AMBERG

AMBERG, city in Bavaria, Germany. Jews had settled in Amberg before 1294, when mention is made in a municipal document of their privileges. Thirteen members of the community were killed in 1298 in the rindfleisch massacres; a few escaped. In 1347 six families received permission to reside in Amberg. Sussman, the Hochmeister (rabbi) of Regensburg, was permitted to open a yeshivah in Amberg in 1364. In 1403 the community was expelled, and a church was erected on the site of the synagogue. The community was not reestablished until after 1872. The number of Jews increased from a single Jewish resident in 1810 to 101 (0.5% of the total population) in 1900; 64 remained by 1933, and only 31 by 1939. On November 10, 1938, the furnishings of the synagogue, Jewish shops, and homes were demolished by the Nazis. Twelve Jews remained in 1942, of which ten were deported to Piaski and Theresienstadt. A few Jews returned after the Holocaust. The reorganized Jewish community numbered 67 in 1965. As a result of the immigration of Jews from the Former Soviet Union, the number of community members rose from 74 in 1989 to 275 in 2003. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Weinberg, Geschichte der Juden in der Oberpfalz, 3 vols. (1909–27), index; Germ Jud, 2 (1968), 13–14; Germ Jud, 3 (1987), 13–15; PK Germanyah. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Doerner, Juden in Amberg, Juden in Bayern (2003).