History of the Jews in Wiener Neustadt
The history of the Jews in Wiener Neustadt begins with their first documentary mention in 1239. Already at the beginning of the 13th century there was a community in the "Neustadt"; it was one of the oldest and a center of Jewish importance in Austria, along with Vienna. After the expulsion of the Jewish population in 1496 on the orders of Maximilian I and the subsequent bans on residence, it was not until the 19th century that settlements were allowed in the city and finally in 1871 the "Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wiener Neustadt" (IKG Wiener Neustadt) was founded . Before 1938 there were more than 1,000 Jews in the IKG. After the Anschluss , the IKG was dissolved and the Jewish population expelled or deported .
Beginnings in the Middle Ages
Duke Friedrich II granted privileges to the citizens of the city in 1239 and excluded all Jews from public office. This was the first source from which Jewish existence could be grasped. In the same year the city's rabbi , Chaim bar Mosche, issued a legal opinion with that of Vienna, Itzak ben Mosche Or Sarua . In addition, since the middle of the 13th century the community had a synagogue and a cemetery, which, according to Jewish law, was outside the city walls in the south. The oldest find of a Jewish tombstone in Wiener Neustadt is dated to 1252. A synagogue, rabbi, and cemetery are strong evidence of a well-functioning community. It is probably the second oldest municipality in Austria after Vienna. The gravestone found is that of Simcha ben Baruch, the son of Baruch, who died on January 21, 1252.
The community
The synagogue, first mentioned in a document in 1383, stood at Allerheiligenplatz 1 (once "Judenschulgasse", since synagogues were called schools at that time, the Yiddish word for synagogue is still Schil or Schul), opposite the Jewish hospital, first mentioned in 1464 (Allerheiligenplatz 3 resp. 4). There was also a separate prayer room in the house of worship for Jewish women, called the “women's school”, since according to orthodox Jewish law women and men are separated during prayer (Negiah), and a butcher's shop , which was probably located west of the hospital. A mikveh, or ritual immersion bath, was probably located opposite the synagogue. Most likely, Jews and Christians lived together in the early years of the church, so the Jews did not live in a ghetto . Nevertheless, it is assumed that a Jewish quarter with its own entrances existed in the second half of the 15th century.
The Habsburg distribution of power in 1379 allowed Wiener Neustadt to be incorporated into the territory of the Duchy of Styria, nonetheless the Jews paid their protective taxes to the Duke of Austria. In 1397 and 1401 privileges were granted to the community in Neunkirchen and Wiener Neustadt, and they were issued by Albrecht IV and the Duke of Styria Wilhelm. Wiener Neustadt was already home to a Talmud school in the 14th century , run by Rabbi Schalom. Rabbi Shalom ben Isaak was a central figure in Jewish life before the Viennese Gesera . His reputation went far beyond the Austrian borders, so people from Germany, Poland and Hungary turned to him with inquiries, one of his students was Aron Blümlein from the Krems Jewish community .
In the Middle Ages, the Jewish population lived in the field of tension between forms of privilege and protection (if protective taxes were paid to the ruler) and the consequences of marginalization and discrimination by the church and the nobles. The anti-Jewish sentiment is evident in a fresco in the medieval parish church (the Liebfrauendom), which was built at the end of the 13th century. On this, Jews are depicted in the “Last Judgment”, driven to hell. But in contrast to other areas in Austria, there was never any persecution of Jews in Wiener Neustadt. The expulsion of the Jews in the course of the Viennese Gesera did not affect the Jewish population of the city. The plague porgome of 1348/49 or the riots of 1338 did not affect the community either. However, she was not spared from bans or exclusions. As a result of the expulsion of the Viennese community, Neustadt was now regarded as the largest Jewish community and again assumed a special role as an intellectual Jewish center in what is now Austria.
Bloom in the 15th century
In 1420 the community grew rapidly and by the end of the century it comprised 300 people. The Jewish quarter had the comparatively highest population density in the city, which is why it was often expanded and around the year 1450 it reached its greatest extent. After the area in the women's quarter after the Vienna Gesera was given up, the Jewish quarter was in the Friars Minor quarter and was documented from the middle of the 15th century thanks to a land register.
