“Elvis Aaron, also a Jew”

2023-12-11 11:31:00

In the drizzle, an older couple strolls along the sodden path between the spa park and the drinking spa facility and suddenly stops at a bronze plate: “There it is, Elvis,” the man exclaims happily. “Elvis Aaron, also a Jew,” says his companion. Both are among the participants in the first guided tour on the history of Judaism in the spa town.

Thorsten Winter

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for Central Hesse and the Wetterau.

The route leads from the colonnades to the Kerkhoff Institute, just a few steps away, in the city center and holds many a surprise. The path between the spa park and the drinking spa facility does little justice to its nickname on this day: the spa town residents affectionately call it the “Walk of Fame”. But unlike its counterpart in Hollywood with its many stars, visitors don’t necessarily walk across the boards with the names of famous women and men.

In Bad Nauheim, the reliefs, which are currently partially covered by all kinds of autumn leaves, line the path and require a close look. Like the plate with the face of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, who was a guest for six weeks in 1892 and wrote a book. Further towards the drinking spa facility there is a relief dedicated to Franz Maximilian Groedel.

Groedel emigrated to the USA

The specialist in heart disease and spa medicine used the healing power of the brine in the Bad Nauheim soil, which Friedrich Wilhelm Beneke recognized early on, and treated the American industrialist William Kerckhoff. He followed his father Isidor, who also worked as a doctor and whose teacher Beneke had been. Because of his Jewish roots, the professor, who had studied in Munich, Giessen and Leipzig and completed his habilitation in Frankfurt, lost his civil service status and his teaching license in 1933, like other followers of the Mosaic faith.

Groedel recognized the criminal nature of the Nazi regime early on and emigrated to the USA, where he also had a practice at the time. From then on he also advised several clinics in New York, among others. However, 280 other Bad Nauheim Jews became victims of the Holocaust. A memorial next to Parkstrasse with a milled Star of David and a bench that shows an abandoned coat as a symbol of lost protection are a reminder of her. Fresh flowers placed there commemorate the victims. In 1931, with the million-dollar donation from Kerckhoff’s widow, Groedel founded the institute named after the patient who died of heart disease, of which he was appointed director for life. After the end of the Nazi era, the then city leader, as the guests on the tour learn, urged him to return to Bad Nauheim. Groedel stayed in America, but ran the institute from there until his death in 1951. A street above the spa park that used to be lined with several Jewish-run hotels is named after him. Meanwhile, a fountain not far from the internationally famous Kerckhoff Institute commemorates Beneke.

Poor sources on the Middle Ages

The history of Jews in the United States dates back to at least 1303. A good 160 years later, as you will learn during the one-and-a-half-hour tour, Jews are once again mentioned in documents. In connection with tax payments. It is said that the sources on the Middle Ages are very poor. But one thing is clear: the more important Jewish life took place in Friedberg with its large mikveh. In the 18th century there was talk of “protective Jews”, i.e. people who had to pay for their stay: protection money. “People’s money was taken,” explains the tour guide.

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Judaism in the spa town only really took off as a result of the civil liberties granted by the state in the 19th century. Jewish doctors, merchants and hoteliers soon settled there, who also attracted guests from abroad with their kosher facilities and made Bad Nauheim more international. This emancipation was also reflected in social life, to which the Jewish community has long since contributed again. For example, by founding a support association that made it possible for poorer Jews to receive treatment. Or in three homes for Jewish women, men and children. The latter now serves as the home of the Sophie Scholl School.

The couple who came across the Elvis plaque from the tour guide also learned this. By the way, the King of Rock and Roll was not Jewish. Rather, he worshiped Jesus, as several sources report.

The next guided tour about Judaism in Bad Nauheim will be on December 11th at 2 p.m.