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Discrimination against the Jews of Leipzig was recorded as early as 1349 and culminated under Nazi influence. Aside from the mass Jewish deportations and emigration forced by the Nazis in the 1930s and 40s, Leipzig's Jewish community began to grow again in 1945 and continues to grow today.

The German Reich completed a population consensus on May 19, 1939. They determined that fifty-percent of Leipzig’s citizens were Jewish, where 4,470 were Jews by descent and 4,113 by religion.

Origins
As far back as 1349, the Jews of Leipzig faced discrimination. In February 1349, Margrave Frederick “the Earnest” exterminated Leipzig’s entire Jewish population by burning. Their residences and other belongings were confiscated.

In 1713, the first Jew, Gerd Levi of Hamburg, was granted citizenship in Leipzig since the event of February 1349. On May 18, 1837 Leipzig’s growing Jewish community received permission to form a religious community, and on August 16, 1838 they were granted civil rights, with the exception of municipal and political right. However, it was nearly impossible for Ostenjuden, foreign Jews, to obtain Saxon citizenship. In order to do so, Ostenjuden had to be born in Leipzig and 21 years of age, or a resident of Saxony for at least thirty years.

The NSDAP
The NSDAP created a Leipzig chapter in 1922, indicating the first Nazi presence in the area. The NSDAP regional administrative authority, along with the head revenue office and state police, were responsible for the implementation of Anti-Jewish policies. In the Fall of 1939, the NSDAP created Judenhauser, in which Jewish residents and non-Jewish spouses of “mixed-marriages” were forced to live in close quarters. Families were constantly shuffled throughout Judenhauser, with some forced to move seven times in a year.

Emigration
Leipzig’s Jewish community assembled a department to deal with the anticipated emigration of the city’s Jewish families. The department worked closely with Palastina-Ami to ensure safe arrival to Erez Israel, and with Hilfsverein der Juden in Deutschland for emigration to all other countries. However, receiving the proper paperwork to emigrate was rather difficult for Leipzig’s Jews. In order to obtain the necessary certificates, Jews had to be trained for specific types of labor in which their target country was in need of. Because many of Leipzig’s Jews worked in business and the fur trade which was not needed in the country they wished to emigrate to, many of them enrolled in re-training courses where they learned blue-collar jobs such as bricklaying or carpentry.

The First Deportations
On October 28, 1938, Leipzig experienced its first large-scale deportation of fifty-percent of its Jewish citizens. Those considered as Polish Nationals or stateless were transported to the Polish border by railway and dropped in Zbonszyn, a forested area just across the border between Poland and Germany. Martin Kapel experienced this deportation first hand when he and his family were forced onto a crowded train, transported across the country, and forced to march into Poland following the lead of the SS. He notes that some of the prisoners on the march were too old to walk, others carrying children, and some were taken straight from their hospital beds. In accordance with a separate account, Zindel Grynszpan testified that he and his family were forced off of the train nearly a mile away from the polish border. As the group of Jews headed toward the Polish border, SS men whipped them, and those who fell faced severe beatings.

Kristallnacht
In fact, three synagogues were bombed and their sacred records and objects destroyed.

Jewish tombstones were broken and graves exhumed, and of those exhumed, nearly 10 peoples remained unburied for nearly a week because many grave diggers had been arrested.

Additionally, the windows of the Brühl were smashed and costly furs stolen.

Final Deportations
Following the deportation of Leipzig’s Jews, the Germany’s Revenue office visited the abandoned homes to confiscate any furniture, jewelry, and clothing that was left behind. These belongings were later sold by the Revenue office and the Hans Klemm Auction House for cheap prices to “Aryan” purchasers.

Post WWII
In total, nearly 2,000 Jews were deported from Leipzig to Nazi extermination camps.

Jewish Cemeteries
The NSDAP, head revenue office, and state police decided to tear down the old Jewish cemetery on June 30, 1937 stating that the area appeared “overgrown”, and the entrance was blocked by rubble. Three hundred and thirty-four Jewish persons were exhumed and reburied together in a large grave in the New Israelite cemetery. The old Jewish cemetery became a playground for “Aryan” children.

Early 1930s
Leipzig’s schools either had the Carlebach Schule curriculum in which Jewish studies were integrated into other academic subjects, or non-Jewish schools. Holocaust survivor, Martin Kapel, recalls attending a non-Jewish school although he was raised Jewish. He remembers that his teacher often included Nazi propaganda in their academic lessons each day. At the beginning of each term and sequentially throughout the term, the headmaster of Martin’s school would stand in front of the student body holding a large swastika flag and made a speech filled with Nazi propaganda. Following the speech, the children were expected to raise their arms in the Nazi salute and sing the German National Anthem and Horst-Wessel-Lied, a Nazi propaganda song.

In 1938, Jewish children were forced to leave non-Jewish schools and could only attend those taught by Jewish teachers. Because the schools were overcapacity, Martin Kapel recalls that he and many of his classmates had troubles focusing.