Emperor Friedrich III. got the unofficial nickname "Rex Judaeorum (King of the Jews)" because of his more Jewish-friendly attitude. The Jewish population in the Neustadt experienced a heyday under Emperor Friedrich III., Who had chosen the city as his residence in 1440.
After a period of internal unrest in the community, before 1450 Rabbi Israel bar Petachja , also called Isserlein (1390–1460), from Marburg took over the position of rabbi, but not the community rabbi. He became the founder of a famous Talmud school and then enjoyed the highest reputation within the circle of Jewish scholars, because he was known nationwide. Responses and remarks by famous rabbis from Austria are particularly informative about everyday life in the community. The rich literature of the rabbinical response texts is a special feature in the fund of written evidence from the Middle Ages. The mostly written reports and comments on inquiries about Halacha were summarized in collections and passed on in the vicinity of the medieval schools of scholars. The author of the Leket Josher, Joseph ben Moses (1421–1490?), Originally from Höchstädt in Bavaria, was a pupil of Isserlein, who worked in Wiener Neustadt.
With regard to the synagogue, Joseph ben Moses also made some comments on the allocation of seats in the synagogue room and the practice of allocating seats to strangers. He recalls: “Three or four places at the ark ( Torah shrine ) called“ Wetzel ”were free. Strangers could sit there (...). ”In one of the yeshivot there, the students sat“ with their backs to Aron ha-kodesch ”although“ one does not stand with their backs to Aron ha-kodesch ; because the Aron resembles the most sacred (...). ”Excavation findings in Vienna ( medieval synagogue ), Cologne or Speyer (Speyer synagogue ) also confirm the position of the regular seats along the walls and the subdivision of the seats by bars or as described in the response texts Boards.
The many Jewish moneylenders had a remarkable debt relationship and thus a certain economic strength. In addition to the dukes, their debtors included a number of well-known noble families, cities such as Ödenburg or Pressburg, and even religious institutions. But such importance did not come without its disadvantages; numerous accusations of usury followed, which matched the spirit of the population's increasing anti-Semitism in the 15th century.
Yiddish sources
The Schöndlein letter
Isserlein's wife, the Rebbetzin Schöndlein, answered the problems regarding the ritual laws during the menstrual period of a female questioner in a letter. The rabbi's wife was considered a respected person in the community alongside the rabbi. The answer was written exclusively in medieval Yiddish ( very similar to Middle High German ):
“ Very good jor, they have to tell you how you are well, as you let me host me. Ikh sol my man Rabbi Isserlein, who should live, frogn fun one break because of what you have on you, the han ikh geton un han by his side (said) all that you wrote to me host. Un my one who should live speaks [...]. "
The advice is to investigate at what time the bleeding occurs so that a decision can be made as to whether the woman would become ritually unclean.
The certificate of the 3rd Tevet
This Yiddish document from the 3rd Tewet, a day in January, was confirmed by the exhibitor Liphart as the authorized representative of the Jew Lebel. It was about the repayment of a loan from the Wiener Neustadt citizen Hans Part on a house, which he pledged to Lebel. The date of issue is probably around the year 1496/97. The certificate is still in the Wiener Neustadt City Archives today.
Growing hostility towards Jews at the end of the 15th century
After the death of Emperor Friedrich III. in 1493 Wiener Neustadt lost its position as the center of government. The nobility and the court followed the new ruler Maximilian I . to Innsbruck . In addition, a major fire destroyed the city in 1494. The relationship between Jews and Christians worsened as a result of the destruction of the city, because due to loan transactions there were debts with Jews that the Christians could no longer pay. From the point of view of the estates, the Jews in the Neustadt also had too many rights.
The "Judenspott", a stone relief that was set in the front of a house at Hauptplatz 16 and shows a pig (the pig is considered an " unclean animal " by Jews ), on whose teats Jewish men suck, illustrates the existing and growing rejection of it Jews in the 15th century.
Expulsion of the Jews from the Duchy of Styria
(See → History of the Jews in Styria )
Economic interests of the indebted aristocracy and the power-political efforts of the estates towards the sovereign, which were carried out at the level of the approval of extraordinary taxes, contributed to this, so that finally Maximilian I ordered the expulsion of the Jews from the Neustadt in 1496. He justified this with the usual anti-Jewish prejudices , such as host sacrilege or ritual murder legends , and had the Jews expelled:
"So that from now on such evil no longer happens, [We] have put our Jewishness on leave from our land of Steyr for ever."
