Kosher and Jewish Life in Dresden

A Jewish community existed in Dresden in the early 14th century, and its members were massacred in the Black Death persecutions of 1349. Jews are not mentioned in Dresden again until 1375. They were expelled in 1430. Jewish settlement was renewed in the early 18th century, there were about 1,000 Jewish residents by the end of the 18th century. The community numbered approximately 2,300 in 1886, 4,300 in 1913, and over 6,000 in 1925. By May 1939, the community had been reduced to 1,600 people as a result of emigration, deportation, and arrests. There were 12 deportations, dispatching 1,300 Jews, between January 1942 and January 1944. A synagogue seating 200 was opened in 1950. Subsequently the Dresden community declined, numbering 100 in the late 1960s. The Dresden Synagogue was destroyed during Kristallnacht, but was rebuilt on the same site and opened to the public in 2002. The synagogue was totally redesigned, but the original Star of David from before the original synagogue burned down had been saved, and was placed above the new building's entryway. The Old Jewish Cemetary in Dresden is the oldest in the state of Saxony, and contains graves dating back to 1750.