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Yaakov Ben Moshe Moelln

Yaakov Ben Moshe Moelln (?-1427) Rabbinic authority. Born into a prestigious rabbinic family in Mainz, he studied first with his father, then with noted rabbis in Vienna where he was ordained, with the additional scholarly title of distinction Morenu. He succeeded his father as rabbi of Mainz in 1387 and established there a talmudic academy, many of whose students became the leading rabbis of Central Europe. As an outstanding scholar, he was sought by Jews throughout Europe with their queries in religious law. His responsa reflected the religious and social life of his time and showed a respect for existing custom. Moelln was a poet of liturgical verse (piyyutim) and a renowned cantor whose melodies were to be heard in communal worship in Mainz until modern times.

Mainz

Yiddish: Magenca; French: Mayence; Hebrew: מגנצא

A city on the river Rhine. Mainz is the capital of Rheinland Pfalz, Germany.

21st Century

There is a rapidly growing Jewish community in Mainz. A new synagogue was constructed by the architect Manuel Herz in 2010 on the site of the one destroyed by the Nazis on the Progrom Night (Nov. 9, 1938). 
The Jewish population in Mainz is about 2,000 persons. Just over half are community members, and the rest unaffiliated.


History

Mainz is one of the oldest Jewish communities in Germany. It is presumed that Jews came to the town as merchants in the roman era and may even have founded a settlement there. It is asserted that the renowned Kalonymus family moved from Lucca in Italy to Mainz at the request of Charlemagne in the 9th Century. Another assertion places their move to Mainz in 917. None of the above claims can be reliably corroborated.

In support of the claim that an organized Jewish community probably existed in Mainz in the tenth century, a report that a church council in Mainz declared in 906 that a man who killed a Jew out of malice must be made accountable like any other murderer. Archbishop Friedrich, the Catholic Archbishop of Mainz, (937-954) threatened the Jews with forcible conversion or expulsion, and limited their trade activities.

In 1012, after a priest had converted to Judaism, the Jews of Mainz were ordered by Emperor Heinrich II to convert to Christianity or be expelled from the city. The expelled were later allowed to return and continued to play an active part in the trade of the town, which was a commercial center on the Rhine. In 1080, many Jews fled Mainz in after being accused of starting a fire, in which their quarter was also damaged. They settled in Speyer and established the Jewish community there.

 

The Crusades

At the beginning of the First Crusade (1096), the Mainz community leader, Kalonymus ben Meshullam, secured an order from Emperor Heinrich IV protecting the Jews, in exchange for a considerable sum of money. About 1300 Jews gathered in the palace of Archbishop Ruthard, but the promise of protection was not kept. In May 28 1096, after a 2 day standoff, the gates were opened by the palace guards and the Crusaders entered the place. The Jews, who were armed, fought back as best they could, but were eventually overcome by the Crusaders. Over 1,000 died, some at the hands of the Crusaders and many by suicide as an act of martyrdom (“Kiddush ha-Shem”). Some of the Jews decided to accept conversion to Christianity to avoid certain death. Kalonymus ben Meshullam, in exchange for a hefty ransom, managed to escape with a group of about 60 of the community’s wealthy people to Rudesheim, but the group was captured the next morning by the mob, led by Count Emicho of Flonheim, and murdered. Kalonymus committed suicide. The synagogue (first mentioned in 1093) and most of the Jewish quarter were burned down.

12th Century Jews immortalized the Mainz martyrdom as an example of supreme sacrifice (“Akedah”). The chronicle of Solomon ben Simon recounts the martyrdom (“Kiddush ha-Shem”) of 1096, and claims that Mainz is the most ancient and famous Jewish community on the Rhine.

The community slowly recovered in the following years, after Emperor Heinrich IV permitted those forcibly converted to return to Judaism, decreeing that the Jews were also to enjoy the "King's Peace", first announced in Mainz, which  regulated jurisdictions for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

During the Second Crusade (1147), the Mainz Jewish community also suffered several casualties. During the Third Crusade (1189-92), the Jews of Mainz were unharmed thanks to the resolute protection of Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa, who proclaimed the “Great Imperial Peace”, which extended the original “King’s Peace” and applied it to the whole Empire.

 

Persecution

The Mainz Jews were ordered to wear the special identifying badges in 1259. In 1281 and 1283 numerous Jews were victims of blood libels. The synagogue was also burnt in those years.

