History of The Jews in Laupheim - The End of Jewish Life in Laupheim

The End of Jewish Life in Laupheim

A few days after the pogrom of 9–10 November 1938, a decree for the expropriation of Jewish businesses was implemented. Following this, all Jewish businesses had to be Aryanised. In Laupheim this meant that some Jewish shops were bought by one or some of the former employees at a rate considerably lower than the current market price. However, most of these businesses did not manage to survive for long as they lacked sufficient capital and expertise to run an enterprise, especially since there was no possibility to export goods.

As a result of the accelerated discrimination of Jews, emigration from Laupheim increased to 32 in 1939. In 1940, only 14 persons managed to escape the oppression and in 1941 a meagre 4 Jews from Laupheim managed to leave the country. Those who remained were, after having been driven out of business, systematically deprived of their other properties, evicted and allocated alternative accommodation. Some were moved into the former Rabbi's office building, now turned into a Jewish retirement home, where living conditions were very crammed. Others were sent to live in the Wendelinsgrube, a designated settlement area in a gravel pit just outside the then built-up area of Laupheim, where since 1927 small houses had been erected to provide accommodation for the unemployed and homeless. By 1939 these houses consisted of wooden shacks without running water or electricity. The former residents of the Wendelinsgrube moved into the forcibly abandoned Jewish properties. On 28 November 1941, the first transport of Laupheim Jews left, in the first instance to Stuttgart, and then onwards to Riga. The second wave of deportations took place on 25 March 1942, when a number of Laupheim Jews where transported to the General Government, Poland. The final deportation took place on 19 August 1942, when the remaining 43 Jews of Laupheim, amongst whom were all the remaining inhabitants of the Wendelinsgrube, were transported to the east to the concentration camp Theresienstadt. This date marks the end of more than 200 years of Jewish history in Laupheim since none of the emigrants or surviving deportees returned to live in Laupheim.