COBURG

COBURG, city in Bavaria, Germany. At the beginning of the 14th century mention is made of a "Jewish lane" in the city, closed by the "Jews' gate," and a village near Coburg is called Judenbach. The community suffered in the black death massacres, 1348–49. By 1420 it consisted of only eight families which in 1423 received permission to establish a cemetery, later known as "Jews' hill." In 1447 the Jews were expelled from the city, and the synagogue and cemetery were confiscated. Jews again began to settle in Coburg during the second half of the 19th century. In the 1870s they were granted permission to lease permanently the Church of St. Nicholas for conversion into a synagogue. From 1931 an unofficial boycott was imposed against Jewish businesses. In 1932 the municipal council abrogated the lease of St. Nicholas Church, and a year later the synagogue was closed down (it still remains standing). On March 25, 1933, 40 Jews in Coburg were arrested and tortured. They were not released until the affair became internationally known. On November 9, 1938, all Jewish men were interned and Jewish homes, shops, and the school were destroyed. The community numbered 68 in 1869, 210 (1.3% of the total population) in 1880, 316 (1.3%) in 1925, and 233 (0.9%) in 1933. Around 150 managed to leave by 1942, either emigrating from Germany or moving to other German cities. The rest were deported to Riga, Izbica, and Theresienstadt in three transports between November 1941 and September 1942. The community was not reestablished after the war. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Germ Jud, 2 (1968), 150–1. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Fromm, Die Coburger Juden (2001). (Ze'ev Wilhem Falk)