Rintfleisch-Pogrom

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The Rintfleisch-Pogrom (or Rintfleisch-Persecution) was the most egregious of a number of mass murders of Jews in Franconia in the year 1298.

It was set during the civil strife between King Adolf of Nassau and his rival Albert of Austria, when imperial authority, traditionally concerned with the protection of the Jews, had temporarily collapsed.

The Jews of the Franconian town of Röttingen were accused of having obtained and desecrated a consecrated host. One "Lord Rintfleisch", whom the sources refer to either as an impoverished knight or a butcher (the name "Rindfleisch" means "beef" in German), pretended to have received a mandate from heaven to avenge the sacrilege and exterminate the Jews. He gathered a mob around him and burned the Jews of Röttingen on April 20. After this, he and his mob went from town to town and killed all Jews that fell into their power, destroying the communities at Rothenburg-on-Tauber, Würzburg, Nördlingen and Bamberg.

In Nuremberg, the Jews sought refuge in the fortress and were assisted by the Christian citizens, but Rintfleisch overcame the defenders and butchered the Jews on 1 August. The Nürnberger Memorbuch contains the names of numerous murdered Jews, among them Mordecai ben Hillel, a pupil of Jehiel ben Asher, with his wife and children. The communities at Regensburg and Augsburg alone escaped the slaughter, as they were protected by the cities' magistrates.

Spreading from Franconia to Bavaria and Austria, the persecutors destroyed about 120 communities.

King Albert I, having overcome Adolf and assumed the crown, finally had Rintfleisch arrested and hanged. The cities in which Jews had been killed were required to pay fines to the king.

Bibliography (of Jewish Encyclopedia)

Grätz, Gesch. vii. 252 et seq., Leipzig, 1873; Jost, Gesch. vii. 255, Berlin, 1827.

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