Hirschberg Riesengebirge, Germany

HIRSCHBERG IM RIESENGEBIRGE (Polish Jelenia Gora) Lower Silesia, Germany, today in Poland. Jews were present in the first half of the 14th century but the modern community was only founded in the early 18th century. The Jewish population was 37 in 1810 and reached a peak of 450 in 1880. Cemeteries were opened in 1820 and 1880 and a synagogue was consecrated in 1853. In 1931, the Jewish population was 184. The first three Jewish victims of the Nazi regime were three men along with the Christian wife of one of them who were murdered by the SS on the Night of the Long Knives (the Nazi Party purge of 30 June 1934). The victims were arrested along with Communists, clergymen and others suspected of opposition to the regime. In 1937, 146 Jews still remained. On Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938), rioters destroyed the synagogue, part of the cemetery, and Jewish business premises. Sixty-seven Jews remained in 1939, and nine intermarried Jews after the deportations to the Theresienstadt ghetto and General Gouvemement territory.