burned down. Space was also allotted for offices, a school, and a mikvah. The community kept growing until the start of the seventies, and reached its highest population (140 Jews) in 1871.

From then on, migration and urbanization caused the number of Jews to diminish. At the start of the 20th century, only 100 Jews were left in Hemsbach.  In WWI, four Jews from Hemsbach died: Moritz Dokov, Sigmund Oppenheimer, Sigmund Pfaltzer, Julius Simon. With the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s, their number was cut in half. By 1941, no Jews were left in Hemsbach.


Time Period Region
Before 1803 Holy Roman Empire Pfalz-Mosbach
(1410-1449)
1803 - 1871 Grand Duchy of Baden
1871 - 1918 German Empire

1918 - 1933 Weimar Republic
1933 - 1945 Nazi Germany
1945 - Present Federal Republic of Germany Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district, Baden- Württemberg

Year Jewish Population Total  Population
1722 9 families
1825 61 families 1,533
1871 140
1875 111 1,604
1900 101 1,977
1910 89 2,530
1925 86 2,876
1933 54 3,014
1936 46
1938 33
1939 22
1941 0


Source records

List of Jews (1661-1815)
Vital records
Births
Marriages
Deaths
1815 Surname adoptions
Burial register


The following chart is an attempt (based on known sources) to trace the lineage of Hemsbach residents from the patronymic period up to the adoption of surnames. As new information becomes available, this chart will be updated and, hopefully, become increasingly more accurate.

Jehoshua Eliakum Isaac
(1637-1725)
Salomon
(1675-1742)
Isaac
Leser
Baruch
(1687)


Zacharias Callman Moses KALMAN
(1758)
Josef
(1647-1722)
Eliakum
( -1714)


Feiss
(1684-1747)
Josel
( -1794)
Feiss EMRICH
(1754-1823) 
Elkele
Moses (PFÄLZER)
(-1797)
Herz
( -1794)

Löw MAAS
(1754)
Samuel MAAS
(1760)
Hayum
( -1747)


Notes: In the chart below, death dates [d.] are based on the Hemsbach cemetery burial register (Berthold Rosenthal Collection)


KALMAN EMRICH / MAAS OPPENHEIMER ZIMMER / FÜRST JANKAU JAKOB
1670 Isaac




1677
Joseph



1710 Eisig
Salomon
Josef



1717 Itzig [80]
Salomon [42]
Borich [30]
Josef [70]
Feis [33]
Simon Löw Oppenheimer [38]


1722 Salomon Isaac
Baruch Isaac
Zacharias Isaac
Feist

Samuel

1726

Simon
Hayum



1727 Lazarus




1729 Salomon [d. 1742]
Baruch
Zacharias
Josef
Feist Samson


1743 Leser Salomon
{wife, 2 daughters, father}

(Eyssig Salomon widow)
{daughter - 1 married daughter in Rimbach}

Baruch
{wife}
Veiss Joseph
{wife, son, daughter, mother - 2 married sons in Hemsbach and Sachsen}

Hayum Veist [d. 1747]
{wife, father, mother}
Simon Löw
{wife, 2 sons, 4 daughters - 2 married sons in Hemsbach and Hoffenheim, 2 married daughters in Hemsbach, Heppenheim, and ?}

Hayum Simon
{wife, daughter, mother}
Samuel Anschel
{wife, 3 sons}


1744 Baruch
Zacharias
Feist Josef [d. 1747]
Hertz Feist
Samson Löw [d. 1753]
Hayum Samson
Samuel Löw Mennle
1746
Herz Feist
Joseph Samuel [d. 1755] Löw Emmanuel
1753 Löser Salomon
(Veist Joseph widow)
Herz Veist
(Simon Löw widow)
Hayum Simon
Samuel Anschel [d. 1755] Löb Mäntle
1765 Löser Salomon
Callman Zacharias
(Veist Joseph widow)
Herz Veist
Josef Veist
(Simon Löw widow)
Löw Simon
Hayum Simon
(Samuel Anschel widow) Löw Emanuel
Simon Emanuel

