Jews in Leipzig - The University of Texas at Austin

only in 1837 that religious communities in Leipzig and Dresden could be founded under
state auspices, and the same year, the Saxon Crown Prince petitioned the Landtag for
emancipation for the Jews, saying “With all attention to public opinion, I must intercede
on behalf of the Jews. I believe we are responsible for the Jews as humans and as fellow
citizens. I have no different sympathy for the Jews than for all of my fellow men.” 20
Though the tone is one of personal political courage and risk, its context—years after the
Napoleonic liberation of the Jews and the 1812 Prussian Emancipation edict—lends that
tone a degree of disingenuousness.
The heir’s protestations notwithstanding, formal equality did not come for the
Jews of Saxony until 1866, with the creation of the North German Federation, and the
consequent regularization of domestic statutes. 21 Christians of Jewish heritage had a
slightly easier time of it to be sure, as shown in the career of Felix Mendelssohn-
Bartholdy. The great composer and grandson of Moses Mendelssohn was also conductor
of the city’s Gewandhaus orchestra from 1835 to his death in 1847, and founded the
city’s music conservatory.
1837 was the beginning of a decade-long process of founding a Jewish religious
community, or Gemeinde, in Leipzig. Finally, on June 1, 1847, thirty-three Jewish
Leipzigers met in the home of the kosher butcher to elect a Vorstand, or board of
directors. A flaw in the election necessitated a new vote, which was taken on June 23 rd . 22
By 1838, there were 162 Jews resident in Leipzig; in 1839 the first Jew was granted
Saxon citizenship. In 1855, the Gemeinde built a synagogue, and in 1864 a cemetery. By
20
Ibid., 13.
21
Solvejg Höppner & Manfred Jahn, Jüdische Vereine und Organisationen in Chemnitz, Dresden und
Leipzig 1918 bis 1933. Ein Überblick. Dresden 1997, 7.
22
Steffen Held, “Schalom: 150 Jahre Israelitische Religionsgemeinde zu Leipzig”, in Leipziger Blätter, 37,
Fall, 1997. 34.
17