In 1286, because of these repeated persecutions, some Jews of Mainz, along with those of other German cities, wished to emigrate to the Land of Israel under the leadership of Meir ben Baruch of Rothenberg.

During the Black Death persecution, (1349) the whole community almost perished. Some died in a battle against the mob who blamed them for this epidemic, but the majority (around 3,000 souls) perished in the flames of their burning synagogue and the Jewish quarter, set on fire by their own hands in an act of martyrdom (“Kiddush ha-Shem”). In 1356, Jews began to resettle in Mainz. However, the community did not attain its former standing.

The Jewry taxes, granted to the town in 1295 and renewed in 1366, became increasingly more burdensome. In 1385 they presented the council with 3,000 gulden "out of gratitude" for its protection during the anti-Jewish disturbances which had broken out in various places.

A series of pogroms and expulsions occurred in 1438 (Destruction of the synagogue and cemetery), 1462 (expulsion) and 1473, when the synagogue was converted into a chapel, and the cemetery tombstones were taken and used for building.

 

Economy

Until the second half of the 12th century, the Jews conducted lively mercantile activities and from a very early date attended the Cologne fairs. From this period onward, money lending became increasingly important in Mainz, as in all German communities. Records of the 12th, and especially of the 13th century, often reveal that churches and monasteries owed money to Jews.

From 1286 until the end of the 14th century, the Jewish community was led by a so-called Judenbishop (nominated by the Archbishop) and by not less than four elders (Vorsteher) who together constituted the Judenrat ("Jews' council").

In 1390 Mainz Jewry suffered a great financial setback when the King of Bohemia, Emperor Wenceslaus IV, annulled debts owed to Jews.

 

Jewish Scholarship

A yeshiva was founded in the tenth century by the Kalonymides. It had become prominent under Rabbi Gershom ben Judah, known as Rabbenu Gershom Me’or Hagolah (“The light of the Diaspora”), and his pupils and contemporaries, Judah ha-Kohen, Jacob ben Yakar, Isaac ha-Levi, and Isaac ben Judah.

The regulations (“Takkanot”) established by Rabbenu Gershom, which were applicable to the three Rhenish cities (Mainz, Worm and Speyer), were acknowledged by all the other German Jewish communities and even by other European ones, thereby achieving the force of law, a fact which enhanced the reputation of Mainz. In Germany, Synodal Assemblies were held in Mainz (1150, 1223, 1245, 1307 and 1381), in which primarily representatives of the three leading communities (Mainz, Speyer and Worms) took part. Their rulings and resolutions, the “Takkanot Shum”, were acknowledged by the rest of the communities of Germany and beyond.

The Mainz Rabbi, Jacob ben Moses Moellin (1356- 1427), known as the Maharil, promulgated regulations (“Takkanot”), chiefly concerned with ritual matters, aimed at the German and primarily the Rheinish Jewish communities. His collection of practices (“Minhagim”), compiled by his pupil Zalman of St. Goar, which rely mainly on the Mainz traditions, are connected with all German and some non- German communities, and were used to a large extent in the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayyim, the Code of Jewish Law.

Outstanding among the many notable scholars and personalities in medieval Mainz are, in addition to those already mentioned, Rabbi Nathan ben Machir ben Judah (c. 1100), Rabbi Eliezer ben Nathan (c. 1150), Rabbi Meshullam ben Kalonymus (c. 1150), Rabbi Judah ben Kalonymus ben Moses (c. 1175), Rabbi Baruch ben Samuel (1200), and Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg (1220-1293).

A number of scholars originated from Mainz in modern times too, notably Michael Creizenach, Issac Bernays, Joseph Derenburg, and Ludwig Bamberger. Bamberger was a leader of the 1848 revolution, and one of the main leaders of the German liberals (1823-1899). In 1933, Solomon Levi and Moses Bamberger were Rabbis of the mainstream and Orthodox communities, respectively.

 

The Modern Era

In the early modern era only a few isolated Jews lived in Mainz. These few were expelled in 1579, but a new community was reestablished in 1583, reinforced by emigration from Frankfurt, (1614), Worms (1615), and Hanau. A Rabbi was subsequently engaged in 1630 by endorsement of the government, and a synagogue built in 1639. Another synagogue was built in 1673, enlarged and renovated in 1717, and again in 1773. It was later converted to a community center.

During the French occupation (1644-1648), the Jews were subjected to ever-harsher restrictions.

