Stara Zagora

views updated

STARA ZAGORA

STARA ZAGORA , city in central Bulgaria. It seems that refugees from Spain established a community in Stara (Old) Zagora. In 1858 there is a mention of the Jewish quarter. The Russians, who conquered the town in 1877, looted the houses of the Jews and the synagogues; some of the Jews lost their lives. In 1884 an Alliance Israélite Universelle school was opened. In 1885 there were 332 Jews in the town and in 1893, 480. The Jews engaged in the export of grain. In 1943 there were 560 Jews in the city. After the establishment of the State of Israel, most of the Jews of Stara Zagora immigrated there together with other Bulgarian Jews. In 2004 there were 110 Jews in the city, affiliated to the local branch of the nationwide Shalom organization. For further information on the Holocaust Period, see *Bulgaria.

bibliography:

S. Mézan, Les Juifs Espagnols en Bulgarie (1925), 53, 77; Rosanes, Togarmah, 6 (1945), 125–8.

[Simon Marcus /

Emil Kalo (2nd ed.)]

More From encyclopedia.com