The real reasons behind it were probably the Ottoman invasions : The duke urgently needed money for his armies and got this from the estates if he expelled the Jews.
The eviction did not take the form of a pogrom , but an organized expulsion with which the sales of houses and all changes in the existing ownership structure dragged on over several years. In addition, all financial matters and disputes between Jews and Christians had to be resolved. The Jews were also allowed to take their mobile belongings with them. The Jewish citizens were ordered to leave Neustadt and move to Marchegg or Eisenstadt . The last house sales and debt payments did not take place until 1500, so that the last Jews left the city around 1500.
The synagogue was donated to the city in 1496 and was converted into a church in 1497 because of the driving force of the city.
This was followed by a ban on Jews, which consistently lasted until the 19th century.
Modern times
Attempts to settle in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries
Despite the above-mentioned residence ban, there were repeated attempts to settle here by Jews. Rather, there were individual exceptions for privileged Jews (with a letter of protection), so-called court Jews . The Jews tried to gain a foothold in Wiener Neustadt as early as the 16th and 17th centuries, especially when Wiener Neustadt became the new seat of Lower Austria in 1523 and thus gained in importance. However, the bans were renewed again and again, so that Jews only stayed in the city in the 17th century. However, a community did not emerge, and the few Jews eventually disappeared from the city during the second expulsion of Jews from Vienna and the surrounding areas.
An influx of Jewish refugees from Hungarian areas during the Kuruc uprisings made Wiener Neustadt a place to stay again, but it was not permanent. In 1708 there were riots between these refugees and the Christians, after which all Jews, 535 in total, had to stay in a separate room until they were deported in 1709.
19th century - parish equality and rebirth
After the revolutionary year of 1848 , Jews were allowed to settle here again and after 1850 a small Jewish community developed again, whose members at that time consisted primarily of peddlers and product dealers. The first Jewish resident came in 1848 and was the archaeologist Hermann Friedenthal. In addition, the first services were held in private apartments, such as in the house of Moses Rosenberger in Pognergasse. A Schtibl was later rented for this purpose , a room in the “Zur Hungarian Krone” inn in Ungarngasse 9. When this room was unable to cope with the growing number of visitors, a warehouse was converted into a larger prayer room in Grünangergasse and used for three decades.
Article 14 of the Basic State Law of 1867 brought the state equality of all citizens of every denomination and religion . As a result, there was an increasing number of Jews moving in; in the second half of the 19th century they lived in rented apartments in the city center and in the Capuchin district. In 1869 there were 185 Israelites in Wiener Neustadt, i.e. less than one percent of the population, in 1880 there were 309, or 1.1 percent.
In 1870 a building was rented on Baumkirchnerring and converted into a small synagogue. As the community grew, the building had to be bought and expanded around 1880. On May 4, 1871, the congregation was formally constituted as the “Israelitische Kultusgemeinde” and also had members in the surrounding cities and towns. Benjamin Weiß became a "rabbinate administrator". A plot of land in Reichsstrasse was bought to build the cemetery there.
In 1902, the growing community on Baumkirchnerring had a new building built in the Moorish style next to the first synagogue , which was completed within six months. The plans for the Wiener Neustädter Synagogue came from the then respected architect Wilhelm Stiassny (1842–1910). The building had an area of 340 m 2. To the east of the synagogue was the small synagogue ("small hall") of around 70 m 2 in size, which was used as a meeting place for worship, religious instruction and celebrations. In the immediate vicinity was also the butcher shop where animals were slaughtered .
After the first rabbi, Dr. Jakob Hoffmann, Dr. Hermann Klein, Dr. Joel Pollak, David Friedmann and most recently Dr. Heinrich Weiss.
First World War and the interwar period
During the First World War, many East Jewish refugees from Galicia and Bukovina reached the city to avoid the offensive of the Tsarist army.
The Jewish families were mainly active in the trade, with general goods, textiles and wine, over a third of all wine shops had Jewish owners. The Salzer paper mill and the spinning mill gained particular fame. Pick & Co weaving mill, all in Jewish hands. Six percent of Wiener Neustädter Jews were academics and had a doctorate. Jews had the largest share in the medical profession and lawyers: over a third of the ordaining doctors and almost half of the active lawyers were of Jewish descent.
