The Current State of the Study of Jewish History in Westphalia

The Current State ofthe Study ofJewish History in Westphalia 41 The Current State of the Study of J:ewish History in Westphalia* Diethard Aschoff Diethard Aschoff is Professor of History and Director of the historical division of the Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum at the University ofMiinsterlWestphalia. His primary area of research is the history of the Jews in Westphalia and neighboring regions. The emphasis ofhis work is the development ofsources for the history ofthe Jews, particularly archival sources. He is a collaborator of the Germania Judaica in Jerusalem. Introduction Jewish studies in Westphalia have generally been pursued by members of a number of disciplines, but primarily the theological faculties at local universities. The Catholic fundamental theologian, Johann Baptist Metz, for example, has dealt with the relationship between Christians and Jews after Auschwitz in exemplary fashion.! On the Protestant side, the synodical conventions of the evangelical state-churches, above all the Synod of the Church of Rhineland, have drawn up position papers regarding the new defmition of this relationship.2 Local pedagogical institutions have also taken up the challenge of the study of Judaism: the Comenius-Institut in MUnster has published a three-part work, Unterrichtshilfen zum Thema Judentum: Kommentierte Dokumentation von Unterrichtsentwiir!en und Unterrichtsmaterialien [Teaching-Aids for the Topic "Judaism:" An Annotated Documentation of Teaching Plans and Teaching Materials].3 . The subject of the following pages will not be the considerable amount of pedagogical and research activity in recent years in so far as it is connected to general°1wish to thank Martin Dorn, Bad Bentheim, for translating this article. IJohann Baptist Metz, "Okumene nach Auschwitz: Zum Verhliltnis von Christen und Juden in Deutschland," in Gott nach Auschwitz: Dimensionen des Massenmordes amjiidischen Volk (1979): 212ff. 2See Umkehr und Erneuerung: Erliiuterungen zum SynodalbeschlujJ der Rheinischen Landessynode 1980 "Zur Erneuerung des Verhiiltnisses von Christen und Juden," edited by Bertold Klappert and Helmut Stark (Neukirchen-Vluyn 1980); Gottes Augapfel: Beitriige zur Erneuerung des Verhiiltnisses von Christen und Juden, edited by Edna Brocke and Jiirgen Seim (Neukirchen-Vluyn 1986). 3Comenius-Institut (Schreiberstra13e 12, 48149 MUnsterIWestfalia) 1987-1989. 42 SHOFAR Summer 1997 Vol. 15, No.4 and fundamental religious, ethical, theological and pedagogical questions. Instead, the following discussion of Jewish Studies in Westphalia will focus entirely on the local· Jewish history of Westphalia, how it has been defmed and analyzed. The fIrst section of this study will focus on Westphalia, the province and its population,' in order to defme the framework in which the Jews of Westphalia lived. A second section will briefly summarize the Jewish history ofWestphalia. The ihirdsection covers the current state of historical research on the Jewish population of Westphalia. The concluding section presents the central research institutions in the province of Westphalia and attempts to offer direction for further research in the fIeld-particularly with respect to the needs of research in Jewish family history. Westphalia Westphalia today covers an area of2l,424 square kilometers and has a population of about 8.4 million citizens of which only 2,500 are Jews (1993: 2,422). The territories Westphalia and Lippe together make up the northern half of the state NorthrhineWestphalia , which has by far the largest population in the Federal Republic of Germany. With about 390 people per square kilometer, Westphalia has one of the highest population densities in Europe and lies on the edge of Western Europe's large mass-population area which is framed by London, Paris and Essen. Westphalia's southwestern districts are part of the Ruhrgebiet, Europe's largest industrial area.4 From an historical point of view the province of Westphalia is rather young. Although the Westphalians (along with the Engers and Eastphalians) had developed their own sense of identity and are already recorded at the time of the Franks as part of the large tribal confederation of the Saxons, they were not able to establish their own sovereignity. In the oldest records the Westphalians were dominated by the archbishops (and elector-princes) of Cologne. After the Battle ofWorringen in 1288 the dukes of Cleves March (Kleve-Mark) became the dominating power. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the power over Westphalia was passed on to the elector-princes of Brandenburg-Prussia as an inheritance...