Cochem

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COCHEM

COCHEM , town in Germany. Jews are first mentioned there in 1242. In 1287, following the *blood libel of Oberwesel, 17 Jews, including 10 children, were massacred in Cochem. In the 14th century the town came under the rule of the archbishops of *Trier, and Jews are frequently mentioned in documents concerning moneylending and property transactions. Cochem Jews were victims of the *Armleder massacres in 1337 and the *Black Death massacres in 1349. There were Jews living in Cochem in 1359; they were expelled in 1418. In the middle of the 16th century Jews are again mentioned in the town but they were expelled in 1589. There is information about Jews in Cochem from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The community numbered 49 in 1834, 104 in 1894, and 49 in 1932. It came to an end during the Holocaust. The synagogue, built in 1861, was destroyed in 1945. The Jewish cemetery has been preserved.

bibliography:

Germ Jud, 2 (1968), 151–3. add. bibliography: A. Scheindl (ed.), Spuren der Vergangenheit (1996).

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