The Jews of Würzburg (Germany) from 1939 to 1943

In January 1939 the authorities forced the district rabbi of Würzburg, Rabbi Dr. Sigmund (Shimon) Hanover, who had meanwhile been detained in a concentration camp, to leave Germany. He was succeeded in office by Rabbi Dr. Magnus (Menachem) Weinberg, who was to be the last rabbi of the community in Würzburg before its destruction.

Würzburg, 25 April 1942. Jews concentrated in Platz’schen-Garten, awaiting deportation to the Lublin district.

From the deportation album of the Jews of Mainfranken (part of Lower Franconia).
The handwritten captions under the photographs is at times of an anti-Semitic nature.
"The Jewish Mischpoche (family) arrives in herds at the evacuation point…"
"The Jewish scum is being loaded…"
"The later the hour, the more handsome the guests…"
"On foot and by car the Jews stream in…"

Courtesy of the Würzburg State Archives (Staatsarchiv Würzburg)
Yad Vashem Photo Archives 7900/94-99

24 March 1942, Jews in Kitzingen being led to the train station.

Jews from Würzburg were among those deported. From the deportation album of the Jews of Mainfranken (part of Lower Franconia).

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 7900/111
Courtesy of the Würzburg State Archives (Staatsarchiv Würzburg)

24 March 1942, Items belonging to the Jews at the Kitzingen train station prior to the Jews deportation.

Jews from Würzburg were among those deported. From the deportation album of the Jews of Mainfranken (part of Lower Franconia).

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 7900/112
Courtesy of the Würzburg State Archives (Staatsarchiv Würzburg)

24 March 1942, Items belonging to the Jews at the Kitzingen train station prior to the Jews deportation.

Jews from Würzburg were among those deported. From the deportation album of the Jews of Mainfranken (part of Lower Franconia).

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 7900/110
Courtesy of the Würzburg State Archives (Staatsarchiv Würzburg)

25 April 1942, Jews being led through the streets of Würzburg by German policemen, en route to the train station.

Yad Vashem Photo Archives 1014/5/27
Courtesy of the BPK photo archive (Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz), Berlin

Ilse Sara Weill's German passport, issued on the 20th of May 1940. Weill was born in Würzburg in 1899. In 1941 she immigrated to the USA via Shanghai.

Yad Vashem Document Archives 0.8/638

Ilse Sara Weill's German passport, issued on the 20th of May 1940. Weill was born in Würzburg in 1899. In 1941 she immigrated to the USA via Shanghai.

Yad Vashem Document Archives 0.8/638

The Deportation of the Jews of Würzburg to the East

The Deportations from Lower Franconia

27 November 1941, 202 Jews from Würzburg were deported to Riga.

, 208 Jews were deported from Kitzingen to Izbica, Poland, among them 24 Jews from Würzburg.

25 April 1942, 850 Jews were deported from Würzburg to Krasnystaw; 78 of the deportees were from Würzburg, and the remaining deportees came from some 80 different communities.

, 177 Jews were deported from Würzburg to Theresienstadt.

, 562 Jews were deported from Würzburg to Theresienstadt.

, seven Jews were deported from Würzburg to Theresienstadt, and 57 Jews were deported to Auschwitz.

The community was officially liquidated on September 22, 1943. Several days before this date, the remaining Jews brought a wooden crate containing 25 Torah scrolls to the Jewish cemetery, where they buried it in the ground. A tombstone was placed over the grave, with the marking "The Mosaic Torah". The incident went unnoticed by the authorities, as at the time there were many deaths and suicides among the Jews in Würzburg.

Following the final deportation 29 Jews remained in Würzburg, of them 14 were originally residents of the city; the rest were Jews who had been brought in from surrounding communities. Five of the Jews were the children of mixed marriages, considered Jews according to Nazi racial law (Geltungsjuden); the others were Jews married to Germans.