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Yad Vashem is open to the general public, free of charge. All visits to Yad Vashem must be reserved in advance.

The History of the Regensburg Jewish Community

The Jewish community in Regensburg, Bavaria existed as far back as the 11th century.  At its height, at the end of the 19th century, the community numbered some 670 Jews. When the Nazis rose to power in Germany in 1933, there were approximately 420 Jews living in Regensburg, about 0.5% of the city’s total population.

The fate of the Jews of Regensburg in the period of the Nazi regime and during the Holocaust was similar to that of Jews in other parts of Germany: their property was confiscated, their homes and businesses were attacked, and during the November Pogrom ("Kristallnacht") and afterwards, many of them were arrested and deported to concentration camps. In light of this persecution, almost half of Regensburg’s Jews left Germany before the outbreak of the war. The remaining Jews were deported to ghettos in Poland as well as the Terezin ghetto; most of them were murdered in the Holocaust.

Today, approximately 1,000 Jews live in Regensburg, the majority immigrants from the Former Soviet Union.

Illustration of the Regensburg Synagogue, 1912

The Jewish Community of Regensburg from the 19th Century until the Nazi Rise to Power

In 1800 there were 110 Jews living in the city, most of them traders, despite the local Christian shopkeepers’ opposition. The Jews held communal prayers in a private house, and later they rented a hall that served as a synagogue. In 1813, a decree was issued that restricted the Jewish presence to the 17 families already living in Regensburg, but despite this, in the decades that followed the...
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Boycott day of Jewish stores, 1 April 1933: a Jewish store in Regensburg under the watch of an SA guard to ensure that the boycott was carried out.

The Jewish Community of Regensburg in the Early Years of the Nazi Regime

In 1933, there were 427 Jews in Regensburg, out of a total population of 81,106. Branches of many Jewish organizations were active in the community:  the Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith (Central Verein), Jewish Assistance (Jüdischen Hilfsverein), the Reich Federation of Jewish Front Soldiers (Reichsbund Jüdischer Frontsoldaten), the Jewish History and Literature Association...
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German guards supervise the assembly of the Jews of Regensburg during their deportation, 1942

The Regensburg Community During World War II

In 1939, there were still 225 Jews living in Regensburg. Seventy-six of them had succeeded in leaving the city by the summer of 1942: about half immigrated to the US, Eretz Israel (Mandatory Palestine) and Britain, and the remainder departed for a variety of destinations, principally in Europe and South America. Even though many had left, the number of Jews in Regensburg did not change as...
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