Presentation Candlesticks

These candlesticks were presented to Jakob Dessauer of Bamberg by the Jewish community in 1866.
Born in Demmelsdorf in 1807, he studied medicine at the University of Wurzburg, becoming a doctor in 1836. In 1836 the Jewish community of Bamberg petitioned the government for approval to appoint Dr. Dessauer as the communal doctor, stating that while most Jewish communities had doctors of thier own faith, Bamberg no longer had a Jewish doctor as they had in the past. Dr. Dessauer was duly appointed, and became a prominent community member, serving on the Board and later assuming the Presidency of the community. He oversaw the enlargement of the old synagogue and the creation of a new cemetery. A history of Bamberg records how on January 1, 1866, his 25th year of serving as President, the community sent a deputation to present him with a gift expressing thier thanks. Dr. Dessauer also treated non-Jews: he was physician to the exiled Queen of Greece, and received the Bavarian and Saxony Service Cross in 1870/71.