BUDWEIS:

By: Gotthard Deutsch, A. Freimann

City of Bohemia. Jews were settled there in the first half of the fourteenth century, possibly earlier. In 1337 the community was destroyed by the Flagellants. In 1341 King John I. of Bohemia again admitted two Jews, who were granted remission of taxes for a period of ten years. They were compelled, however, to pay an impost to the city, which was set apart to cancel its debts to foreign Jews. They also erected a synagogue, which fact shows that many other Jews joined them. In 1390 a Jews' quarter ("vicus Judæorum") is mentioned; it was situated close to the parsonage, because the Jews, on account of their financial and commercial importance, had to be near the authorities.

A responsum concerning the Jews of Budweis is recorded in the fifteenth century. In 1506, Jews were expelled from Budweis, and were not permitted even to visit the annual fairs. Hence the "persecutions in Budweis" in 1505, during which thirteen Jewish women drowned themselves, and those of 1564, which are mentioned in the Nachod "Memorbuch," can not refer to the Bohemian city of Budweis.

Since 1848, Jews have again lived at Budweis, and they have had an incorporated congregation since 1859. The cemetery was laid out in 1866; the synagogue (see p. 421), a building in the pointed style of architecture, was built by Max Fleischer of Vienna. There is also an organization of Jewish artisans in the city. The district rabbi is (1902) Adam Wunder. The nineteen communities of the district of Budweis include 252 families, numbering 1,263 persons.

D. A. F.