SCHWEINFURT

SCHWEINFURT , city in Bavaria. A Jew is first mentioned there in 1212; the community dates from at least 1243. Jewsacted as moneylenders to the local aristocracy in 1310. The community suffered during the *Rindfleisch persecutions in 1298 and the *Black Death massacres of 1349. Emperor Charles iv permitted Jews to return to the city in 1368. Both a synagogue and a cemetery are recorded in the 15^th century; the oldest tombstone dates from 1432. A Judengasse is mentioned in 1437. There were 100 Jews in the city in 1553, but two years later they were expelled. No Jews returned to Schweinfurt until the mid-19^th century. There were 27 Jews in the city in 1852, and a community was organized in 1864. Its numbers rose to 490 (3.9% of the total population) in 1880 but subsequently declined to 363 in 1933 and 120 in 1939. A cemetery was consecrated in 1874 and a synagogue in 1877. Schweinfurt was the headquarters of the Union of Orthodox Communities in Bavaria during R. Solomon Stein's tenure (1894–1934). On Nov. 10, 1938, most Jewish homes were ransacked, the synagogue was looted and desecrated, and the community buildings were destroyed. On April 24, 1942, there were 23 persons deported to *Izbica near Lublin, and 54 more were sent to *Theresienstadt on October 9. Three Jews lived in Schweinfurt in 1969. There are memorials at the site of the destroyed synagogue (consecrated in 1973) and at the Jewish cemetery.

bibliography:

S. Stein, Geschichte der Juden in Schweinfurt (1899); idem, Die israelitische Kultusgemeinde zu Schweinfurt a. Main seit ihrer Neubegruendung (1914); fjw, 297; Germania Judaica, 1 (1963), 323–24; 2 (1968), 3 (1987), 756; 1353–60; pk Bavaryah. add. bibliography: B. Ophir and F. Wiesemann (eds.), Die juedischen Gemeinden in Bayern 1918–1945 (1979), 398–401; Dokumente juedischen Lebens in Schweinfurt (Veroeffentlichungen des Stadtarchivs Schweinfurt, vol. 4) (1990); I. Schwierz, Steinerne Zeugnisse juedischen Le bens in Bayern (1992²), 111; T. Harburger, Die Inventarisierung juedischer Kunst- und Kulturdenkmaeler in Bayern, vol. 3 (1998), 703–5. website: www.alemannia-judaica.de.