In the years after the First World War, in times of economic hardship and poverty, anti-Semitic provocations were also recorded in Wiener Neustadt, but most of them were non-violent.
In the 1934 census, the IKG Wiener Neustadt comprised 886 people with a Mosaic religion. 685 people lived in Wiener Neustadt, 30 in Oberwaltersdorf , 20 in Ebreichsdorf , 14 in Erlach, 11 in Katzelsdorf , 10 in Pernitz , 10 in Weigelsdorf , 9 in Ebenfurth , 9 in Gramatneusiedl and the remaining 88 in many other small villages of the Kultussprengel.
Club life in the city flourished in the interwar period, a large number of institutions, especially for charitable purposes, such as " Chewra Kadischa " (1888) and the "Israelite Women and Girls Charity Association" (1894), a local branch of the " Zionist State Association" (1920), a women's aid association "Esrat Naschim" ("Women's Department", 1924), an association to comfort mourners "Chewra Menachem Awelim" (1929), a Jewish savings association "Coal and Mazzes " (1932 ), a local group of the "Union of Jewish Frontline Soldiers", a youth group "Tifferet Bucherim" ("Zierde der Studenten", 1937), the "Talmud Torah" association and a local group of the " Agudas Jisroel " ("Israel Association") from that.
The famous Café Bank in Bahngasse, which was owned by the Jewish family of the same name, was often used as a venue, for example on Purim . Kosher food was available in specific restaurants, such as Malvine Gerstl's in Neunkirchnerstrasse or Rosa Schulz in Brodtischgasse. The center of religious cultural life was formed around the temple. On Shabbe (Saturdays) people went to church there. According to an interview with former parishioners, the rush at the temple on Yom Kippur was so intense that the seats had to be reserved.
National Socialism
Immediately after the " seizure of power " in March 1938, the systematic persecution of Jews began in Wiener Neustadt. The Jewish population was mistreated, for example when the SA and SS dragged Jews out of their houses and had them cleaned on the main square and in the narrow streets while passers-by were observed. Elderly Jews had to wash the floor with small toothbrushes lying or kneeling in the main square; Jewish women did the same near the synagogue. Jewish shops were boycotted and local SA men were placed in front of the shops to prevent customers from entering. Party members robbed Jewish business owners on their own initiative with the help of the SA or the civilian population. Occupational bans and impeachments took effect immediately.
As a result, several exodus took place in August and October 1938 , at the end of October the congregation had only 395 members; before March 1983 at least 711 Jews lived in the city.
As part of the aryanization for Jewish factories and commercial establishments, practices, law firms and shops, the interested parties were often formerly “ Aryan ” competitors and local company and business owners in the same sectors who bought inventory, warehouses or entire building complexes at low prices . Often the administrators, who came from the NSDAP , were friends with the buyers of the Jewish properties, so an organized "Aryanization network" was created with which the buyers could enrich themselves, while the sales proceeds did not go to the Jewish seller.
The " Reichskristallnacht "
On the night of November 9-10, 1938, party members were ordered by the party leadership to go on a torch-lit procession to the synagogue on Baumkirchnerring. Parts of the building front, the large Star of David, the windows and the interior fittings of the synagogue were damaged or completely destroyed and the temple utensils were stolen. The synagogue was not set on fire only because Mayor Dr. Scheidtenberger still wanted to use the building and the relative proximity of the church to other buildings could result in the fire spreading to the outbuildings. On November 10th, Jewish men, women and children were allowed to line up on the streets until they were finally driven on foot through the streets of the city to the synagogue by SA men. At least 100 people were arrested and stripped of their jewelry and wedding rings. After about three to four days, the majority of the Jews were "shipped" to Vienna by train and some by bus, where they were abandoned and placed in collective apartments in a confined space with other Jews under inhumane conditions. None of them had the opportunity to take any of their belongings with them. During the detention, the apartments were looted by party members or the civilian population. The searches of the apartments and the arrests were carried out by the SA , SS and the police . The aim was to usurp cash, savings accounts, jewelry and the art and valuables stored in the apartments (pictures, furs, gold) as well as the apartments themselves.
