ARNSTADT:

Capital of the German principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, on the River Gera. In 1264 (Aug. 5 and 7) there were outbreaks here against the Jews, in which five were slain (the learned R. Shabbethai ben Samuel; Joseph and Kasser, sons of R. Jehiel bar Ḥakim; R. David Cohen, of Mayence; and the boy Eliezer, son of R. Simson, of France). In Feb., 1349, the Black Death raged in the town. In 1441 the Jews were expelled from the town. In 1466 another expulsion took place, "because they[the Jews] would not be baptized." In 1521 Jews are still mentioned as dwelling there, and as possessing a synagogue, which occupied the site later covered by the Bartholomew Cloister. Their cemetery in the Ichterhäuser-strasse is also mentioned. In the seventeenth century there were no Jews in Arnstadt, though in the nineteenth century a congregation was again formed there. In 1900, in a population of about 14,000, there were 97 Jews.

Bibliography:
  • Aronius, Regesten zur Gesch. der Juden, p. 287, No. 695;
  • Salfeld, Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches, pp. 99, 143, 255, 268, 274, 284.
G. A. F.
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