BOURG-EN-BRESSE

BOURG-EN-BRESSE, capital of the department of the Ain, eastern France. The first mention of Jews in Bourg-en-Bresse dates from 1277 when the Jews and the Cahorsins paid 50 livres to the lady of the manor. An agreement of 1438 between the city guilds and the Jews of Bourg-en-Bresse regarding their share in the expenses for fortifications was signed by 11 heads of families. The Jews then constituted some 3% of the population. The census of 1512 notes that there were no longer Jews living in Bourg-en-Bresse. At the beginning of World War II, 10 to 15 Jewish families were living in the town. Seven of the Jews arrested during the raids of July 10, 1944, were executed. There has been no subsequent Jewish community. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: C. Jarrin, Essai sur l'histoire de Bourg-en-Bresse (1876), 19, 29; idem, La Bresse…, 2 (1885), 21; Gerson, in: Revue savoisienne, 26 (1885), 84ff.; J. Brossard, Cartulaire de Bourg-en-Bresse (1882), no. 90 (cf. no. 148); Z. Szajkowski, Analytical Franco-Jewish Gazetteer (1966), 149. (Bernhard Blumenkranz)