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JewishHistoryעברית

Atlanta Temple bombing

Date
12 October 1958Hebrew date: 28th of Tishrei, 5719
Location
The Temple (Hebrew Benevolent Congregation), AtlantaUnited States
Then part of
United States
Perpetrators
  • White-supremacist bombers linked to the National States' Rights Party (Militia / auxiliaries)
Killed (estimate)
0[1]No one was killed or injured. The New Georgia Encyclopedia states that fifty sticks of dynamite exploded in a recessed entranceway; later damage estimates were about $100,000. The Atlantic and Today in Georgia History likewise report no deaths or injuries.
Locality

0% of the Jewish population of The Temple (Hebrew Benevolent Congregation), Atlanta[4]

Country

0% of the Jewish population of United States (c. 1950)[29]

Worldwide

0% of the worldwide Jewish population (c. 1960)[5]

Category
Terror attack
Confidence
High

Summary

In the early hours of 12 October 1958, fifty sticks of dynamite exploded at the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation, Atlanta's oldest synagogue, known as the Temple. No one was killed or injured. The attack was one in a series of bombings of southern synagogues in 1957-58 amid white-supremacist opposition to desegregation; Rabbi Jacob Rothschild's public support for integration had made the congregation a likely target. Investigators arrested five men with links to antisemitic groups including the National States' Rights Party. Only George Bright was tried; his first trial ended in a mistrial and his second in acquittal. No one was convicted.

Sources

  1. Edward A. Hatfield, Temple Bombing. New Georgia Encyclopedia (2007)
  2. Isabel Fattal, Attacks Against Jews in America, a History of Violence. The Atlantic (2018)
  3. Temple Bombing. Today in Georgia History (1958)
  4. Jay Weinstein, Metropolitan Atlanta Jewish Population Study. Atlanta Jewish Federation (1985)

Jewish population (estimates)

  • Worldwide: 12,079,000[5]c. 1960DellaPergola's revised core estimate for 1 January 1960 in the 2024 Year Book chapter.
  • United States: 4,700,000 – 5,000,000[29]c. 1950The AJYB 1951 community compilation offers a rough United States total of approximately 4,700,000. The NJPS 1971 AJYB historical table lists 5,000,000 for 1950. Definitions and methods differ.
  • The Temple (Hebrew Benevolent Congregation), Atlanta: 9,630 – 10,000[4]Jews in metropolitan Atlanta in the Atlanta Jewish Federation study: 9,630 in 1945 and 10,000 in 1947, eleven to thirteen years before the October 1958 bombing.

Sources for population estimates

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  3. Jewish Population of Europe in 1933. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
  4. Jewish Population of the World. American Jewish Year Book 1948–1949, via Berman Jewish Policy Archive (1949)
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  9. The Contagion of Violence. 1391 and the Jews of the Spanish Kingdoms. Palgrave / Springer chapter (preview) (2021)
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  54. Jacqueline Shields, Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries. Jewish Virtual Library
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