Influenced by the Toleranzpatent (“Edict of Toleration”, extending religious freedom to non-Catholic Christians living in the crown lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, issued by Emperor Joseph II (1781), the Archbishop-Elector improved the legal position of the Jews, and allowed them to open their own schools and attend general ones.

After the French Republic occupation of Mainz (1792), the Leibzoll ("body tax", a special toll which Jews had to pay in most of the European states in the Middle Ages and up to the beginning of the nineteenth century) was abolished.

On September 12 , 1798 the gates of the ghetto were torn down, and Jews began to acquire residences among the local population. Mainz Jews sent delegations to Napoleon’s Sanhedrin convention in 1806. In 1820 they were granted citizenship and in 1841 full equality as citizens of the French Republic.

In the mid-19th century, the community split when Rabbi Joseph Aub introduced ritual reforms, such as the use of an organ, in a newly built synagogue (1856). Marcus Lehmann founded a Jewish school (a high school with instruction in foreign languages) in 1859. Until the Prussian law of 1876 regulating secession from religious communities, the orthodox remained within the community and seceded only later.

Orthodox Jews, who objected to the Reform practices, founded a meeting place for their own congregation on the corner of Flachsmarkt and Margarethenstrasse. Renovated in 1879, this synagogue was enlarged to accommodate 300 worshipers. Eastern European Jews conducted services in a prayer hall at 13 Margarethenstrasse (established in the 1880s). Then the mainstream community inaugurated a new synagogue on Hindenburgstrasse in 1913, with 580 seats for men and 482 for women. Finally, in 1929, the Orthodox congregation opened another new synagogue.

In the 19th Century the Jewish population of Mainz increased, and in the 20th Century it declined. In the 20th Century its percentage of the general population also declined:

2,665 (5.8%) in 1861
2,998 (5.8%) in 1871
3,104 (3.7%) in 1900
2,738 (2.5%) in 1925 
2,730 (1.8%) in 1933

 

The Holocaust

On November 9, 1938 (the “Kristallnacht” pogroms) the mainstream community’s synagogue (including the museum and library) was looted and burned down. The interior of the Orthodox synagogue was destroyed, but the ensuing fire was extinguished. The Eastern Europeans’ prayer hall was destroyed and looted. 1 local Jew was killed, two committed suicide and 60 Jewish men were deported to Buchenwald. On May 17’ 1939 only 1,452 Jews remained.The Orthodox synagogue was demolished in 1939/40, after which services took place in the community center (2, Forsterstrasse), until the deportations. The steady flow of emigrants was partly balanced by an influx of refugees from the countryside.

In March and September of 1942, the majority of the community was deported to Poland and Theresienstadt concentration camp, and on February 10, 1943 the remaining Jews suffered the same fate. Between 1,300 and 1,400 Mainz Jews perished in the Holocaust. 

 

Postwar

The Mainz Jewish community was reestablished by survivors in October 1945, and a synagogue was opened in 1947. In 1952 that synagogue was moved to the Forsterstrasse building, which had been returned to the community. The synagogue was renovated and enlarged in 1966, and a government office was built on the site of the mainstream community’s destroyed house of worship. In 1988, several of its original pillars were converted into a memorial.The Jewish community of Mainz grew from 80 persons in 1948 to 122 in 1970.

Vienna

In German: Wien. Capital of Austria

Early History

Documentary evidence points to the first settlement of Jews in the 12th century. A charter of privileges was granted by Emperor Frederick II in 1238, giving the Jewish community extensive autonomy. At the close of the 13th and during the 14th centuries, the community of Vienna was recognized as the leading community of German Jewry. In the second half of the 13th century there were about 1,000 Jews in the community.
The influence of the "Sages of Vienna" spread far beyond the limits of the city itself and continued for many generations. Of primary importance were Isaac B. Moses "Or Zaru'a", his son Chayyim "Or Zaru'a", Avigdor B. Elijah Ha- Kohen, and Meir B. Baruch Ha- Levi. At the time of the Black Death persecutions of 1348-49, the community of Vienna was spared and even served as a refuge for Jews from other places.

