KAISERSLAUTERN

KAISERSLAUTERN, city in Germany. The first documentary evidence for the existence of a Jewish community dates from 1242, but it is probably somewhat older. The community suffered during the black death persecution of 1348–49. The Jews lived on a Judengasse and the community possessed both a cemetery and a synagogue, built by those who returned after the Black Death persecutions. Between 1383 and 1388 the Jews were expelled "forever," but during the 17th and 18th centuries a few Schutzjuden ("protected Jews") were tolerated. The community was reestablished after emancipation was granted during French rule (1797–1814). From 1828 it had a rabbi. A synagogue, built in 1823, was rebuilt in 1848, and a Reform synagogue was dedicated in 1886 (the massive neo-Gothic structure was sold and dismantled before November 1938). A cemetery was consecrated in 1858. In 1840 the community totaled 118 persons, and 716 (2.72% of the total) in 1880. The number remained stable until Nazi persecution reduced it to 395 in 1937 and 85 in 1939. Of the 74 remaining, 48 were deported to gurs on Oct. 22, 1940. In 1951 a synagogue was consecrated and in 1965 a community center serving about 150 Jews in the town and neighborhood was opened. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Germ Jud, 1 (1963), 139–40; 2 (1968), 384–5; M. Weinberg, Geschichte der Oberpfalz, 3 (1909); H. Friedel, in: Pfaelzer Heimat (1965), 16, 41ff.; S. Baron, in: Bayerischeisraelitische Gemeindezeitung, 12 (1936), 310–2.