Ariowitsch-Heim


The ›Ariowitsch-Heim‹,also known as the ›Ariowitsch- Stiftung‹, was founded in 1931 by the Jewish family Ariowitsch in order to care for the needs of the elderly. For the time period, the building, located in the Waldstraßenviertel in Leipzig, was very modern: single and double rooms with hot and cold running water, and even an elevator. On the first floor was a ward, in which the walls were painted with a panorama of Jerusalem, in addition to three separate kitchens: one for milk products, one for meat, and one for Passover meals.

When the isolation and deportation of the Jewish population began, many of the elderly were left behind without care, quickly filling the nursing home. In 1942, 350 people lived in the building, originally designed for only 60. On September 19, 1942 they were deported to Theresienstadt. Almost all were killed there. In 1943 the Gestapo took over the building and turned into their regional headquarters. The coalcellar was outfitted as a cell block in which the the regime's opponents were interrogated and tortured.

After the war ended, the US military department in charge of the so-called "displaced persons", those who survived the concentration camps, moved into the building. Some of them were temporarily allocated a room in the building to live in. Later still, the Soviet army used the former nursing home as a headquarters. Then, beginning in 1948, it again served as a nursing home for the elderly, this time a public one. Since 1996 the building has been empty and will be remodeled. It is slated to become a meeting point for Jews and non-Jews alike.