KIEL

KIEL , city in *Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. In the 17^th century, Jews went to Kiel for the annual fair (Kieler Umschlag). Permission to settle in the city was given in 1690 to the Sephardi Court Jew Jacob Musaphia, followed in 1728 by Samson Lewin, another Court Jew. Together they laid the foundations for the small Jewish community. In 1766 Kiel had six Jewish families engaged in small businesses and moneylending. Although Schleswig-Holstein was annexed by Denmark in 1733, the legal status of the Jews in the duchy was not ameliorated. The community had a prayer hall and buried their dead at Rendsburg. In 1803 Jewish students were admitted to the University of Kiel. There were then 29 Jews in the city; the numbers grew to 75 in 1845 and 156 in 1855. A cemetery was consecrated in 1852; the community was officially organized in 1867 and two years later a synagogue was erected, to be replaced by a new one in 1910. In 1900 the community numbered 338 persons, 526 in 1910, 600 in 1925, and 522 in 1933. Kiel rabbis included Emil *Cohn (1907–12) and A. Posner (1912–33). On the Nazi rise to power, the community was exposed to severe repression and persecution: Jewish professors were dismissed from the university and the works of 28 Jewish authors – mainly lecturers in Kiel University – were removed from the library of the university. Anti-Jewish boycott meetings were held all over the city. As all Jewish children were removed from the city's public school system, the community opened its own grade school. A total of 586 Jews left the city during the Nazi era. Of those who remained 85 were deportees and 12 committed suicide. On Nov. 10, 1938, the synagogue was burned down and Jewish homes and stores were looted. After the war 11 Jews returned to Kiel; the bombed Jewish cemetery was later restored.

bibliography:

M. Stern, Die israelitische Bevoelkerung der deutschen Staedte, 2 (1892); W. Victor, Die Emanzipation der Juden in Schleswig-Holstein (1913); A. Posner, in: MGWJ, 72 (1928), 287–91; 76 (1932), 229–39; Fuehrer durch die juedische Gemeindeverwaltung (1932–33), 122; H. Kellenbenz, Sephardim an der unteren Elbe (1958), index; EJ, 9. s.v.

[Chasia Turtel]

Kiel City and seaport in n Germany, at the head of the Kiel Canal linking the North Sea and the Baltic Sea; capital of Schleswig-Holstein state. Today, Kiel is a yachting centre. Industries: shipbuilding, textiles, precision instruments, printed matter. Pop. (1999) 235,500.