Oberdorf: Ostertag, Loewenberger
Oberdorf is even smaller than Jebenhausen. Today it is incorporated into the larger village next door called Bopfingen. There are no hotels in Oberdorf, so we stayed in small boutique hotel in Bopfingen. The drive from Jebenhausen took us through part of the Swabian Jura, a mountain range that includes big rivers like the Danube as well as the Black Forest. The drive was beautiful, but also felt treacherous at times. Different from in the US, our experience here was that the towns are not all linked by large highways. Which ultimately appears to be a good thing for the towns themselves as well as the environment. But it does mean driving long distances, at high speeds, on road that wind and curve up and through large hills. And the roads are only the width of 1.5 cars which means someone needs to pull halfway off the road when you are facing oncoming traffic. It often felt like a game of chicken.
Bopfingen is a picture perfect mountain top German village.
As do many of these places, our Inn had a restaurant that brews its own beer. The food was excellent and 100% locally sourced.
We woke up the next morning ready to go explore Oberdorf. Before we did, we had breakfast at the Inn and the proprietor sat with us for a bit. We have been very open with everyone we talk with about who we are. We tell everyone I am a rabbi and that both Debbie and and I have family lines that originate in Germany and that we are here to see our ancestral lands and reconstruct our stories. I told her that we came to Oberdorf because my Great-Great Grandfather, Bernhard Ostertag was born here and that his parents, my Third Great Grandparents Joseph and Bala Ostertag were buried there. She got pretty emotional and was clearly moved by our endeavor. But it never came up that we are Jewish. We weren’t hiding anything, but it didn’t come up. She proceeded to tell us that her family is also historically from the area and that her Grandfather had emigrated to the United States in the 1920’s, but “came back during WWII to help” which is why she and her family are still there.
It was one of those moments we wish we could return to and do over. We were dumbstruck. I wish we had asked questions, but we didn’t. We thanked her for her hospitality and moved on.
The main door to the synagogue dating to 1812.
Different from most places we have visited, the synagogue building in Oberdorf was not destroyed. This building was completed in 1812. Since 1989, It has been repurposed as a community center and there is an ongoing effort to turn it into a museum to the Jewish experience there. Like in Jebenhausen, at one time, the Jewish population was 50% of the overall local population. There is still evidence of the Jewish past in Oberdorf, but it is more muted than in Jebenhausen. Johana Fuchs is the Cultural Officer & Deputy Managing Director of the synagogue and she met us (coming in from vacation!) to let us see the museum and to walk with us to the cemetery.
Women’s entrance. A different world indeed.
The sanctuary has been restored pretty closely to how it looked in the 19th century.
This photograph does not do it justice, but directly behind the synagogue building is a towering hillside that has the ruins of a 2500 year old Celtic castle. Now it is mostly used as grazing land.
As we walked from the synagogue to the cemetery, Johana showed us the remnants of the Jewish existence. There are no Jews who live in town today. This house is the former Jewish school. There was a mikveh in the basement, but the current owners were not interested in preserving it as a historical marker and had it filled in with concrete. Johana told us that there is not a lot of support for memorializing the Jewish history. She said most residents have no historical connection to Oberdor…no Oberdorf identity..and are not interested in its history. There have been discussions about installing stolpersteins in memory of Oberdorf’s Jews, but there is real opposition from the current local residents.
Jewish school. Different angle.
Empty former mansion of a Jewish merchant. It sits empty at the center of town because it is on the historic register and the cost of renovation is prohibitive, so no one will buy it. It is not clear who currently owns it.
The house up close. You can just make out where the mezuzah was.
An even closer look. You can see the impression from the mezuzah.
The Jewish Butcher shop in the center of town. It is in the middle of town square. It is currently not being used for anything. I looked in the window and it looks l like it has been vacant since the community was exiled during the war. The meat hooks and pulley system still hang from the ceiling.
Then we walked to the cemetery. The only key to the cemetery is held by a city worker who was supposed to meet us there, but was delayed so we stood by the gate for 45 minutes. This was the only delay we’ve experienced in seeing cemeteries. Hard to complain about one delay.
This town is the furtherst back in history to which I have traced Ostertags. The graves of Joseph and Bala Ostertag are here, though I think the headstones are have been lost. This cemetery has been desecrated a number of times. Johana shared with us that many records are lost and there is not much known about who is buried here. Even though there is not a published book of photos and translations like in Jebenhausen, at some point, someone did record what the headstones said and so there is a record even though we were not able to match it to headstones. That said, I feel pretty confident I was able to find the grave site area of the Ostertags, within a couple of graves. I know that we stood over 4-5 unmarked graves and two of them were Joseph and Bala.
The area in which the Ostertags are interred.
This may be Jospeh Ostertag, Babette (Bala) (nee Loewenberger) Ostertag…or their neighbor.
Joseph Ostertag’s headstone is either missing, or it is above and can no longer be read. But when it was transcribed, it included his bio which recorded that he was born in Oberdorf in May 1788. He died in Oberdorf on 12 MAY 1851. His father was Pesach Abraham and his mother was Bala daughter of Salomon. The family adopted the surname Ostertag in 1813. I love that this history was saved. Who knows where Pesach Abraham and Bala daughter of Abraham came from. We may still find out. But if not, we know that 200 years ago, a man named Pesach Abraham was charged with choosing a surname for the family and he chose Ostertag. A man named Pesach (Passover in Hebrew) settled on the name Ostertag (Easter Day in German). I find that fascinating, humorous…poetic.
Babette (Bala) (nee Loewenberger) Ostertag was born in Lauchheim on 22 MAY 1794 and she died on 12 MAY 1866 in Oberdorf. Her father was Bonem Loewenberger and her mother was Hanna Loewenberger. She married Joseph Ostertag on 7 August 1832 in Oberdorf and that is where they lived. She was Joseph’s second wife. They were Bernhard’s parents.
I tied Susan Weinberg’s trick to bring the words out of the headstone. I did not succeed, but it was interesting to try. If I had to do it over again, I’d spend more time in this cemetery because there is still important documenting that can be done. But as I said, I am pretty sure I found where the graves were generally, even if I can’t say for sure which was exactly which.
What I will likely never know is why their son, Bernhard, left Oberdorf and travelled the 75 KM to Jebenhauen to build his life and family there. Perhaps we’ll still discover that at some point. Johana is going to work with a colleague in Laucheim to see if they can uncover anything relevant to us there.
Johana Fuchs and me in the cemetery.
This is a headstone I found quite moving and wanted to capture. It is for Dr. Herman Kroner who was the Oberdorf Rabbi in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. In German the stone says, “Here lies your body, may your spirit live on the people and their actions.”
Every cemetery visit is followed by one to the bakery. There are bakeries EVERYWHERE.
We came to expect to see bakeries…though this was the first meat vending machine we came across. Ironically it was standing just across a small parking lot, facing the empty Jewish butcher shop.
