History of Jews in Leipzig from 1933 to 1939

Thousands of Jews were transported to and from this city as Adolf Hitler's plans for the Jewish people evolved.

As the Nazi party began implementing anti-Jewish policies and expelling Jews, mainly male, from their high positions in the arts and academics, Jewish women began to lead the households, maintain the mental health of her family members, and urge them to immigrate and escape the evils coming.

[1] This law allowed for the dismissal of Jews and other "politically unreliable" people from their positions in civil service including lawyers and doctors.

Eight hundred Jews emigrated from Leipzig to Palestine between the years of 1933 and 1935 to seek freedom from their religious persecution and escape the Nazi regime.

[4] Nazi propaganda infiltrated the city and served as a reminder to Jews that they were inferior, and advertisements to Aryan Germans of a better Germany.

[4] In October, the Gemeinde, a German township, created a "Lehrhaus" to accommodate the Jewish children who were barred from public academics and extracurriculars.

[4] By 1936, the activities of the Kulturbund was shut down and it was required that they be approved by the Managing Director of the National Chamber of Culture, or Geschäftsführer of the Reichskulturkammer, after Wilhelm Gustloff, the head of the Foreign Section of the Swiss NSDAP, was assassinated by the Jewish David Frankfurter.

[7] However, on April 15, 1937, this conclusion lead to a decision made by the Minister of Education, that outlawed Jews from obtaining a doctorate degree.

[7] The Gestapo notified the two members of Gemeinderrabbiner, Goldschimdt and David Ochs, that Leipzig had too many synagogues and advised that they be shut down before then were closed by force.

[4] The Orthodox Rabbi, David Ochs spoke at the Lehrhaus and urged his audience of 700 Jews to emigrate to Palestine by speaking of the educational and religious freedoms it offered.

[4] Jews and other non-Germans were prohibited by the German government from holding positions in the Gemeinde in early April which resulted in the loss of 51 of the 149 members.

[4] Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Yugoslavia made up 15% of the total amount of foreign participants at the Leipzig Trade Fair by 1939.