Schweinfurt, Germany

Jews are known from the early 13th century, and suffered greatly in the Rindfleisch massacres of 1298 and the Black Death persecutions of 1348-49. Under King Sigismund in 1420 the Jews were granted various rights but were forced to pay exorbitant taxes to the town. Conditions worsened under Emperor Ferdinand in the 16th century. In 1544 the municipality shut down the synagogue and in 1555 the Jews were expelled. The modern community began to develop significantly in the 1860s, reaching a population of 490 (total 12,601) in 1880. Schweinfurt became the seat of the district rabbinate in 1864. Anti-Semitism intensified under the Weimar Republic. In 1933 there were 363 Jews in Schweinfurt. Many others from the surrounding villages settled there in the Nazi era. The community had local branches of the Central Union (C.V.) and Zionist Organization. A Jewish public school was also in operation. By 1937 many Jewish cattle traders had to liquidate their businesses in the wake of the economic boycott. On “Kristallnacht” (9-10 November 1938), Jews were attacked and their homes and shops damaged along with the synagogue. About 30 were sent to the Dachau concentration camp. In 1933-42, 225 Jews left Germany, including 110 for the U.S. Another 221 left for other German cities. Of those remaining in 1942, 30 were deported to Izbica in the Lublin district (Poland) via Wuerzburg on 24 April and 60 to the Theresienstadt ghetto in September 1942.