Toward the end of the 14th century there was a growing anti-Jewish feeling among the burghers; in 1406, during the course of a fire that broke out in the synagogue, in which it was destroyed, the burghers seized the opportunity to attack Jewish homes. Many of the community's members died as martyrs in the persecutions of 1421, others were expelled, and the children forcibly converted. After the persecutions nevertheless some Jews remained there illegally. In 1512, there were 12 Jewish families in Vienna, and a small number of Jews continued to live there during the 16th century, often faced with threats of expulsion. During the Thirty Years' War (1618-48), Jews suffered as a result of the occupation of the city by Imperial soldiers. In 1624, Emperor Ferdinand II confined the Jews to a ghetto. Some Jews at this time engaged in international trade; others were petty traders. Among the prominent rabbis of the renewed community was Yom Tov Lipman Heller, and Shabbetai Sheftel Horowitz,
one of the many refugees from Poland who fled the Chmielnicki who led anti-Jewish massacres of 1648.

Hatred of the Jews by the townsmen increased during the mid 17th century. The poorer Jews were expelled in 1669; the rest were exiled during the Hebrew month of Av (summer) of the year 1670, and their properties taken from them. The Great Synagogue was converted into a Catholic church. Some of the Jews took advantage of the offer to convert to Christianity so as not to be exiled.

By 1693, the financial losses to the city were sufficient to generate support for a proposal to readmit the Jews. Only the wealthy were authorized to reside in Vienna, as "tolerated subjects", in exchange for very high taxes. Prayer services were permitted to be held only in a private house.

The founders of the community and its leaders in those years, as well as during the 18th century, were prominent Court Jews, such as Samuel Oppenheimer, Samson Wertheimer, and Baron Diego Aguilar. As a result of their activities, Vienna became a center for Jewish diplomatic efforts on behalf of Jews throughout the Habsburg Empire as well as an important center for Jewish philanthropy. A Sephardi community in Vienna traces its origins to 1737, and grew as a result of commerce with the Balkans.

The Jews suffered under the restrictive legislation of Empress Maria Theresia (1740- 80). In 1781, her son, Joseph II, issued his "Toleranzpatent", which, though attacked in Jewish circles, paved the way in some respects for later Emancipation.

By 1793, there was a Hebrew printing press in Vienna that soon became the center for Hebrew printing in Central Europe. During this period, the first signs of assimilation in social and family life of the Jews of Vienna made their appearance. At the time of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Viennese salon culture was promoted by Jewish wealthy women, whose salons served as entertainment and meeting places for the rulers of Europe.

The Jewish Community and the Haskalah Movement

From the close of the 18th century, and especially during the first decades of the 19th century, Vienna became a center of the Haskalah movement.

Despite restrictions, the number of Jews in the city rapidly increased. At a later period the call for religious reform was heard in Vienna. Various maskilim, including Peter Peretz Ber and Naphtali Hertz Homberg, tried to convince the government to impose Haskalah recommendations and religious reform on the Jews. This aroused strong controversy among the Viennese Community.

Jewish Immigration

During the second half of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, the Jewish population of Vienna increased as a result of immigration there by Jews from other regions of the Empire, particularly Hungary, Galicia, and Bukovina. The influence and scope of the community's activities increased particularly after the annexation of Galicia by Austria. By 1923, Vienna had become the third largest Jewish community in Europe. Many Jews entered the liberal professions.

Community Life

In 1826, a magnificent synagogue, in which the Hebrew language and the traditional text of the prayers were retained, was inaugurated. It was the first legal synagogue to be opened since 1671. Before the Holocaust, there were about 59 synagogues of various religious trends in Vienna. There was also a Jewish educational network. The rabbinical Seminary, founded in 1893, was a European center for research into Jewish literature and history. The most prominent scholars were M.Guedeman, A. Jellinek, Adolph Schwarz, Adolf Buechler, David Mueller, Victor Aptowitzer, Z.H. Chajes, and Samuel Krauss. There was also a "Hebrew Pedagogium" for the training of Hebrew teachers.

Vienna also became a Jewish sports center; the football team Hakoach and the Maccabi organization of Vienna were well known. Many Jews were actors, producers, musicians and writers, scientists, researchers and thinkers.

Some Prominent Viennese Jews: Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951), musician, composer; Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911), musician, composer; Franz Werfel (1890 - 1945), author; Stefan Zweig (1881 - 1942), author; Karl Kraus (1874 - 1936), satirist, poet; Otto Bauer (1881 - 1938), socialist leader; Alfred Adler (1870 - 1937), psychiatrist; Arthur Schnitzler (1862 - 1931), playwright, author; Isaac Noach Mannheimer (1793 - 1865), Reform preacher; Joseph Popper (1838 -1921), social philosopher, engineer; Max Adler (1873 - 1937), socialist theoretician; Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939), psychiatrist, creator of Psychoanalysis; Adolf Fischhoff (1816 - 1893), politician.

