Ratibor, Germany

RATIBOR (Pol. Raciborz) Upper Silesia, Germany, today Poland. Jews are first mentioned in 1367. They lived on their own street where a synagogue was located and earned their livelihoods from petty trade. They also engaged in moneylending, crafts, and the cattle trade. Although in 1510 the city received a de non tolerandis Judaeis privilege, renewed by Charles VI in 1736, there is nonetheless evidence that Jews continued to live there at least until the mid-16th century, and afterwards well into the late 17th century. In 1831 the Jewish population was 478. It rose to 1,500 in 1881 and then began to drop, to 948 in 1900 and 770 in 1910. The community established a cemetery in 1813 and a synagogue in 1887 and maintained a school, welfare agencies, and various social organizations. Also active were a literary and historical society, the Society for Liberal Judaism, and branches of the Central Union (C.V.) and the Zionist movement. The Jewish population was 640 at the beginning of the Nazi era. The Nazi racial laws were not applied until July 1937 owing to the existence of the League of Nations' minority rights convention. Emigration was nonetheless stepped up. After the implementation of the racial laws, the local Jewish school served Jewish children from neighboring communities expelled from their own schools. On Kristallnacht (9 10 November 1938), the synagogue was set on fire and almost all Jewish stores were destroyed along with Jewish-owned distillation facilities. In 1939, 282 Jews remained. Deportations to the death camps in General Gouvemement territory began in July 1942. On 19 November 1942, one Jew remained, apparently married to a non-Jew.