Gezerot Tatnu
The victims of the massacre in 1096 are commemorated in the Jewish liturgy under the name Gezerot Tatnu ( "persecution of the year 4856" [according to the Jewish calendar ]) .
background
In the 11th century around 1000 of the 7000 inhabitants of Magenza ( Mainz ) were Jews . Most of them lived in the Kehillah "Among the Jews" in the city center, recognized by the bishop . The administration of the community and the responsibility for paying taxes to the Christian sovereign rests on a council whose twelve members were elected by the community. Disputes between Jews were settled by Jewish judges also elected by the community . Compared to most Christian residents, the Jewish population was above average and many were literate. The Jewish quarter was politically a “city within the city”, but economically there was lively exchange between the Christian and Jewish residents of Mainz. Nevertheless, the Christians were fearful and hostile to the foreign culture. The Jews were mocked and slandered , among other things because of their higher education and their alien beliefs .
A deep humiliation of the Christians in distant Palestine also contributed to the suspicion of the Rhenish Christians: In September 1009, Fatimid- Calif Al-Hakim had the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem plundered and destroyed along with the rock tomb of Christ. As a result, Christians in the Fatimid Empire were subjected to numerous reprisals . Christian symbols and celebrating Christian festivals were banned and Christians were forced to wear flashy belts and black headgear in order to be recognizable as Christians. The incidents contributed to a latent xenophobia among Christians in the Rhineland, which they projected primarily onto the Jews living in their midst.
In 1012, King Henry II ordered the expulsion of those Jews from the city who were unwilling to be baptized . Under the pressure, some members of the ward gave in, others had to leave their homes and businesses, but were soon allowed to return. In France , too , Jews who refused to be baptized were expelled or murdered in the following years.
The murder of the Jews in the Rhineland
Under the pontificate of Pope Urban II , the idea of a holy war for the liberation of the Holy Land germinated . At the end of the Synod of Clermont , he called on November 27, 1095 for the First Crusade , whereupon sermons throughout the country called for participation in the Crusade. The appeal met with an enormous response and even before the official papal crusade army had rallied, a first disorderly procession started on its own in northern France in April 1096, the so-called People's Crusade or Poor's Crusade . These "crusaders" were not proud knights, but simple peasants, beggars and criminals, armed only with sticks and farm implements. A split from the train reached Trier on April 10th, the beginning of the Jewish Passover , under the leadership of Count Emicho von Flonheim . Here, too, like since the beginning of the trip, hundreds of impoverished day laborers and beggars joined the train. Their band included several thousand hungry men and women. They blackmailed and stole food and money from the Trier Jews.
The train finally reached Speyer on May 3rd . Solomon bar Simeon , a Jewish chronicler, later wrote, according to testimony of witnesses about the crusader procession:
“When they came on their way through the cities in which Jews lived, they said: 'Look, we are going a long way to seek the tomb and take revenge on the Ishmaelites. And behold, the Jews live here among us, whose fathers killed and crucified Christ through no fault of their own! So first let us take vengeance on them and wipe them out from among the peoples, so that the name Israel is no longer mentioned. Or they should become like us and profess our faith. ' On the Sabbath, the 8th Ijjar, the enemies attacked the community of Speyer and killed eleven holy people. These were the first to sanctify their Creator because they did not want to be baptized. The remainder were saved by the bishop without having to change their faith. "
Johann I , Bishop of Speyer, ordered the defense of the Jewish community, but let the Jews pay for this act. The crusaders continued their way northwards along the Rhine , in the opposite direction of their actual destination Jerusalem.
On Sunday, May 18th, the hungry armed men stormed the Jewish quarter in Worms . Those Jews who had not previously sought refuge in the bishop's palace were attacked by the angry crowd and, if they refused to be baptized, which most did out of conviction, cruelly killed. The Jewish quarter was sacked by both the Crusaders and the Worms residents. After a week of asylum, the crusaders stormed the episcopal palace and presented the Jews who had fled at first with the choice of death or baptism . According to some sources, around 800 Jews were murdered or committed suicide in Worms by the crusaders.
On May 25, 1096 the entourage finally reached Mainz. After two days of siege in front of the closed city gates, the murderous crowd was allowed into the city, probably against the orders of Archbishop Ruthard II. The Mainz Jews had armed themselves to defend their quarter and the bishop's palace. However, they were clearly inferior to the host, driven by hatred of the Jews. The original crusaders wreaked havoc in the city. The Jewish community was almost completely destroyed, according to Rolf Dörrlamm, 600 community members died. A few days later, one of the surviving Jews who were forcibly baptized first set fire to his house, then the synagogue and himself in order to cleanse himself of the shame of betraying his faith. Many more followed his example, the Jewish quarter was burned down. Many survivors preferred suicide over life as a forcibly baptized Christian.
As part of the riots around the First Crusade occurred in other cities, such as in Cologne , Neuss , Xanten , Regensburg and Prague to pogroms against the Jewish population.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Solomon bar Simeon, quoted in Walter Saller: Jews in the Middle Ages: Baptism or Death. In: Geo epoch . November 2005, archived from the original on September 26, 2007 ; accessed on August 17, 2018 .
- ↑ Walter Saller: Jews in the Middle Ages: Baptism or Death. In: Geo epoch . November 2005, archived from the original on September 29, 2007 ; accessed on August 17, 2018 .
- ^ Rolf Dörrlamm: Magenza. The history of Jewish Mainz . Verlag Hermann Schmidt, Mainz 1995 (commemorative publication for the inauguration of the new administration building of the Landes-Bausparkasse Rheinland-Pfalz).
literature
- Eva Haverkamp (ed.): Hebrew reports on the persecution of the Jews during the First Crusade. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Munich 2005 (= MGH Hebrew texts from medieval Germany. Volume 1), ISBN 3-7752-1301-5 .