CHAMBÉRY

CHAMBÉRY (Heb. קנבארי), town in S.E. France, formerly capital of the duchy of Savoy. Jews are mentioned there from the beginning of the 14th century. They were not then living in the present Rue Juiverie, but in the nearby Rue Trésorerie. They were sufficiently numerous to figure not infrequently in criminal cases. In 1348, the Jews in the district, chiefly those living in nearby Montmélian, were accused of having spread the black death , and imprisoned in Chambéry. Anti-Jewish riots followed, for which four of the ringleaders were executed; but at the ensuing trial, 11 Jews were condemned to death and burned at the stake. Nevertheless the town continued to employ the services of a Jewish physician, Maître Palmière, from 1349 and another from 1396 to 1402 and in 1418. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the community was known for its scholars, among them joseph colon . During the 18th century, the interests of individual Jews temporarily residing in Chambéry were protected by the community of Turin. During World War II, a large number of Jews found refuge in Chambéry. In September, 1943, they were evacuated to the department of Alpes-Maritimes. The small community in Chambéry in 1968 numbered 120, the majority from North Africa. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Perousse, Le Vieux Chambéry (1937), 20ff.; Gross, Gal Jud, 597f.; Gerson, in: rej, 8 (1884), 241–2; Z. Szajkowski, Analytical Franco-Jewish Gazetteer (1966), 257. (Bernhard Blumenkranz)