Jewish community of Sommerach

The Jewish community of Sommerach was an Israelite religious community in what is today the community of Sommerach in the Lower Franconian district of Kitzingen . It existed from the 16th century until 1902.

history

The Sommerach Jewish dispute (1603–1605)

Towards the end of the 16th century, the rulership of the summer village was in the hands of the Münsterschwarzach monastery . However, some subjects were subordinate to the Margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach . The Jewish families in the village were also subordinate to the margrave. On November 9, 1603, the Schwarzach abbot Johannes V. Krug issued a mandate for Jews that forbade his subjects to trade with Jews. The Sommerach Jews then turned to Joachim Ernst von Brandenburg-Ansbach .

After Krug had already collected money from the Jews for violations , the councilors of the Margrave visited the abbot on April 21, 1604 . They demanded that he give the money back. On June 22, 1604 the amount was fixed. In Sommerach, 1598 guilders and 5 hellers were to be paid. Johannes V. Krug only paid a total of 1200 guilders. The Jews were not satisfied with this and again consulted the margrave.

On December 1, 1604, the margravial councilors met the abbot again and asked him to pay the rest of the sum. Krug refused, however. He also threatened to expel the Jews from the village . Margrave Joachim Ernst then announced reprisals against the monastery subjects in Sommerach. Johannes V. Krug bowed to this announcement and paid the missing money to the Jewish population. The process went down in history as the "Sommerach Jewish dispute".

The further history of the community

The Jews in Sommerach again became tangible on May 16, 1666. The Sommerach council decided on that day to grant the Jews civil protection. However, they had to pay the pastor and the schoolmaster the so-called Jewish New Year's allowance of 4 guilders and 30 kreuzers. In 1679 it was decided that no Jew should shelter another. In the event of a violation, the Münsterschwarzacher abbot should receive 5 guilders.

A twenty-five-year-old Jew from Eichelsdorf was baptized on October 20, 1720 in Sommerach. In the 18th century, the Jewish population was exposed to more frequent repression by the Catholic majority society. A Jew was punished for having behaved improperly during a funeral in 1737/1738. Punishments were more common when Jews went about their business during Sunday services. In 1763 the community grew rapidly after the Jews were expelled from Kitzingen .

In 1811 the Jewish community built a new synagogue . After the Bavarian government had determined the number of Jews through the so-called matriculation places, 18 Jewish families lived in Sommerach. They traded in wine, cut goods and other goods. Baruch Isaac Kelbermann also ran a local butcher's shop. In 1825 a total of 17 families lived in Sommerach, the Jewish community consisted of around 100 people.

In the 19th century the community had a synagogue, a religious school and a mikveh . In 1839, Samuel Uhlfelder is mentioned as prayer leader and schochet . Since 1863/1864 Jews were again admitted to Kitzingen and many of the Sommerach Jews of Jewish faith left the village. In the period that followed, the number of moves increased more and more, in 1897 only one Jewish person was still living in Sommerach.

The synagogue was last used for worship in 1873 . At the beginning of the 20th century it was sold and used as a workshop and barn . Most of the ritual objects from the synagogue came to the community in Kitzingen. During the 1980s the synagogue remained largely unchanged. On May 23, 1991, however, it was demolished by the Sommerach community.

Community development

From 1839, the religious community was assigned to the Bavarian district rabbinate Niederwerrn , which was converted into the district rabbinate Schweinfurt from 1864 .

year	Members	year	Members	year	Members
1813	100	1830	89	1875	35

literature

• Franz Pfrang: Jews in the Volkach area . In: Ute Feuerbach (ed.): Our Main Loop. 1978-1992 . Volkach 2008. pp. 70-80.
• Werner Steinhauser: Jews in and around Prichsenstadt . Prichsenstadt 2002.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Pfrang, Franz: The Jews in the Volkach area . P. 71.
2. ^ Pfrang, Franz: The Jews in the Volkach area . P. 72.
3. ↑ Alemannia Judaica: Jewish History in Sommerach , accessed on December 10, 2016.
4. ↑ Alemannia Judaica: Jewish History in Sommerach , accessed on December 10, 2016.
5. ↑ Steinhauser, Werner: Jews in and around Prichsenstadt . P. 12.