Goeppingen, Germany

The early Jewish community was destroyed in the Black Death persecutions of 1348-49. The few Jews there in 1462 were expelled soon after and only two families were present in 1849. Another two, arriving from Jebenhausen in the following year, established the local textile industry. By 1880 there were 242 Jews in Goeppingen (total 22,373). In the Nazi era, Jewish public life was maintained in the face of growing anti-Jewish agitation. The first Zionist meeting was held in 1933, and a Jewish elementary school was opened in 1936. The influx of Jews from other settlements balanced those leaving, so that a population of over 300 was maintained for most of the 1930s. The synagogue was burned on “Kristallnacht” (9-10 November 1938) and Jewish stores were looted. A total of 259 Jews emigrated. The 84 who remained were expelled in 1941 and 1942, most to the Riga and Theresienstadt ghettoes, where they met their end.