The Destruction of the Jewish Community of Wiesbaden during the WWII

Following the November Pogrom, social welfare work in Wiesbaden was taken over by the Reich's Deputation of the German Jews (Reichsvertretung der Deutschen Juden). Public prayers were held in the Jewish school, which remained undamaged, and later on they were moved to the Orthodox synagogue. In May of 1939, 1,225 Jews remained in Wiesbaden – less than half of the Jews who had lived in the city in 1933 – as well as several hundred people who were designated as Jews by the Nazi racial laws, including people without a religious denomination, converts to Christianity, and first and second grade Mischlinge (born from mixed marriages and their children, which was common in early 20th century Wiesbaden).

Jews standing in line in the courtyard of the Orthodox synagogue on Friedrichstrasse, waiting to register.

The deportees wore signs around their necks bearing their personal details. They were told to present themselves with their belongings in the courtyard of the synagogue by Saturday, 29 August 1942, at 13:00.

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 1046/16
The photo was taken clandestinely by a German policeman.

Jews standing in line in the courtyard of the Orthodox synagogue on Friedrichstrasse, waiting to register.

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 1046/17
The photo was taken clandestinely by a German policeman.

Jews concentrated in the Orthodox synagogue in Wiesbaden, late August 1942

Between 27 and 29 August 1942 some 600 Jews were concentrated in the synagogue, most of them weak and elderly. These Jews came from the Jewish community of Wiesbaden as well as from communities in the vicinity.
On the morning of 29 August 1942, the Jews were taken to the cattle ramp of the local slaughterhouse and deported to Frankfurt. From there they were deported, on 1 September 1942, to Theresienstadt. Nearly all of them were later murdered in Auschwitz.

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 1046/14

29 August 1942. Jews arriving at the cattle ramp of the local slaughterhouse, about to be deported

Later the same day they were deported to Frankfurt, and on 1 September 1942, to Theresienstadt. Nearly all of them were later murdered in Auschwitz.

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 1046/6

Jews arriving at the cattle ramp of the local slaughterhouse, about to be deported, 29 August 1942

Later the same day they were deported to Frankfurt, and on 1 September 1942, to Theresienstadt. Nearly all of them were later murdered in Auschwitz.

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 1046/8

Jews arriving at the cattle ramp of the local slaughterhouse, about to be deported, 29 August 1942

Later the same day they were deported to Frankfurt, and on 1 September 1942, to Theresienstadt. Nearly all of them were later murdered in Auschwitz.

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 3705/23

Jews arriving at the cattle ramp of the local slaughterhouse, about to be deported, 29 August 1942

Later the same day they were deported to Frankfurt, and on 1 September 1942, to Theresienstadt. Nearly all of them were later murdered in Auschwitz.

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 1046/4

29 August 1942. Jews arriving at the cattle ramp of the local slaughterhouse, about to be deported.

Later the same day they were deported to Frankfurt, and on the 1st of September 1942, to Theresienstadt. Nearly all of them were later murdered in Auschwitz.

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 1046/7

Jews arriving at the cattle ramp of the local slaughterhouse, about to be deported, 29 August 1942

Later the same day they were deported to Frankfurt, and on 1 September 1942, to Theresienstadt. Nearly all of them were later murdered in Auschwitz.

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 1046/11

Jews arriving at the cattle ramp of the local slaughterhouse, about to be deported, 29 August 1942

Later the same day they were deported to Frankfurt, and on 1 September 1942, to Theresienstadt. Nearly all of them were later murdered in Auschwitz.

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 1046/15

The Deportation of the Jews of Wiesbaden

In March, May and June of 1942 some 500 Jews were deported from Wiesbaden, among them several rabbis. The deportees were led in groups down the city’s streets toward the local train station, loaded onto cattle cars, and sent to the Lublin district in Poland. After a layover in Piaski these Jews were sent to Sobibor, Belzec and Majdanek, where they were murdered.

On 11 June 1942, more than 600 Jews from the district of Wiesbaden, mostly from the city itself, were loaded onto trains and sent to Frankfurt. From Frankfurt, these Jews were deported together with 600 Jews from the Frankfurt community to the district of Lublin. Nearly two hundred of them were deported directly to Majdanek, and the rest were sent to Sobibor following a two-day stop in Izbicia. As far as is known, no one survived this transport.

By the time of the next deportation, approximately 40 Jews in Wiesbaden had committed suicide.

On 27 August 1942, the last public prayer service was held in Wiesbaden. From 27-29 August 1942, six hundred Jews, many of them elderly and weak, were collected in the courtyard of the Orthodox synagogue. The Jews were photographed at the collection point in front of the Orthodox synagogue, during their registration and when they boarded the deportation train at the city's slaughterhouse cattle ramp. On 29 August the Jews of Wiesbaden were deported to Frankfurt, where another 600 local Jews boarded the train. On 1 September the train left Frankfurt, and it arrived in Theresienstadt the following day. The Jews on this transport were primarily elderly or sick people, as well as Jews who had been decorated or injured in World War I, and their families. Later, these Jews were deported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz. Thirty-two Jews from this deportation survived the war.

The responsibility for liquidating the community’s assets was placed on Berthold Gutmann, a lawyer who was sent on the September 1st transport to Theresienstadt together with his son. The head of the Jewish community, Moritz Maxheimer, was also deported and was murdered in Auschwitz one month later. The secretary of the Jewish community, Arthur Strauss, was deported in March 1943 together with his wife Anna to Theresienstadt, from where he was deported in October 1944 to Auschwitz. Thirteen Jewish doctors from Wiesbaden were deported and murdered as well, most of them in Theresienstadt.

In December 1942, fewer than 200 residents of Jewish origin remained in Wiesbaden; most of them were “half” or “quarter” Jews, or Jews married to Aryans who had been defined by the regime as having extra privileges. In 1943 these Jews were added to the Frankfurt community. Twenty-five of them were deported to Theresienstadt in February of 1945.

The Destruction of the Jewish Community of Wiesbaden

The Deportation of the Jews of Wiesbaden

Subscription for e-Newsletter

New Yad Vashem website redirection