End of the parish
The target states of the previously fled members of the community were the United States (32 refugees), Palestine (later Israel , 56 refugees), Great Britain (26 refugees), and sometimes Czechoslovakia and Hungary .
All religious activity ceased in January 1939 and the deportations of Wiener Neustädter Jews began in October 1939 and continued until March 1944. In 1940 there were 30 members, by decree of the regional governing body in Niederdonau on April 3, 1940, all religious communities in the "Ostmark", with the exception of Vienna, were dissolved. Most of the remaining Jews were deported to ghettos and concentration camps in 1942. It has been proven that around 180 people were deported to a ghetto or concentration camp, mostly to Auschwitz . How many there were really remains uncertain.
today
In contrast to other communities, such as Baden or Graz , Wiener Neustadt did not re-establish the community after the Second World War. The synagogue was used as a depot during and after the war, during which it was bombed and demolished in 1952. However, the Jewish cemetery on Wienerstraße is maintained by the municipality. A memorial plaque on Baumkirchnerring commemorates Wiener Neustadt's Jewish past.
Individual evidence
- ^ Pollak, Max: The Jews in Wiener Neustadt. A contribution to the history of the Jews in Austria . Jüdischer Verlag, Vienna, p. 71-79 .
- ^ Spitzer, Shlomo: The Austrian Jews in the Middle Ages. A social and cultural history . 1977, p. 222 .
- ↑ Werner SULZGRUBER: The history of the Jewish community in Wiener Neustadt. Retrieved April 27, 2020 .
- ↑ Eveline Brugger: From the settlement to the expulsion, in: History of the Jews in Austria . ISBN 3-8000-7159-2 , pp. 175-177 .
- ↑ Sefer Leket Yosher, p. 31, Kern-Ulmer (1990), p. 104f.
- ↑ "... I have seen in all countries that I have traveled that they had permanent synagogue places with bars between the places" Ascher ben Jechiel (Asheri / Rosh, approx. 1250–1329 Toledo), Shut leha-Rav Rabbenu Asher , Part 5, § 3; according to Kern-Ulmer (1990), p. 101ff; To widen the seat: Rashba, She'elot u-Teshuvot ha Rasbah ha-mejuchasot leha Ramban (Zolkiew 1793), § 26, Kern-Ulmer (1990), p. 101; Prohibition of increasing synagogue seats as well as rental prices and tenancy law for synagogue seats at Jitzachq bar Sheshet Perfet (Barfat / Ribash (Rivash)), Barcelona 1326–1408 (Algiers), She'elot u-Teshuvot ... bar Sheshet, § 259, § 253 , in Kern-Ulmer (1990), pp. 102-104.
- ^ Werner Sulzgruber: History of the Jewish community Wiener Neustad. Retrieved April 28, 2020 .
- ^ A b Martha Keil: Community and Culture, in: History of the Jews in Austria . Ueberreuter, S. 34 .
- ^ Werner Sulzgruber: The history of the Jewish community in Wiener Neustadt. Retrieved April 28, 2020 .
- ↑ From the history of the Jewish communities in the German Sparach area. Retrieved April 29, 2020 .
- ^ Werner Sulzgruber: History of the Jewish community Wiener Neustadt. Retrieved April 29, 2020 .
- ^ The history of the Jewish community in Wiener Neustadt. Retrieved May 1, 2020 .
- ^ The history of the Jewish community in Wiener Neustadt. Retrieved May 1, 2020 .
- ↑ Interview with E. Koppel, M. Seckl, G. Riegler, S. Hacker, W. Schischa, K. Pollak.
- ^ Karl Flanner: The Wiener Neustädter Synagoge in the pogrom night 1938 . Wr. Neustadt 1998, p. 1-2 .
- ↑ Werner Sulzgruber: The Jewish community Wiener Neustadt from its beginnings to its destruction . ISBN 978-3-85476-163-1 , pp. 178 .
- ^ Walter Baumgartner, Robert Streibel: Jews in Lower Austria . 2004, p. 25 .
- ↑ Sulzgruber, Werner .: The Jewish community Wiener Neustadt: from its beginnings to its destruction . 1st edition Mandelbaum, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-85476-163-5 .