Boppard

First Jewish presence: 1179; peak Jewish population: 127 in 1905; Jewish population in 1933: 92

The earliest record of a Jewish presence in Boppard refers to the murder of 13 local Jews following a blood libel in 1179; eight others were killed there in 1196. It was not until the mid-18th century that a lasting Jewish presence was established in the town. The Jews of Boppard had opened a Jewish school by 1356, a cemetery in the 17th century and a new cemetery in the mid-19th century, the last of which was renovated in 1866. We also know that the community’s rented prayer room—it was located in a private residence—was destroyed by fire in 1865, after which, in 1866, a new prayer room suffered the same fate. A synagogue was inaugurated in 1867 and renovated in 1927. In 1933, two chevra kadisha organizations (one for men, the other for women) were active in the community, as were branches of nationwide Jewish organizations. Twenty Jewish children received religious instruction that year. In Boppard, Jews were assaulted on Pogrom Night, and Jewish-owned homes and businesses were wrecked. On the afternoon of November 10, Nazis destroyed the synagogue’s interior and burned its Torah scrolls and furniture. Jewish men were arrested the next day and forced to destroy what remained of the synagogue’s interior furnishings. Ten Jewish men were sent to concentration camps. Most Jews left Boppard before 1941. In April 1942, the town’s remaining 32 Jews were sent to Bad Salzig, from where some were deported to the East (the elderly were sent to Theresienstadt). Two Jews married to Christians remained in Boppard after the initial deportations: one eventually died in Auschwitz in 1943, the other was deported to Theresienstadt in 1944. At least 52 Boppard Jews perished in the Shoah. The Jewish cemetery houses a commemorative monument.

Bronagh Bowerman

Copyright: Pogrom Night 1938 - A Memorial to the Destroyed Synagogues of Germany/ Germansynagogues.com

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