KITZINGEN, city in Bavaria, Germany. In 1147 the local Jewish community was subordinate to that of *Wuerzburg, but soon after, it attained independent status. Eleven Jews were tortured and killed following a *blood libel in 1243; 15 died during the *Rindfleisch massacres (1298); in 1336 many lost their lives in the *Armleder uprising; the *Black Death persecutions (1349) finally annihilated the community. In 1490, 1529, and 1538, returning Jews were granted letters of protection and a synagogue was built in the 16th century (demolished in a World War II air raid). Expulsion was narrowly averted in 1516 and 1608. In 1641 there were 63 Jews living in Kitzingen, but they were subject to severe restrictions and exactions. A number of renowned scholars and rabbis bore the city's name. Persecutions in 1778 were followed by total expulsion in 1798. After the emancipation (1861) Jewish wine and cattle merchants resettled in the city; the community numbered 57 in 1867, 337 (4.8% of the total population) in 1880, and 478 in 1910. Rabbi E. Adler (1868–1911) was also district rabbi (from 1871). He was followed in office by R. Joseph Wohlgemuth (1914–35). Fourteen social, religious, and cultural organizations were active in the strictly Orthodox community.
On Kristallnacht (Nov. 10, 1938), the second synagogue (consecrated in 1883) was desecrated and the scrolls burned; many homes were ransacked. Of the 360 Jews in the city in 1933, 192 emigrated, including 84 to the U.S. and 52 to Palestine, and 111 left for other German cities. Of those in the city in 1942, 76 were deported to *Izbica Lubelska and 19 to *Theresienstadt.
N. Bamberger, Geschichte der Juden von Kitzingen… (1908); Germ Jud, 1 (1963), 505; 2 (1968), 402–3; FJW, 293–4.
Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.