January 9 1349 – 19th Shevat, 5109
As the Black Death raged through Western Europe, Jews were accused of poisoning the wells, partly because of their lower mortality rate – presumably the result of higher standards of hygiene associated with Jewish rituals of cleanliness. On an island in the Rhine River, seven hundred Jews of Basel, Switzerland, were burned alive in houses especially constructed for that purpose. Their children were spared from burning but were forcibly baptized instead.