On October 3, 1797, Norderney became the first official Royal Prussian seaside resort on the German North Sea coast. Already in the first decades after the foundation of the seaside resort, Jewish bathers travelled to Norderney. Initially, they came primarily from East Frisian cities, later also from Osnabrück, Bremen, and Hamburg. In 1820, there was a “Jewish cookshop,” and stores sold special Jewish confectionery. In 1871, with the construction of the railroad and after the foundation of the German Reich, the number of Jewish bathing guests from the cities of the German Reich and neighboring states increased.
While hardly any Jews settled on the other East Frisian islands, Norderney remained an exception. Very early on, many Jewish bathing guests, such as the philosopher and poet Salomo Friedlaender (aka Mynona; 1871–1946), the violin virtuoso and composer Joseph Joachim (1831–1907), and the department store founder Georg Wertheim (1857–1939), spent their “summer retreat” on the island and, in the course of this, Jewish businessmen and their families settled there. They took care of the entertainment and the physical well-being of the bathing guests. For example, the Jew Samuel Hartog ran the Norderney Casino in 1833. And in 1840, the confectioner David Benedix Goldstein from Norden applied for a permit for a “Jewish cookshop,” which he wanted to maintain on the island during the season.
The growing number of Jewish bathing guests increased the demand for services, such as the preparation of kosher food. Many of the spa guests traveled from large cities such as Berlin, Hamburg, and Breslau.
Timeline Norderney
- ↑ „Jewish bathing resort“ Norderney – 1850