Boppard, Germany

BOPPARD, town in Coblenz district in Germany. The earliest reference to Jews there dates from the last quarter of the 11^th century. In 1179, 13 Jews in Boppard were murdered following a *blood libel . In 1196, eight Jews in the town were massacred by Crusaders. Subsequently, the leader of the community, the learned and wealthy R. Hezekiah b. Reuben, managed to secure the protection of the authorities. A Jewish quarter (Judengasse, vicus Judaeorum) is first mentioned in Boppard in 1248–50. In 1287, 40 Jews were massacred in Boppard and Oberwesel: others during the *Armleder persecutions of 1337 and during the Black Death in 1349. In 1312, Boppard ceased to be a free imperial city and the Jews came under the jurisdiction of the archbishops of *Trier . In 1418, all Jews were expelled from the archbishopric. Jews resettled in Boppard in 1532, and by the 1560s numbered approximately 32 families. There were 53 Jews living in Boppard at the beginning of the 19^th century, 101 in 1880, 80 in 1895, 108 in 1910, 125 in 1926–27 (out of a total population of 7,000), and 92 in 1933. At this time the community possessed a synagogue, a cemetery, and two charitable institutions. Under the Nazi regime, two-thirds of the Jews managed to leave by 1941. On November 9, 1938 (Kristallnacht), the interior of the synagogue was destroyed, although the building was spared because of its proximity to neighboring buildings. The Torah scrolls, ritual objects, and communal archives were thrown into the street and destroyed. In 1942, the 32 remaining Jews were deported to the East. Three Jews settled in Boppard after World War II but subsequently left.

Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.