The Hirsch workgroup was founded in the spring of 2018; it deals with the history of the Hirsch family which is still insufficiently researched.

The Hirsch family lived in Tübingen for three generations — from 1850 to 1938 — longer than any other Jewish family. Leopold Hirsch (1807-1875) from Wankheim was the first Jew to win Tübingen citizenship in 1850 (the right to settle there and start a business) as part of the emancipation of the Jews in the 19th century. His shop for men's clothing at Kronenstraße 6 existed until 1938 and then had to be sold under pressure from the National Socialists. The Hirsch family was forced to flee and settled in Johannesburg, South Africa. A son of Leopold Hirsch, Robert Hirsch (1857-1939), was a lawyer in Ulm and wrote an autobiography in the 1930s, which will be the focus of a publication on the Hirsch family, which the workgroup would like to release one day, in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Wilfried Setzler.

In October 2018, a temporary stela monument on the Tübingen History Trail to National Socialism was set up in front of the Kronenstraße 6. Members of the Tübingen History Workshop also presented the history of the Hirsch family in a scenic reading. Photo: History Workshop Tübingen e.V.

In 2019, the Department of Art, Culture and International Relations of the University City of Tübingen, in cooperation with the History Workshop Tübingen, especially the Workgroup Hirsch invited Martin and Ari Silbermann, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Leopold Hirsch (1876-1966), to visit Tübingen. Detailed video interviews were recorded with both. Ari Silbermann is a rabbi and gave an impressive speech at the memorial ceremony on November 2019 at the monument Synagogenplatz.

A trip to Johannesburg to view Martin Silbermann's family documents has not yet been possible.

In May of 2024 a granddaughter of Leopold Hirschs, Carol Rovetti, is going to visit Tübingen. On this occasion there will be a new stela set up in front of the Kronenstraße 6. The invitation is by the Department of Art, Culture and International Relations of the University City of Tübingen, in cooperation with the History Workshop Tübingen.

Members of the Hirsch family Workgroup are: Ulrike Baumgärtner, Monika Schober, Martin Ulmer. Johanna Rost supports individual activities.