Category: Geschichte Blaues Haus

Before 1691 one could erect buildings in the moat of the 14th century town wall, in the middle of the Jewish quarter at the foot of Muensterberg (the rock with the cathedral). A small, two-storied house was built, the foundation of which can be seen in the cellar of the Blue House.

The Jewish community acquired the house in order to establish a school; for a time it was used as an infirmary for the Jewish poor.

After 1876 the house was used for various purposes. From 1893 to 1898 parts of the garrison stationed in Breisach were accommodated here. Thereafter it was used as a community center; the cantors and their families lived here after the district rabbinate had been moved to Freiburg.

After January 30, 1933, when the National Socialists under Adolf Hitler had come to power and established a dictatorship, the persecution of the Jewish community of Breisach began, too.

 

The forced sale of the house to the Gugel company in Freiburg, which had installed a workshop for military products, was rescinded under the French military government by occupation law in 1953.

After the house had been returned in 1955 to the “Oberrat der Israeliten in Baden”, the institution sold it to Selma Ziehler, the only Jew of Breisach who had escaped the deportation and had survived with her family. The association for the support of the Blue House purchased the building in July 2000 from one of her grandsons.

The house was carefully restored, mainly by the company Domiziel, Neustadt, with the support of the Conservation Office. In April 2002, the lecture room on the ground floor was reopened.

Since 2003 we have received several hundred visitors each year, meanwhile more than 2000. Apart from paying off our debts, we are gradually building up a place for remembrance and encounters.