Jewish community of Iphofen
The Jewish community of Iphofen was an Israelite religious community in what is now the city of Iphofen in the Lower Franconian district of Kitzingen . The community existed from the 13th century with interruptions until 1683. The Jewish population of Iphofens was exposed to frequent expulsions and persecution. Only in the second half of the 19th century did Jews settle in the city again, but did not form a community of their own.
history
The Jewish community in the Middle Ages (until 1451)
Jews were first mentioned in Iphofen as early as 1293. Bishop Manegold von Würzburg appointed the Jew Michelmann as “procurator and dispensator” (for example overseer), who was supposed to promote the construction of the wall of Iphofen, which was elevated to the status of a city. Michelmann received further benefits from the diocese , for example he was exempt from all taxes for four years. His family was also escorted five miles outside of town.
On June 24, 1298, the so-called Rintfleisch pogrom against the Jews also took place in Iphofen . 25 Jews from ten different families died in the city. As a kind of justification for the events, the legend of the host established itself after the pogrom , according to which, after the killing of the Jews, some desecrated hosts were found below the Jewish house. The appearance of a boy and a shining woman would have led to the discovery of the host. This legend established a pilgrimage.
After the persecution during the Rintfleisch pogrom, however, some Jews remained in Iphofen. In 1332 Jakob von Hammelburg was mentioned as a Jew in the city. A few years later, in 1336, the so-called Armleder persecutions against the community took place. The Jew Pinher von Iphofen was probably also expelled to Nuremberg in the course of the persecution , where he is documented in 1338.
In 1346 a "Gotzo dictus Gotfrit (...) in vico Judeorum " (Gotzo called Gotfrit in the Jewish quarter) was named in Iphofen. A few years later, in 1348/1349, the Jewish population was persecuted again. She was held responsible for the plague that struck Iphofen at the time. However, many Jews remained resident and lived in the fourth quarter, on the Eiermarkt and in the first quarter and had their own synagogue .
The Würzburg bishops , who were the city lords of Iphofen, treated the Jewish minority very differently. The Iphöfer Jews were also subordinate to the city council, so they had to pay the so-called Jewish tax on May 1st and swear an oath to the city lords. While the bishop Johann I von Egloffstein favored the settlement of Jews, his successor Johann II planned the expulsion in 1428.
In the middle of the 15th century many Jews were living in Iphofen again. In addition to Feydel, who had already sat here in 1430, there were the Jews Abraham, Eberlein, Gumplein, Henne, Joseph, Kallman, Moses, Sanderman and Jacob as well as other Jewish heads of families in the city. The Jewish living area was in Judengasse , today's Obere Gasse. Many Jews had moved from the surrounding villages. In 1451 the large community was again driven out.
In the early modern period (until 1683)
Only in 1548 did a Jewish cloth merchant live in the city again. As early as 1555, however, the mayor of the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg threatened to “chase the Jews out of the city if they did not help themselves”. The expulsion in the course of the re-Catholicization measures of the prince-bishops Friedrich von Wirsberg and Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn took place in 1565. However, the ban was not always strictly observed.
For the year 1623 there are again five protected Jews in the Hochstiftisches Amt Iphofen. In the second half of the 17th century there were more immigrants. A synagogue was also rebuilt. In 1674, Pastor Johannes Stumpf wrote a new version of the legend of the Host. Now the Jews are said to have acquired the host from a Christian citizen and stabbed it with knives. The host began to bleed and the Jews were discovered. The new edition promoted new prejudices against the Jews.
In 1683 the city council again obtained the expulsion of the Jews from Iphofen. A large part of the population wrote a letter to the prince-bishop , albeit unsuccessfully, and stood up for the Jews. They have never been a burden on our coexistence, on the contrary, they worked closely with the Christians in the period after the Thirty Years' War and helped rebuild the impoverished city.
After no more Jews lived in Iphofen, the cult of the host was dissolved in the 18th century and the crime legend receded into the background. Instead, the pilgrims' new goal was a miraculous image and the five-wound legend. In 1684, however, trade with Jews was banned, and this ban was later relaxed. From January 23, 1715, no more Jews were finally admitted to Iphofen.
Anti-Judaism and Anti-Semitism in Modern Times
No Jews lived in Iphofen in the 19th century. Nonetheless, anti-Judaist developments increased. In 1883 Eugen Lax settled in Iphofen, he was appointed by the magistrate as a doctor at the city hospital. With the renovation of the Pilgrimage Church of the Holy Blood in 1890, the accusations against the Jews came to the fore again. The five-wound savior was removed from the church. In addition, the accusation of murdering God was renewed.
Shortly after the "seizure of power" by the National Socialists , the city council obliged the artist Richard Rother to make two panels that were hung on the two city gates in the spring of 1935. At the Rödelseer Tor the bust of St. Kilian could be seen and a few verses underneath. The saint should protect the Iphöfer from "(...) Rabläus and from Jews (...)". Above the second gate a peasant with bared abdomen could be seen who accused the Jews of deceit in a verse.
The signs didn't just get approval. A German magazine in Miami reported on the signs, causing outraged reactions. The mayor forwarded the letters, including those from German senders, to the responsible local group leader with denunciation intent. Initially, however, the Bavarian Political Police in Munich banned the signs in view of the 1936 Olympic Games .
literature
- Andreas Brombierstäudl: Iphofen. A small Franconian town through the centuries . Iphofen 1983.
- Josef Endres: Holy Blood in Iphofen. With an edition of the Miracle Book (= publications of the Society for Franconian History, Series XIII: New Year's Papers, Issue 49) . Wuerzburg 2007.
- Elmar Schwinger: From Kitzingen to Izbica. Rise and catastrophe of the Main Franconian Jewish Community of Kitzingen (= writings of the Kitzingen City Archives. Volume 9) . Kitzingen 2009.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Endres, Josef: Holy Blood in Iphofen . P. 25.
- ↑ Endres, Josef: Holy Blood in Iphofen . P. 17.
- ^ Alemannia Judaica: Jewish History in Iphofen , accessed on January 30, 2017.
- ↑ Endres, Josef: Holy Blood in Iphofen . P. 25.
- ^ Alemannia Judaica: Jewish History in Iphofen , accessed on January 30, 2017.
- ↑ Endres, Josef: Holy Blood in Iphofen . P. 19.
- ↑ Endres, Josef: Holy Blood in Iphofen . P. 30.
- ↑ Brombierstäudl, Andreas: Iphofen . P. 74.
- ^ Schwinger, Elmar: From Kitzingen to Izbica . P. 220.