1771 Leser Salomon
Salomon Zacharias
Herz Veist [d. 1794]
Josel Feist [d. 1794]
Zippora (widow of Veist ?)
Löw Simon [d. 1772]
Hayum Simon [d. 1788]
(L
öw Simon widow)
(Samuel Anschel widow/
Abraham Samuel mother)
Abraham Samuel
Löw Mendel
Simon Mendel
Mordge Marx
1801
Feiss Josel
L
öw Herz
Samuel Herz
Simon Löw Oppenheimer
Herz L
öw Oppenheimer
Joel Hayum
Agate (Hayum Oppenheimer widow)
Lazarus Abraham
Abraham Samuel
Simon Mendele Löw
Simon L
öw Emanuel
(L
öw Emanuel Kaals widow)
(Simon Emanuel widow)
Salomon Levi *
Marx Jacob
1815 Moses KALMAN [57] Feist Jossel EMRICH [61]
L
öw Herz MAAS [61] **
Samuel Herz MAAS [55]

Simon OPPENHEIMER [57]
Herz OPPENHEIMER [56]
Joel Chaim OPPENHEIMER [49]
Jachet OPPENHEIMER [67]
Zacharias OPPENHEIMER [30]
Leiser Abraham ZIMMER [52]
Anschel Afrom FURST [38]
Mandel Löw JANKAU [62]
Salomon L
öw JANKAU [47]
Simon L
öw JANKAU [57]
Mardochei JAKOB [77]


* In Berthold Rosenthal notes of records from 1796, there is a reference to a Salomon Löw Levi (this must be the later Salomon Löw JANKAU)
** In Berthold Rosenthal notes of records from 1785, Löw Herz MAAS was previously Löw Herz Feist (confirming his paternal line)

The following individuals show up in the records intermittently but do not appear to have a continuous lineage to the 19th century in Hemsbach:

Machol (1661)
Hertz (1676)
Sara, wid. (1676)
Schumger (1710)
Soger (1710, 1717 [46])
Wolf Aaron (1717 [30], 1722, 1729, 1743 {wife, father}, 1744, 1753)
Daniel (1729)
Mayer Nickelsburger (1746)
Isaak Bar BAER (1815 [22])


References
1. Allemania Judaica: Hemsbach community (translation), Hemsbach cemetery (translation)
2. Berthold Rosenthal Collection (sources in Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe (GLA))
  • up to 1743: GLA 77/7257
    Die in kurpfälzischen Landen wohnenden Juden und deren Vermögen, sowie die Judenschafts-Konzessionen
    The Jews living in the Electorate of the Palatinate and their property, as well as the Jewish concessions (1733-54)
  • 1753: GLA 77/7269
    Die in der Kurpfalz wohnenden und aufs neue angenommenen Judenfamilien
    The newly accepted Jewish families living in the Electoral Palatinate (1753)
  • 1765: GLA 77/7251
    Verzeichnisse der in Kurpfalz wohnenden Juden und des von jedem einzelnen zu entrichtenden Schutzgeldes
    Lists of Jews living in Electoral Palatinate and the protection money to be paid by each individual (1765-66)
  • 1801: GLA 77/3034
    Die von den Oberämtern, Stadt- und Landjudenschaftsvorständen eingeforderten Berichte über die Anzahl der Judenfamilien und die Art ihrer Beschäftigung etc.
    The reports requested by the higher offices, city and rural Jewish councils about the number of Jewish families and the nature of their employment, etc. (1801)
  • Josel Feist: GLA 77/3018
    Kommissionsprotokolle mit Beilagen über die stadt- und landjudenschaftlichen Vorfallenheiten
    Commission minutes with enclosures about the urban and rural Jewish incidents (1775-81)
  • Feiss Josel: GLA 77/7307
    Kommissionsprotokolle mit Beilagen über die stadt- und landjudenschaftlichen Vorfallenheiten
    Commission minutes and enclosures about the urban and rural Jewish incidents (1782-99)

3. Der Förderverein Ehemalige Synagoge in Hemsbach e.V. (translation)s
4. "Hemsbach." Pinkas ha-kehilot Germanyah : entsiklopedyah shel ha-yishuvim ha-Yehudim le-min hivasdam ve-'ad le-ahar Sho'at Milhemet ha-'olam ha-sheniyah: Württemberg, Hohenzollern, Baden. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1986. pp. 323-325.
5. Hössler, Harald. Juden in Hemsbach 1660-1933. Heidelberg: Pädagogische Hochschule Heidelberg, 1984.
6. Kastner, Julius Friedrich. Hemsbach an der Bergstraße im Wandel der Zeit. Hemsbach: 1980.