KADAN

KADAN (Czech Kadaň; Ger. Kaaden), town in N.W. Bohemia, Czech Republic. Jews are first mentioned in Kadan in 1339 and 1341. Between 1465 and 1517, seven Jews were formally granted citizenship. However, after the town had bought its freedom from the local lord, the Jews were expelled in 1520. After receiving permission from Frederick II, one Jewish family settled in Kadan in 1624; more followed (mainly from udlice ) in spite of protests by the townsmen. This new community was expelled in 1650 after the execution of a visiting Jew on charges of killing a Christian child. The body of the child was preserved in a special altar in the church (which was burned down in 1810). There were ten Jewish families in the town in 1724 and nine in 1798. More lived there from the middle of the 19th century, totaling 118 in the district in 1869 and 219 in 1881. The congregation, founded in 1874, was approved in 1884 and legally became a community in 1893. From 409 in 1910, the number of Jews fell to 116 (1.5% of the total population) in 1930. The community was dispersed at the time of the Nazi occupation of the Sudeten area and the synagogue was set on fire on Nov. 10, 1938. Most of the Jews who remained in the Protectorate were sent to the death camps. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Hoffmann, in: H. Gold (ed.), Juden und Judengemeinden Boehmens… (1934), 223–45; Germ Jud, 2 (1968), 384. (Jan Herman)