Traces of Jewish life in Karlsruhe, Germany

I had a very intensive time in Karlsruhe at the beginning of this year, therefore I hardly was able to go off the beaten path and focus exclusively on the Jewish history of this big industrial city in the Western part of Germany. However, as usual fate was on my side and without too much effort was able to notice some fragments of Jewish history just on my way from a meeting with the local history and culture to another.

For instance, on Karlstraße 11, where nowadays there is a restaurant, it used to be the bank L. Homburger, belonging to one of the oldest families in Karlsruhe. The art nouveau influenced building was planned by the architects Robert Curjel and Karl Moser. After 1938, the bank was liquidated and took away by the state.

Another memorial remembers the synagogue destroyed in 1938, together with many other Jewish institutions. The Jews started to establish in Karlsruhe at the beginning of the 18th century. In 1725, here it was a synagogue, a mikve, a cemetery, and infirmary. After the partial emancipation decrees, here was established in 1809 the seat of the Central Council of Jews in Baden. From 1820s on, Jews were allowed to be work in the field of law and medicine. 

Stolpersteine in the memory of murdered Jews are visible all over the city: on Stephaniestraße, Rheinstraße...In October 22, 1940, 893 Jews were deported to Gurs, France. Others were sent to death between 1942-1945 to Izbica, Auschwitz or Theresienstadt. In 1945, there were 90 Jews left in Karlsruhe. Nowadays, there are less than 1,000 Jews here, served by a Chabad House and a synagogue, mostly originary from the former Soviet Union.