The Zionist Movement

Though in the social life and the administration of the community, there was mostly strong opposition to Jewish National action, Vienna was also a center of the national awakening. Peretz Smolenskin published Ha-Shachar between 1868 and 1885 in Vienna, while Nathan Birnbaum founded the first Jewish Nationalist Student Association, Kadimah, there in 1882, and preached "Pre-Herzl Zionism" from 1884. The leading newspaper, Neue Freie Presse, to which Theodor Herzl contributed, was owned in part by Jews.
It was due to Herzl that Vienna was at first the center of Zionist activities. He published the Zionist Movement's Organ, Die Welt, and established the headquarters of the Zionist Executive there.

The Zionist Movement in Vienna gained in strength after World War I. In 1919, the Zionist Robert Stricker was elected to the Austrian Parliament. The Zionists did not obtain a majority in the community until the elections of 1932.

The Holocaust Period

Nazi Germany occupied Vienna in March 1938. In less than one year the Nazis introduced all the discriminatory laws, backed by ruthless terror and by mass arrests (usually of economic leaders and Intellectuals, who were detained in special camps or sent to Dachau). These measures were accompanied by unspeakable atrocities. Vienna's Chief Rabbi, Dr. Israel Taglicht, who was more than 75 years old, was among those who were forced to clean with their bare hands the pavements of main streets. During Kristallnacht (November 9-10, 1938), 42 synagogues were destroyed, hundreds of flats were plundered by the S.A. and the Hitler Youth.

The first transports of deported Jews were sent to the notorious Nisko concentration camp, in the Lublin District (October 1939). The last mass transport left in September 1942; it included many prominent people and Jewish dignitaries, who were sent to Theresienstadt, from where later they were mostly deported to Auschwitz. In November 1942, the Jewish community of Vienna was officially dissolved. About 800 Viennese Jews survived by remaining underground.

Last 50 Years

In the last 50 years, Vienna has become the main transient stopping-place and the first refuge for hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees and emigrants from Eastern Europe after World War II.

The only synagogue to survive the Shoah is the Stadttempel (built 1826), where the community offices and the Chief Rabbinate are located. A number of synagogues and prayer rooms catering to various chassidic groups and other congregations are functioning on a regular basis in Vienna. One kosher supermarket, as well as a kosher butcher shop and bakery serve the community

The only Jewish school run by the community is the Zwi Perez Chajes School, which reopened in 1980 after a hiatus of 50 years, and includes a kindergarden, elementary and high school. About 400 additional pupils receive Jewish religious instruction in general schools and two additional Talmud Torah schools. The ultra-orthodox stream of the community, which has been growing significantly since the 1980's, maintain their separate school system.
Though the Zionists constitute a minority, there are intensive and diversified Zionist activities. A number of journals and papers are published by the community, such as Die Gemeinde, the official organ of the Community, and the Illustrierte Neue Welt. The Austrian Jewish Students Union publishes the Noodnik.

The Documentation Center, established and directed by Simon Wiesenthal and supported by the community, developed into the important Institute for the documentation of the Holocaust and the tracing of Nazi Criminals.

In 1993, the Jewish Museum in Vienna opened its doors and became a central cultural institution of the community, offering a varied program of cultural and educational activities and attracting a large public of Jewish and non-Jewish visitors. The museum chronicles the rich history of Viennese Jewry and the outstanding roles Jews played in the development of the city. The Jewish Welcome Service aids Jewish visitors including newcomers who plan to remain in the city for longer periods.

Jewish Population in Vienna:

1846 - 3,379

1923 - 201,513

1945/46 - 4,000

1950 - 12,450

2000 - 9,000

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Yaakov Ben Moshe Moelln

Yaakov Ben Moshe Moelln (?-1427) Rabbinic authority. Born into a prestigious rabbinic family in Mainz, he studied first with his father, then with noted rabbis in Vienna where he was ordained, with the additional scholarly title of distinction Morenu. He succeeded his father as rabbi of Mainz in 1387 and established there a talmudic academy, many of whose students became the leading rabbis of Central Europe. As an outstanding scholar, he was sought by Jews throughout Europe with their queries in religious law. His responsa reflected the religious and social life of his time and showed a respect for existing custom. Moelln was a poet of liturgical verse (piyyutim) and a renowned cantor whose melodies were to be heard in communal worship in Mainz until modern times.

