POBEZOVICE NA SUMAVE

POBEZOVICE NA SUMAVE (Czech Pobežovice na Šumavě ; Ger. Ronsperg ), village in W. Bohemia. The Jewish community there apparently existed in the 16^th century, although the first documentary mention is not until 1664. Until the beginning of the 19^th century it was the seat of the district rabbi for *Pilsen and *Klatovy, an office held by Falk Kohner, Samuel Kohn-Kostelhore, and Eleasar *Loew (1810–12). In 1724 there were 17 Jewish families in Pobezovice. The synagogue – the third in Pobezovice – was built in 1816 on the initiative of R. Joel, father of R. Bezalel *Ranshburg. Great interest was aroused in 1927 by the discovery, in the mikveh, of a stone bearing a Hebrew inscription reporting that *Israel b. Eliezer Ba'al Shem Tov had bathed there and pronounced the waters salutary. Consequently, Ḥasidim went there to seek cures. An extract from the confiscated pinkas (1773) records a tradition about the community's destruction in 1096, describes *Shabbatean and *Frankist activities, and mentions the visit of the Ba'al Shem Tov in 1744. Pobezovice was the birthplace of R. Moses Loeb Bloch and the pharmacologist Emil *Starkenstein, and the residence of Heinrich *Coudenhove-Kalergi, whose library of Judaica was deposited in the synagogue. The Jewish population declined from 212 persons in 1848 to 193 in 1893, 63 in 1921, and 41 (2% of the total population) in 1930. With the annexation of the Sudeten area by Germany in 1938, almost the entire community fled, the remaining few being expelled to no-man's-land. The synagogue was burnt down on Kristallnacht, Nov. 10, 1938, and the cemetery was destroyed. Most of the Jews managed to emigrate, mainly to England and Palestine.

bibliography:

M. Gold, Die Juden und Judengemeinden Boehmens in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart (1934), 575–6; B'nai B'rith, Monatsblaetter… des čechoslowakischen Staats, 6 (1927), 320–8; 7 (1928), 40–48; Selbstwehr (Sept. 9, 1927).

[Meir Lamed]