Editing Franconia (section)

==== Judaism ====
Before the [[Nazi era]], Franconia was a region with significant Jewish communities, most of whom were [[Ashkenazi Jews]].<ref name="juden1">Steven M. Lowenstein: ''Alltag und Tradition: Eine fränkisch-jüdische Geographie.'' In: ''Die Juden in Franken.'' (= ''Studien zur Jüdischen Geschichte und Kultur in Bayern'', Volume 5) Munich, 2012 pp.&nbsp;5-24, here: pg. 5.</ref> The first Jewish communities appeared in Franconia in the 12th and 13th&nbsp;centuries and thus later than, for example, in [[Regensburg]]. In the Middle Ages, Franconia was a stronghold of [[Torah]] studies. But Franconia also began to exclude the Jewish populations particularly early on. For example, there were two Jewish massacres – the [[Rintfleisch massacres]] of 1298 and the [[Armleder Uprising]] of 1336-1338 – and in the 15th and 16th centuries, many cities exiled their Jewish populations, which is why many Jews settled in rural communities. Franconia also rose to early prominence in the discrimination against Jews during the Nazi era.<ref name="juden2">Steven M. Lowenstein: ''Alltag und Tradition: Eine fränkisch-jüdische Geographie.'' In: ''Die Juden in Franken.'' (= ''Studien zur Jüdischen Geschichte und Kultur in Bayern'', Volume 5) Munich, 2012 pp. 5-24, here: pp. 5-6.</ref> One of the first casualties of the organized Nazi persecution of Jews took place on 21 March in [[Künzelsau]] and on 25–26 March 1933 in [[Creglingen]], where police and [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] troops under the leadership of ''[[Standartenführer]]'' Fritz Klein led so-called "weapons search operations".<ref>[http://www.stimme.de/hohenlohe/nachrichten/sonstige-Hohenloher-waren-die-ersten-Opfer;art1919,1207588 ''Hohenloher waren die ersten Opfer''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917184855/http://www.stimme.de/hohenlohe/nachrichten/sonstige-Hohenloher-waren-die-ersten-Opfer;art1919,1207588 |date=17: September 2016}} at stimme.de</ref><ref>Hartwig Behr, Horst&nbsp;F. Rupp: ''Vom Leben und Sterben. Juden in Creglingen.'' 2nd edition. Königshausen and Neumann, Würzburg. 2001; {{ISBN|3-8260-2226-2}}</ref>

In 1818, about 65% of Bavarian Jews lived in the Bavarian part of Franconia;<ref name="juden3">Steven M. Lowenstein: ''Alltag und Tradition: Eine fränkisch-jüdische Geographie.'' In: ''Die Juden in Franken.'' (= ''Studien zur Jüdischen Geschichte und Kultur in Bayern'', Volume 5) Munich, 2012 pp. 5-24, here: pg. 14</ref> today there are Jewish communities only in Bamberg, Bayreuth, Erlangen, Fürth, Hof, Nuremberg and Würzburg<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110417123051/http://ikg-bayern.de/rsgem_1.html ''Jewish communities in Bavaria''], State Association of Jewish communities in Bavaria, retrieved 24 May 2014.</ref> as well as in Heilbronn in Baden-Württemberg.