Written by researchers of ANU Museum of the Jewish People

Mainz

Mainz

Yiddish: Magenca; French: Mayence; Hebrew: מגנצא

A city on the river Rhine. Mainz is the capital of Rheinland Pfalz, Germany.

21st Century

There is a rapidly growing Jewish community in Mainz. A new synagogue was constructed by the architect Manuel Herz in 2010 on the site of the one destroyed by the Nazis on the Progrom Night (Nov. 9, 1938). 
The Jewish population in Mainz is about 2,000 persons. Just over half are community members, and the rest unaffiliated.


History

Mainz is one of the oldest Jewish communities in Germany. It is presumed that Jews came to the town as merchants in the roman era and may even have founded a settlement there. It is asserted that the renowned Kalonymus family moved from Lucca in Italy to Mainz at the request of Charlemagne in the 9th Century. Another assertion places their move to Mainz in 917. None of the above claims can be reliably corroborated.

In support of the claim that an organized Jewish community probably existed in Mainz in the tenth century, a report that a church council in Mainz declared in 906 that a man who killed a Jew out of malice must be made accountable like any other murderer. Archbishop Friedrich, the Catholic Archbishop of Mainz, (937-954) threatened the Jews with forcible conversion or expulsion, and limited their trade activities.

In 1012, after a priest had converted to Judaism, the Jews of Mainz were ordered by Emperor Heinrich II to convert to Christianity or be expelled from the city. The expelled were later allowed to return and continued to play an active part in the trade of the town, which was a commercial center on the Rhine. In 1080, many Jews fled Mainz in after being accused of starting a fire, in which their quarter was also damaged. They settled in Speyer and established the Jewish community there.

 

The Crusades

At the beginning of the First Crusade (1096), the Mainz community leader, Kalonymus ben Meshullam, secured an order from Emperor Heinrich IV protecting the Jews, in exchange for a considerable sum of money. About 1300 Jews gathered in the palace of Archbishop Ruthard, but the promise of protection was not kept. In May 28 1096, after a 2 day standoff, the gates were opened by the palace guards and the Crusaders entered the place. The Jews, who were armed, fought back as best they could, but were eventually overcome by the Crusaders. Over 1,000 died, some at the hands of the Crusaders and many by suicide as an act of martyrdom (“Kiddush ha-Shem”). Some of the Jews decided to accept conversion to Christianity to avoid certain death. Kalonymus ben Meshullam, in exchange for a hefty ransom, managed to escape with a group of about 60 of the community’s wealthy people to Rudesheim, but the group was captured the next morning by the mob, led by Count Emicho of Flonheim, and murdered. Kalonymus committed suicide. The synagogue (first mentioned in 1093) and most of the Jewish quarter were burned down.

12th Century Jews immortalized the Mainz martyrdom as an example of supreme sacrifice (“Akedah”). The chronicle of Solomon ben Simon recounts the martyrdom (“Kiddush ha-Shem”) of 1096, and claims that Mainz is the most ancient and famous Jewish community on the Rhine.

The community slowly recovered in the following years, after Emperor Heinrich IV permitted those forcibly converted to return to Judaism, decreeing that the Jews were also to enjoy the "King's Peace", first announced in Mainz, which  regulated jurisdictions for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

During the Second Crusade (1147), the Mainz Jewish community also suffered several casualties. During the Third Crusade (1189-92), the Jews of Mainz were unharmed thanks to the resolute protection of Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa, who proclaimed the “Great Imperial Peace”, which extended the original “King’s Peace” and applied it to the whole Empire.

 

Persecution

The Mainz Jews were ordered to wear the special identifying badges in 1259. In 1281 and 1283 numerous Jews were victims of blood libels. The synagogue was also burnt in those years.

In 1286, because of these repeated persecutions, some Jews of Mainz, along with those of other German cities, wished to emigrate to the Land of Israel under the leadership of Meir ben Baruch of Rothenberg.

During the Black Death persecution, (1349) the whole community almost perished. Some died in a battle against the mob who blamed them for this epidemic, but the majority (around 3,000 souls) perished in the flames of their burning synagogue and the Jewish quarter, set on fire by their own hands in an act of martyrdom (“Kiddush ha-Shem”). In 1356, Jews began to resettle in Mainz. However, the community did not attain its former standing.

