Boppard
General information: First Jewish presence: 1179; peak Jewish population: 127 in 1905; Jewish population in 1933: 92
Summary:
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.
Author / Sources: Bronagh Bowerman
Sources: AJJB, EJL, FJG, SG-RPS, YV
Sources: AJJB, EJL, FJG, SG-RPS, YV
Located in: rhineland-palatinate