BIDACHE

BIDACHE, village in the department of the Basses-Pyrénées, S. France. A Jewish community composed of Marrano refugees from Spain and Portugal was established there from the beginning of the 17th century. The duke of Gramont granted his protection to the Jews of Bidache in statutes of 1665 and 1668. When at the beginning of the 18th century the Auch district authority wished to conduct a general tax assessment on the Portuguese Jews in the area, the duke of Gramont intervened on behalf of the Jews in Bidache, including those not of Portuguese origin, who "enjoyed the privilege of nonassessment." The Jewish community dispersed after the French Revolution and was never reestablished. The former cemeterylies on the Port Road outside Bidache and contains tombstones often with epitaphs in both Hebrew and Portuguese. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gross, Gal Jud, 114; J. Labrit, Les Gramont, souverains de Bidache (1939), 97–99. (Bernhard Blumenkranz)