Saverne
SAVERNE
SAVERNE (Ger. Zabern ), town in the department of Bas-Rhin, in eastern France. The presence of Jews in Saverne is confirmed from at least 1334. The community suffered during the *Armleder persecutions in 1338. At the time of the *Black Death in 1349 there was only one Jewish family in Saverne, which was compelled to leave the town. By 1622 there were a few Jews again living in Saverne; in 1716, there were seven families and 21 in 1784. The community numbered over 300 persons at the close of the 19th century. It maintained a Jewish primary school (founded in 1857). A new synagogue was opened in 1898. Its population subsequently declined. During World War ii, 30 Jews of Saverne died during deportation. The community numbered about 100 in 1970.
bibliography:
D. Fischer, Etude sur l'organisation municipale de Saverne (1865), 30f.; O. Meyer, La régence épiscopale de Saverne (1935), index; L. Bachmeyer, Pages d'histoire de Saverne (1965), 11, 32, 39; Z. Szajkowski, Analytical Franco-Jewish Gazetteer, 1939–1945 (1966), 250; Germ Jud, 2.2 (1968), 937f.
[Bernhard Blumenkranz]