Anti-Semitism in Offenbach
The anti-Semitic traditions of the NSDAP went back to 19th century slogans, but became increasingly strident. What had previously been demanded in the party program was passed in September 1935 by the "Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour". Among other things, marriage between Jews and non-Jews was now a punishable offense.
A further step in this direction was the "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service", which provided for the dismissal of "non-Aryans" from the civil service.
However, the restrictive Nazi policy towards Jews also made itself felt in all other professional areas. From 1936, for example, Offenbach's numerous Jewish butchers were given no or only inferior cattle for slaughter, and the licenses of Offenbach's Jewish lawyers had already been withdrawn in April 1933.
The owner of the Offenbach leather factory J. Mayer & Sohn, Robert von Hirsch, emigrated to Switzerland after paying 1.5 million Reichsmark. Hugo Oppenheimer, owner of a department store, initially remained in Offenbach before emigrating in 1936 after selling his business at a considerable loss.
An advertisement in the "Offenbacher Nachrichten" on May 1, 1936 announced that the business had now passed into "Aryan ownership". From autumn 1937, there was a massive "Aryanization" of Jewish companies and businesses. Bogus transfers were prevented by the "Ordinance against Supporting the Camouflage of Jewish Businesses", which came into force throughout the Reich in 1938.
The number of Jews in Offenbach fell from 1,435 members of the community in 1933 to only around 900 members in June 1938. The preliminary climax of Nazi legislation was the obligation to mark clothing with the yellow star in 1941, which was preceded by various measures, such as the so-called "Reichskristallnacht" from November 9 to 10, 1938.
After the murder of the German envoy Ernst vom Rath in Paris, the Offenbach synagogue was also the target of an organized attack disguised as a "spontaneous act of revenge". The order to the SA Standarte 168 was as follows:
"The synagogue is to be destroyed while sparing the neighboring buildings, of which a report is to be made!"
In Offenbach, the building was destroyed in an attempted arson on November 10, 1938.
The building itself survived the so-called "Reichskristallnacht" almost unscathed and was used as a cinema, municipal theater and National Socialist meeting place during the war. Riots against Jews and looting of Jewish businesses also took place during Offenbach's "Reichskristallnacht" (November 9-10, 1938).
Many of the community's leading figures, such as Rabbi Dr. Max Dienemann and lawyer Dr. Siegfried Guggenheim, were arrested and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. After their release in December 1938, both emigrated.
The number of Jews in Offenbach continued to decline and by the time the mass deportations began following the resolutions of the "Wannsee Conference" (January 1942 on the "Final Solution to the European Jewish Question"), around 450 people had managed to escape. The remaining community was deported "to the East", to the extermination camps. By 1943, the Jewish community of Offenbach am Main had been wiped out.