An Incredible Gathering

My father’ s anc e s t o r s were born in and lived many generations in the German village of Meudt (Rhineland- Palatinate) from the 1700s onwards. Even today, Meudt, though greatly expanded, has only around 1,800 inhabitants. About a quarter of the 950-page book 900 Jahre Meudt 1097-1997, published by the village to commemorate its 900th anniversary, proudly charts the history of its small Jewish community. Stefan Assmann, the local archivist, took the time and trouble to research the descendant lines and all were published in detail in this book. In the early 1700s, there were only four Jewish couples. Two of these lines, the descendants of Jakob son of Feist and Esther daughter of Löw, who became the Falkenstein family, and the descendants of Jakob son of Moses and Sara, who became the Heilberg, Löwenstein, Stern and other families, were quite prolific. One Löwenstein descendant, Haium son of David, born in Meudt in 1808, famously had 20 children all with the same wife – and 18 of these survived into adulthood! Around 25 Jewish residents of Meudt still living there in the 1940s were deported and murdered by the Nazi regime. Thankfully, others escaped and fled, mostly to the USA, the UK and South America. Unusually, especially given the size of the village, every three years the mayor of Meudt writes to all known descendants around the world and invites them to attend a reunion and a Holocaust remembrance ceremony. The book, published by the village, aided by growing interest in genealogy and helped enormously by use of the internet, has led to a growing number of these descendants coming into email contact with each other. But who would believe that 60 descendants would all make their way to Meudt and be present on Sunday 18 November 2012? Over half came especially from the USA but others also attended from the UK, The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Israel and Germany. The day began with a guided tour of Jewish Meudt led by Stefan Assmann, w h o h a d a l s o organised the event. This was followed by lunch courtesy of the village. It was amazing to consult the family trees based on information researched by Mr Assmann and then to meet there in person third, fourth and fifth cousins all present with similar purpose. The ceremony of remembrance which took place in front of the Holocaust memorial in the Jewish cemetery included addresses by the mayor, Karl- Heinz Müller, local Church clergy and a very moving speech by two Falkenstein family descendants. Finally, there was a poignant address in German and English by Rabbi William Wolff, Landesrabbiner based in Schwerin and Rostock. All of this was interspersed by the obligatory German brass band and a separate male and female choir. Kaddish was recited once again in Meudt by a goodly minyan, all mishpacha of those who perished. The ceremony evoked much emotion and it was in many respects quite cathartic to be able to pay our respects. It was also moving to see our group of 60 descendants gathered in pouring rain under umbrellas and swelled threefold by villagers who came to pay their respects. Gerald Stern