Jürgen Gramenz

The Jews of Brueel (Mecklenburg): Reconstruction of a Community

Content

Except of the far outside situated Jewish cemetery almost nothing reminds today of the former Jewish inhabitants of the small town of Brüel in the northeastern area of Germany called Mecklenburg. But at least since the middle of the 18th century the Jews were always part of the town's view as well and participated and contributed to the community life like the other inhabitants. In the first only tolerated by the duke and the town magistrate they later were also part of the local economy and became more or less successfull merchants and business men.

After reaching its numerical peak towards the middle of the 19th century due to emigrations to the greater cities the community's members declined more and more. Thus, in 1915, the community was finally to small and was connected to the Jewish community of Schwerin. And with the leave of the company director Georg Hamburger, the last Jewish citizen of Brüel, ended the Jewish history of Brüel in 1919.

The book is the first attempt to reconstruct the former Jewish community of Brüel from various documents and files of the town's and state archives from its beginning and the first so called Schutzjuden until its end in the early 20th century. Beside other Jewish families and their connections to various towns of Mecklenburg escpecially these families, their origins and social positions within the town, their family structures and family events and their whereabouts are treated in detail: Ahrenfeld, Cohnheim (Kohnheim), Crull (Krull), Frank (Franck), Hamburger, Herzfeld, Joel, Ladewig, Lichenheim (Liechenheim, Lychenheim), Louis und Löwenhelm (Loewenhelm) In addition to the conditions within the Jewish community the almost complete sequence of their leaders and religious teachers is shown. The history of the Jewish cemetery is now partly re-written - his fate, the graves and the remaining grave stones are now completely displayed for documentation purposes. With numerous references the book is also trying to locate their former synagogue prayer rooms.

The book makes it now possible for the cemetery visitors to get a look at the family stories of the people buried there. And it is an invitation to get to know the Jewish history of Brüel.