![]() Successful businesspeople The Kehilath Anshe Maariv Temple in Chicago, pictured on a postcard from 1911 Image: gemeinfreiĪnother prominent figure in the German-Jewish community was Julius Rosenwald, the chairman of Sears, Roebuck and Company, a major retailer in Chicago. ![]() The temple's first rabbi was the ultra-Orthodox Ignatz Kunreuther. The Kehilath Anshe Maariv Temple was located in a small room above a textile business on the corner of Lake and Wells Street. German Jews also founded the first synagogues in the cities of Chicago and Illinois. They successfully integrated into American society and occupied prominent positions in clubs and associations. Many of them built careers in the banking sector, in insurance or real estate. In this climate, all doors stood open for German Jews. "There was no concrete social structure and, because of that, fewer barriers and hindrances for new arrivals." She is the curator of "Shalom Chicago," an exhibition examining the long history of the Jewish community in the city, currently on show at the Chicago History Museum. "The early German-Jewish émigrés found a young and very open city," Libby Mahoney explains. They were accepted and mixed with the top levels of social and political circles, something which remained difficult for many Jews in Europe at that time. In early Chicago, German Jews were just one of many émigré groups, alongside Brits, Swedes and Irish. Julius Rosenwald was a leading businessman in Chicago and the chairman of Sears Image: Chicago History Museum Collection They later opened small groceries or clothing stores and their living quarters were usually above their shops. Back then, the city had 30,000 residents, the majority of whom lived from the iron and timber industries.īut many German-Jewish immigrants earned their living as street traders, going door-to-door to sell their wares. Historians estimate that the first German-Jewish émigrés came to Chicago in 1841. This would have been a typical scene at this crossroads in the heart of Chicago's German-Jewish community in the mid-19th century. The voice of Rabbi Kunreuther reverberates from a first floor window as he chastises his servants. Outside, horses and carriages tied to wooden posts await their owners. "Closed on account of religious observance," reads the sign in the window. It's Friday afternoon, the store owner has shut up shop. A group of women wearing long, black dresses with white-lace collars converse in front of the convenience store. Horse-hooves kick up the sand on the corner of Lake and Wells Street. ![]()
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