Relation with the rest of the population

A good example to show the relation between the jews and the rest of the inhabitants of Kaisersesch is the 25th anniversary of the ordination of dean Sauer, who worked in Kaisersesch from the 12th of September 1921 until the 28th of September 1945, the day he died. On that day the dean greets besides the members of the catholic church in the hotel Wagener in the Koblenzer Straße also a table with jewish inhabitants, who gratulated him to his jubilee. Also the fact, that in 1926 at the 20th athletics and the 25th anniversary of the gymnastics and sports-club 1901 Kaisersesch, the name Siegler was mentioned as sectionleader for the 8 to 9 year old children, is a proof for that the jews were engaged in the clublife, that they were respected and that they were not handicaped. But jews were members in other clubs too, like in the skittleclub as the following picture from the year 1929 shows.

As a generous donor of a football the chronicle of the gymnastics and sportsclub shows the jew Eberhard Siegler. He donated the ball in 1923 when the first footballplayers met "Auf dem Wassem" (today the area of the REWE-supermarket) to start playing football. That catholic fellow-citizens helped their jewish friends and neighbours despite the threat of punishment, is shown by examples from the time before and after World War II. As a male family member died in the house of the family Mayer, nobody dared to bury him. Then Franz Klinkner, someone who lived in the neighbourhood, took heart and drove the dead body joined by a funeral procession to the jewish graveyard outside the town. The following pressure by the Nazis did not bother him. Even more courageous was Hannes Meyer, who dared to say good-bye to his friends in the terrible moments of their deportation. He sticked to his intentions even though the SA was joining them.

Not all citizens were so courageous and ready to help, but faced them rather distrustful. There are anecdotes told about a teacher who thaught in the school in Kaisersesch in the time before the First World War:

" Frooms Max, a jewish pupil, had complained to his teacher in the time before the First World War, that one of the other pupils had called him a stinky jew, whereupon he replied: " Well then you should have called him a stinky christian" which is not the same and about which the teacher with his arrogance and his superiority could mock very easily." "That teacher was generally always malicious and unjust after the jewish pupils. And as he now old and trembling, but still with his insidious smile, wanted to welcome back his former jewish pupil Moritz Siegler, who returned from the First World War, he left him standing alone."

On the whole we got a picture of the jewish citizens with the catholic citizens handed down, which shows, that the jews have been integrated in the community and accepted by the fellow-citizens. Until the beginning of Hitler's dominion they seemed to have lived a normal life, without political pursuit or hate on the part of the fellow-citizens.

 There are two jewess on this photo: Upper row, second from the right Frieda Siegler middle row first from the right Friedchen Siegler