Koethen
General information: First Jewish presence: 14th century; peak Jewish population: 350 in 1875; Jewish population in 1933: 156
Summary: Official documents from 1620 mention five Jewish families
in Koethen, after which, during the reign of Prince Leopold
of Anhalt-Koethen, more Jews received letter of protection.
Koethen was home to several important Hebrew printing
houses from 1622 until 1717.
Prior to 1777, the year in which the Jewish community
was officially established, Jews conducted services in a
prayer room on Schalaunische Strasse; that same year, a
small cemetery was consecrated on Am Welschen Busch.
Records suggest that Koethen was home to a mikveh after
the beginning of the 18th century.
In 1802, the community, of which Jews from several
neighboring towns, for example, Guesten, Nienburg and
Woerbzig, were members, inaugurated a synagogue at
5 Burgstrasse; next to the synagogue were classrooms and
a teacher’s residence. Later, in 1891 (after the community
had grown to 250 members), the Burgstrasse synagogue
was demolished and replaced with a domed synagogue
whose architectural style incorporated both Romanesque
and Moorish features. The new Jewish cemetery on
Maxdorfer Strasse was consecrated in 1888.
Over 30% of the town’s Jews either emigrated from
Germany or moved to larger cities after the Nazis rose
to power. On Pogrom Night (November 1938), the
synagogue was looted, desecrated and set on fire;
both cemeteries were destroyed, but the cemetery hall
remained undamaged.
Many local Jews were deported to the East; the
remaining Jews, most of whom were elderly, were
deported to Theresienstadt. At least 80 Koethen Jews
perished in the Shoah.
The cemetery on Maxdorfer Strasse, which housed
approximately 150 tombstones, was restored after the
war. In 1962, a memorial plaque was unveiled at the
former synagogue site; the plaque was desecrated in
the 1990s, and later disappeared.
Jewish inventor Rudolph Herzberg, who came
up with the main concept of the mechanical sewing
machine, was born in Koethen in 1837.
Author / Sources: Beate Grosz-Wenker
Sources: AJ, EJ, EJL, JL, YV
Sources: AJ, EJ, EJL, JL, YV
Located in: saxony-anhalt