SCHLETTSTADT:
By: Isidore Singer, Marc Levi
Town in Alsace, about 27 miles south-southwest of Strasburg. In the year 1349, under Emperor Charles IV., its Jewish inhabitants suffered during the general persecution of Jews throughout Germany. They were expelled from the town, but later returned; they then, however, became the object of new persecutions, which caused Charles in 1387 to place the town under a ban for two years. The synagogue building dating from this time still exists. It has served for different purposes; thus, before the war of 1870 it was used as an arsenal and was called "Sainte Barbe." The burial-ground dates from the thirteenth century, and is one of the largest in the country; tombstones bearing inscriptions of the year 1400 have been found. During the time that Jews were forbidden to live in the city and during the various revolutions after 1350 most of the tombstones were carried off and used in building houses, barns, and fences.
From the middle of the fourteenth century until the commencement of the nineteenth no Jew was allowed to pass the night within the town limits. All those that were in Schlettstadt on business had to leave before night, a bell being rung to announce the hour for departure. The bell and bell-tower are still in existence. The first Jew to receive permission to settle in Schlettstadt (1806) was Solomon Moise, a German, who subsequently changed his name to Solomon Dreyfus.
Since 1862 the town has been the seat of a rabbinate. It has a modern synagogue designed in the Russian style. The first rabbi was Meyer Ulmo (d. c. 1886), who was succeeded by the present rabbi, Benjamin Wahl.
The Jews of Schlettstadt at present (1905) number about 230 in a total population of 9,135.
