History Department

	RESOURCES   Decatur Jewish Cemetery List

While its Jewish population never rivaled that of nearby Huntsville, Decatur has nonetheless witnessed a past in which Jewish merchants, some who made the town their home for only a short while, ran downtown businesses and contributed to the civic life of the town.  Located in north-central Alabama, 81 miles north of Birmingham, Decatur experienced economic success in the 19th century due to its strategic location along the Tennessee River. Geographically within the Tennessee Valley, the city also grew as an important stop along several railroad cargo routes and as a manufacturing center.  With lots of people passing through town, several hotels lined the river, as Decatur gained a reputation as a wild town with plenty of establishments that catered to the vices of these travelers.  During the 20th century, Decatur continued to experience solid economic growth, although it was handily eclipsed by Huntsville, with its space and military installations, as the regional economic hub after World War II.

Jews began to arrive in Decatur in the mid 19th century.  Louis Falk (left) emigrated from Prussia in 1856, first settling in Philadelphia, and then later in New York.  He moved to Florence, Alabama in 1857.  After clerking in a store for a while, he opened his own business in a rural town 22 miles south of Decatur.  The town, which became a stop on the L&N Railroad, took the merchant’s name as its own, Falkville.  After serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, he joined his uncle in a business in Danville, Alabama.  In 1869, Falk moved to Decatur to open a furniture store, which remained in business for several decades.  A local publisher described Falk as “one of the leading and progressive business men of this section.”  Max Cohn came to the United States from Germany in 1873; in 1880 he opened a dry goods store on Bank Street in Decatur.  The local newspaper called Cohn “a wide-awake and progressive business man.”

Early Jewish settlers like Falk and Cohn were soon joined by others as Jewish-owned businesses sprouted up along Bank Street in downtown Decatur.  According to a local city directory from the early 20th century, of sixteen dry goods stores in Decatur, seven were owned by Jews, all but one of which were located in Bank Street, the town’s main business thoroughfare.  Sam Frank (left, with Mayor James Nelson) owned a store that sold home furnishings. Harold Michelson, whose parents Max and Ruth began the business, sold fancy clothes, merchandise frequently bought by the local bordello workers who needed impressive wardrobes for their occupation. Harry Olshine came to the United States from Russian Poland with his older brother Abraham in 1905, at the age of fifteen.  After working as a traveling peddler based out of Jackson, Tennessee, Olshine moved to Decatur and opened a clothing store named Olshine’s.  Olshine was quite successful; by 1920, he was able to afford a live-in cook to help his wife Teresa and their two young children.  Russian-born Eli Cohen, who first settled in England, came to the United States in 1912.  By 1920, he was living in Decatur with his wife and three children and owned a grocery store.  Aaron Cohen and Samuel Ory owned a dry goods store together, named Ory-Cohen. These Jewish merchants would close their stores for the High Holidays, running ads in the local newspaper to inform their customers.

By the early 20th century, there were enough Jews in Decatur to form a congregation.  Founded in 1916, B’nai Jacob, was small and short-lived.  By 1919, it had 22 members; M.S. Barnett, a 67-year-old German-born dry goods merchant, was the president of the congregation while Ike J. Kuhn was the secretary. The group met in a local Masonic lodge, never owning their own building. The Hebrew school had two classes, two teachers, and sixteen students in 1919. They also bought land for a Jewish burial ground within the larger city cemetery.  The congregation seems to have disbanded sometime before World War II, as Decatur Jews began to travel to nearby Huntsville or Florence for services.

Jews were generally accepted into the civic life of Decatur.  In the late 19th century, Louis Falk was a big booster of the local economy.  He was involved with various local industries and institutions, serving on the boards of the Morgan County Building and Loan Association, South & North Railway Company, and the First National Bank.  He belonged to several local fraternal societies, including the Masons, the Knight of Pythias, as well as B’nai B’rith.  He also served on the local school board and as a city alderman.  Although Jews were seen as different by the Christian majority, they enjoyed social acceptance for the most part.  For instance, Jews were allowed to join the local country club.  Intermarriage between local Jews and gentiles was also quite common throughout the 20th century.

After World War II, a few Holocaust survivors, including Julian and Frances Hershfeld, settled in Decatur.  A highly educated boy in Warsaw, Julian was a child prodigy on the piano, and eventually attended the Sorbonne. He ultimately graduated with a doctorate in Textile Science. Arrested by the Nazis, he was sent to the Lodz Ghetto, where he met Frances. The Nazis soon transferred him to Auschwitz and then ultimately to the Buchenwald concentration camp. He was made a slave laborer for a pharmaceutical company, a task that left him with permanent damage to his lungs. As the liberating Russians drew near to the camp in 1945, the Nazis moved to expedite their mass murders. Julian was so emaciated that he was covered up with a burlap sack and left for dead. After Buchenwald was liberated and Hershfeld was discovered alive, he reunited with Frances; they married in 1946. They eventually moved to Decatur and had two children. Julian had a successful career in Decatur working as a textile scientist for a major corporation.  He later moved to Gastonia, North Carolina, where he eventually passed away due to the chemical scars inflicted by the Nazis decades earlier.

Morley DenboOther Jews moved to Decatur after the war.  Morley Denbo, having grown up in Pulaski, Tennessee, arrived in Decatur in 1950 with his wife Barbara and daughter Leslie. He had served in the U.S. Navy in the waning days of World War II, and subsequently resumed his college education at the University of Alabama. From there, he worked in Bristol, Tennessee at his father-in-law’s scrap metal business before deciding to buy his uncle’s firm in Decatur.  By the time he reached the town, the congregation wasn’t active and most Jews had left. Yet over the next half-century, he built his scrap metal business into a major commercial empire; today, his son Joel runs the business, now called Tennessee Valley Recycling.

There are hardly any population estimates for the Decatur Jewish community.  One survey in 1937 found that fifty Jews lived in town.  While the exact figures are unknown, it’s clear that the Decatur Jewish community was never large.  In recent decades, it has become even smaller.  In 2009, only about fifteen Jews lived in Decatur.