Karlovy Vary, Czechoslovakia

KARLOVY VARY (Karlsbad) Bohemia (Sudetenland), Czechoslovakia. Despite a 350-year residence ban, there were 71 Jews present in Karlovy Vary in 1839. In 1857, a Jewish philanthropic organization in Prague established a sanatorium for needy Jews in Karlovy Vary, the first of its kind. A community was officially formed in 1868, reaching a population of 1,069 (7.5% of the total) in 1890 and 2,115 in 1921. A Great Synagogue was consecrated in 1877. Dr. Ignatz Ziegler served as rabbi from 1888 to 1938 and was decorated by Francis Joseph. Many prominent Jews, including the Rothschilds, Hayyim Nahman Bialik, and contingents of Hasidim visited the local spa, which provided many Jews with a livelihood. The Zionists became active before WWI, making Karlovy Vary a center of their activity. During WWI, about 50 East European families formed an Orthodox congregation. All but four of the Jews lell the city during the Sudetenland crisis of fall 1938. The Nazis razed the synagogue and destroyed Jewish stores and in 1942-45 deported 166 Jews from Karlovy Vary and the surrounding area to the Theresienstadt ghetto; 82 survived. The postwar community, including Marianske Lazne, numbered 971 in 1948, mostly refugees from Carpatho-Russia.