Tefiloh Sefas Yisroel
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A Brief History of The City Of Bad Homburg And Its Jewish Residents The city's name Homburg, which was derived from the castle "Hohenberg", appeared in 1500 for the first time. By 1528 the city was renamed Homburg vor der Höhe (translated as "Homburg in front of the height"). The word “Bad” is normally used as a prefix to denote that the town in question is a spa town. The town is best known for its medicinally used mineral waters and spa. The eight mineral springs which form the attraction of the town to strangers, belong to the class of saline acidulous chalybeates and contain a considerable proportion of carbonate of lime. Their use is beneficial for diseases of the stomach and intestines, and externally, for diseases of the skin and rheumatism. Homburg is located in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, prettily situated at the south-east foot of the Taunus Mountain mountain range, located 12 kilometers north of Frankfort-on-Main, with which it is connected by rail. The local population is approximately 52,000. The tallest peak in the range is the 878 meters high Großer Feldberg. Other notable peaks are the Kleiner Feldberg (825 meters) and the Altkönig (798 meters). Homburg consists of an old and a new town, the latter, founded by the Landgrave Frederick II of Hessen- Homburg (d. 1708). Besides the palatial edifices erected in connection with the mineral water-cure, there are churches of various denominations, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Russian-Greek and Anglican, schools and benevolent institutions. On a neighboring hill stands the palace of the former landgraves, built in 1680 and subsequently enlarged and improved. The White Tower, 183 ft. in height, is said to date from Roman times, and certainly existed under the lords of Eppstein, who held the district in the twelfth century. The palace is surrounded by extensive grounds, laid out in the manner of an English park. Homburg’s renown began when Princess Elizabeth, born in Buckingham Palace in 1770, married Frederick of Hessen-Homburg in 1814 and used her wealth to benefit the town. The first spa was named after her and opened in 1834. A casino was built by the brothers François and Louis Blanc and owing to its gaming- tables, which were set up soon after, rapidly became one of the favorite and most fashionable health- resorts of Europe. The brothers founded both “Casino Bad Homburg” and “Monte-Carlo Casino” in Monaco. Homburg was visited by such celebrities as Robert Louis Stevenson in 1850, Fyodor Dostoevsky in 1870, and Oscar Wilde together with Lord Alfred Douglas in 1892. But changes occurred, Hessen-Homburg was allied with Austria which lost the war to and was absorbed into Prussia in 1866. König, later Kaiser Wilhelm I promptly ejected the Blancs, who took their gambling know-how to Monte Carlo. “Casino Bad Homburg” was opened again after the World War Two in 1948. Homburg acquired a new tourist formula based on attracting the sporty and aristocratic Englishman. Kaiser Wilhelm II declared the Schloß an imperial summer residence in 1888, and made the town his own with his delightful architecture. He was often in residence up to 1918, when he actually directed the war from there. The homburg hat is a formal felt hat characterized by a single dent running down the center of the crown (called a "gutter crown"), a stiff brim shaped in a "kettle curl" and a bound edge trim. The Homburg was originally founded in a Homburg hat factory in 1806. It was popularized by England’s King Edward VII (1841-1910) after he visited Homburg, and brought back a hat of this style. Edward VII saw the hat for the first time on his nephew, Kaiser Wilhelm II in Homburg. Wilhelm II wore the hat in a green variant as an accessory to his hunting uniform. The establishments connected with the springs are arranged on a scale of great magnificence, and include the Kurhaus (built from 1841-1843), with a theatre, the Kaiser Wilhelmsbad and the Kurhausbad. They lie grouped round a pretty park which also furnishes visitors with facilities for various recreations, such as lawn tennis, croquet, polo and other games. The Homburg industries embrace iron founding and the manufacture of leather and hats, but they are comparatively unimportant, the prosperity of the town being almost entirety due to the annual influx of visitors, which during the season from May to October averages 12,000. In a natural surrounding lies the ancient Roman castle of Saalburg, which can be reached by an electric tramway. As the capital of the former landgraviate of Hessen-Homburg, the town shared the vicissitudes of state. Jewish History Homburg’s First Jewish Settlement Bad Homburg’s Jewish community was one of the oldest in Germany. On August 5, 1335 permission was granted by Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV to Gottfried von Eppstein to settle ten Jews "in the town and at the castle in Steinheim", "in the valley and the castle in Hoenburg" (Homburg) and "in the valley and the castle in Eppinstein" (Eppstein). It remains unclear whether Jews actually settled in Homburg. Between 1333 and 1348 transactions of Jews "from Hohenberg" or "from Hohinburg" were entered in the Frankfurt court books. They disappeared from the town after the Black Death plague and subsequent pogrom, presumably in July of 1348. A permanent community was only established 350 years later. Homburg’s First Jewish Community Evidence for the existence of a permanent Jewish community is found only at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Until 1600 it consisted of two or three Jewish families, and by 1632 these had increased to sixteen. The first decree regarding the Jews was issued in 1539 by the Sovereign Phillip the Magnanimous of Hesse. Further decrees were made by Landgrave Frederick III Jacob in 1684 when the landgrave invited Jews and Huguenots to settle in Homburg and in 1737. Jewish residence was limited to two years, this limitation was still in force in 1737 and conditional for their staying. This made it largely impossible for the Jews to develop a sense of permanence. They were heavily taxed as well, every Jew paying ten Gulden protection-money a year, and one Gulden on New-Year. In addition there were special taxes such as twenty-four Thalers a year to the Lutheran congregation. On November 6, 1803, the Jew’s protection- money was repealed however it took until 1827, for the protection-money to be abolished for foreign Jews as well. The order of May 1, 1684, has thirty seven paragraphs, confirming the animosity against Homburg Jews. (Here are some of the more interesting ones:) The decrees are taken from the “Taunusbote”. We, the Landgrave, expect, that all Jews, who accept our protection, promise under oath not to use blasphemous language against Jesus and the Christian religion. Jews shall not discuss “Religion” with Christians. Jews shall never persecute a Christian or any Jew who converted to Christianity. Jews will not be permitted to build another synagogue. 12) All Jews who are beggars, are not allowed to stay in the country and not even lodge overnight. 13) A Jew shall have no power over a male or female worker. 14) Foreign Jews who stay only temporarily in the country pay the usual toll. Jews may not engage Christian wet-nurses, but so-called Shabbesmägden (maids who helped Jewish families with tasks prohibited to Jews on Shabbos, such as retrieving the “bonensuppe” pot from the baker’s oven Shabbos morning) are permitted. A Jew who rapes a Christian woman shall be arrested at once and put to death. Jews shall never conceal theft, prostitution, adultery, manslaughter etc.. They must report such crimes to the Christian authorities at once. 19) On market days Jews may buy only when Christians have finalized their purchases. They shall never touch any of the commodities. A Jew shall never stand in front of a Christian house and never exercise provocative behavior towards a Christian, or force a Christian to allow him into his house. 27) We make the leader of the Jews responsible, that the “Judengaße” is always perfectly clean. 28) We allow the Jewish way of slaughtering. 29) Jews are not permitted to build big or small houses without special consent of the authorities. If the whole Jewish community is called together, it is ordered that they keep together till the end of the gathering, and a person, being asked something, must give the answer in a decent way. There even was a “curfew” for Jews, not to be seen in the streets during church-hours. The history of the first burials are unknown. Perhaps the deceased were buried near the village of Niederstetten. The village was completely destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War, but where it once stood is an area known as the “Jewish Acre”. In 1684, Jews were granted permission to consecrate a cemetery, surrounded by a fence and to erect tombstones. In 1703 the community purchased a section of a field for burial purposes which lies on the southern edge of the Hardtwald which is currently almost entirely overgrown. The Seulberg Cemetery was used exclusively in 1790 until 1868, when a new cemetery was consecrated in Homburg. Landgrave Frederick II with the silver leg, intended to enlarge his palace. He therefore issued a edict in 1698 for Jews wishing to build in the Louisenstraße, promising protection, wood and stone without charge and ten years of “religious freedom in their Schul” and other leniencies. The Jews at first lived in whatever part of the city they chose, but when Landgrave Frederick enlarged the city by laying out the Neustadt [New Town] in 1703, he assigned a certain street, the Judengaße [Jew Street], “Juddegaß” as the Homburgers pronounced it, to them which was closed by gates.