“Adelsdorf”
Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities:
Germany volume 1
(Germany)

49°43' / 10°54'

Translation from Pinkas ha-kehilot Germanyah

Published by Yad Vashem

Published in Jerusalem, 1972


 

Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator and Translator

Elizabeth Levy

 

Our sincere appreciation to Yad Vashem for permission
to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation from: Pinkas Hakehillot: Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities, Germany
Volume 1, page 197, published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1972


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[Page 197]

Adelsdorf, Germany

Village in the county of Höchstadt a. d. Aisch.

Population:

Year No of Residents of them Jews %
1709 - 3 (Protected Jews)  
1771 - 3 (Protected Jews)  
1809 740 223 (Persons)  
1812 833 260 30.1
1837 870 265 31.2
1867 871 115 30.5
1880 905 89 13.2
1900 836 72 9.8
1910 924 68 8.6
1925 977 64 7.3
1933 993 60 6.5
25/4/1942 - 11 6.0
26/4/1942 - 9*  
1/11/1942 - 9*  

*Jews living in mixed marriages and the children of these marriages were not counted as Jews in prior censuses.

Religious Classification in % in 1933:

Jews Catholics Protestants
6.04 89.73 4.23

 

Community History

The community is first mentioned in 1669 as one of the communities most harmed during the revolts by the surrounding farmers. From 1709 on and during the 18th century, there were a few Jewish families in Adelsdorf holding the right to reside there according to the Duchy of Bayreuth. In 1743, one of the Jews of the village is recorded as having been a visitor to the fair in Leipzig. During the years 1769-1880 Adelsdorf was served by Rabbi Meir Heller Pertzfelder (a descendent of Rabbi Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller, who held “tosefot Yom-Tov”), who later became the last Chief Rabbi of Bavaria (1801-1823). Until 1732 the Adelsdorf community used the neighboring cemetery in Zeckern, as did the Jews of Uehlfeld, and until 1818, also the Jews of Hirschaid..

At the start of the 19th century, the community numbered more that 200 persons and in the middle of the century, Jews made up a third of the village's population. However from that time, with the opening of the gates to Jews to the big cities of Bavaria, there began a significant decline in the number of Jews in Adelsdorf which continued until the destruction of the community during the Nazi rule. The Adelsdorf Rabbinate already ended in 1847; from which time the community was under the regional rabbinate of Burgebrach (in 1933 there was no community in this place), and from 1907 under the regional rabbinate of Bamberg. During the same year the Jewish community of Höchstadt was added to the Jewish community of Adelsdorf.

 

Under Nazi Rule (1933-1938)

In 1933, the community had a synagogue (first recorded in 1840 but most likely it was built before that), the ancient cemetery near Zeckern and a school. The community budget (in 1930) was approximately 1,200 Marks of which 720 Marks went to education. In 1932-33, Jewish studies were provided to six children.

 

The Holocaust

During the early hours of November 10, 1938, cars carrying SS people arrived in Adelsdorf along with members of the local Nazi party and recruits of the Reich's “Work Service” (“Reicharbeitsdienst”) for the nearby camp. They broke into 12 homes of Jews who were there, broke doors and windows and destroyed furniture. They also destroyed the synagogue tools and furniture as well as burning all the sacred items. Several Adelsdorf Jews were arrested and sent to the Dachau concentration camp.

There is no available data as to when the Adelsdorf Jews left or where they emigrated but it seems that the community was eliminated shortly after the events of November (the last Jew was buried in the local cemetery on August 15, 1938; the last Jewish child born in Adelsdorf was born on August 19, 1938).

After the assassination attempt on Hitler's life in Munich on November 9, 1939, there were a number of riotous acts on the Adelsdorf Jews carried out by individuals (“Einzelaktionen”).

In November 1942, Jakob Stein was arrested in Adelsdorf and charged with having sex with a German woman.

Two Jews from Adelsdorf were deported on April 25, 1942 through Wurzburg to Izbica. After that date, nine people remained who were considered Jews according to the racial laws. Their fate is unknown.

None of the Jews returned to Adelsdorf after the war. The damaged synagogue remained until after the war. The school was not damaged but the furniture was ruined. The Jewish cemetery of Adelsdorf located near Zuchern was saved and remains under the care of the Bavarian Union of Jewish Communities.

In 1949, 19 participants in the riots of Adelsdorf were brought to court in Bamberg, Forchheim and Mühlhausen. Those found guilty were sentenced to various sentences, from some months to up to five years.

There are no Jews in Adelsdorf today.


The Central Archive of the Jewish People

B/V/8; XI/4.- F/I/1.-G/4/1a-b.- Inv/250:119;486/3 : 3.-N/29/19.-

Yad Vashem Archive

JRSO/Bayern, p.26 (Adelsdorf).- O-4/20/10-16 (Landgericht Bamberg: Kls 70/80)/ - PKG/S.3/Adelsdorf/1961; S.6/1964/ -

Microfilms

JM/2709, r. 1:341-43; r. 3:1579.- JM/2829, r. 2 (Akte Nr. 16a, pp. 79, 124). – JM/2858, r.5: 566, 1108.-

Bibliography

Azolai, Avraham; Ashkenazi, Asher: “Pinkas Shlihut Tiveria, Shnat Taf-Kuf-Nun-Bet.” Writings of Beit HaMidrash Rabanim, New York, No. 1791, PP127. (Hebrew)
Segri, Haim Yisrael Raphael: “Pinkas Shlihut Tiveria, Shnat Taf-Kuf-Sin-Zayin – Taf-Kuf-Sin-Tet.” Writings of Beit HaMidrash Rabanim, New York, No. 13273, PP Kuf- Lamed. (Hebrew)
Eckstein, A.: Geschichte der Juden im ehem. Fürstbistum Bamberg, pp, 33, 60.
Idem: Geshichte der Juden im Markgrafentum Bayreuth, pp. 84, 122-23.
Freudenthal, Max: Leipziger Messgäste, Frankfurt a. Main, 1928, pp.23.
Fuchs, E.M.: Über die erstn Niederlassungen der Juden in Mittelfranken. Berlin, 1909, p. 18.
Hofmann, Hanns Hubert: Ländliches Judentum in Franken, Tribüne, Frankfurt a. Main, vol. 7 (1968) no. 27, p. 2904.
Hohn, K.: Atlas von Bayern. Nürnberg. 1840, (OFr.) pp. 92-93.
Weinberg, M.: Geschichte der Juden in der Oberpfalz, III. Der Bezirk Rothenberg. Sulzbürg, 1909, pp. 173-77, 183.

Newspapers

Der Orient, Leipzig, vol. 8 (Feb 26, 1847) no. 9, pp.75-76.


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