The Jewry taxes, granted to the town in 1295 and renewed in 1366, became increasingly more burdensome. In 1385 they presented the council with 3,000 gulden "out of gratitude" for its protection during the anti-Jewish disturbances which had broken out in various places.

A series of pogroms and expulsions occurred in 1438 (Destruction of the synagogue and cemetery), 1462 (expulsion) and 1473, when the synagogue was converted into a chapel, and the cemetery tombstones were taken and used for building.

 

Economy

Until the second half of the 12th century, the Jews conducted lively mercantile activities and from a very early date attended the Cologne fairs. From this period onward, money lending became increasingly important in Mainz, as in all German communities. Records of the 12th, and especially of the 13th century, often reveal that churches and monasteries owed money to Jews.

From 1286 until the end of the 14th century, the Jewish community was led by a so-called Judenbishop (nominated by the Archbishop) and by not less than four elders (Vorsteher) who together constituted the Judenrat ("Jews' council").

In 1390 Mainz Jewry suffered a great financial setback when the King of Bohemia, Emperor Wenceslaus IV, annulled debts owed to Jews.

 

Jewish Scholarship

A yeshiva was founded in the tenth century by the Kalonymides. It had become prominent under Rabbi Gershom ben Judah, known as Rabbenu Gershom Me’or Hagolah (“The light of the Diaspora”), and his pupils and contemporaries, Judah ha-Kohen, Jacob ben Yakar, Isaac ha-Levi, and Isaac ben Judah.

The regulations (“Takkanot”) established by Rabbenu Gershom, which were applicable to the three Rhenish cities (Mainz, Worm and Speyer), were acknowledged by all the other German Jewish communities and even by other European ones, thereby achieving the force of law, a fact which enhanced the reputation of Mainz. In Germany, Synodal Assemblies were held in Mainz (1150, 1223, 1245, 1307 and 1381), in which primarily representatives of the three leading communities (Mainz, Speyer and Worms) took part. Their rulings and resolutions, the “Takkanot Shum”, were acknowledged by the rest of the communities of Germany and beyond.

The Mainz Rabbi, Jacob ben Moses Moellin (1356- 1427), known as the Maharil, promulgated regulations (“Takkanot”), chiefly concerned with ritual matters, aimed at the German and primarily the Rheinish Jewish communities. His collection of practices (“Minhagim”), compiled by his pupil Zalman of St. Goar, which rely mainly on the Mainz traditions, are connected with all German and some non- German communities, and were used to a large extent in the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayyim, the Code of Jewish Law.

Outstanding among the many notable scholars and personalities in medieval Mainz are, in addition to those already mentioned, Rabbi Nathan ben Machir ben Judah (c. 1100), Rabbi Eliezer ben Nathan (c. 1150), Rabbi Meshullam ben Kalonymus (c. 1150), Rabbi Judah ben Kalonymus ben Moses (c. 1175), Rabbi Baruch ben Samuel (1200), and Rabbi Meir of Rothenberg (1220-1293).

A number of scholars originated from Mainz in modern times too, notably Michael Creizenach, Issac Bernays, Joseph Derenburg, and Ludwig Bamberger. Bamberger was a leader of the 1848 revolution, and one of the main leaders of the German liberals (1823-1899). In 1933, Solomon Levi and Moses Bamberger were Rabbis of the mainstream and Orthodox communities, respectively.

 

The Modern Era

In the early modern era only a few isolated Jews lived in Mainz. These few were expelled in 1579, but a new community was reestablished in 1583, reinforced by emigration from Frankfurt, (1614), Worms (1615), and Hanau. A Rabbi was subsequently engaged in 1630 by endorsement of the government, and a synagogue built in 1639. Another synagogue was built in 1673, enlarged and renovated in 1717, and again in 1773. It was later converted to a community center.

During the French occupation (1644-1648), the Jews were subjected to ever-harsher restrictions.

Influenced by the Toleranzpatent (“Edict of Toleration”, extending religious freedom to non-Catholic Christians living in the crown lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, issued by Emperor Joseph II (1781), the Archbishop-Elector improved the legal position of the Jews, and allowed them to open their own schools and attend general ones.

After the French Republic occupation of Mainz (1792), the Leibzoll ("body tax", a special toll which Jews had to pay in most of the European states in the Middle Ages and up to the beginning of the nineteenth century) was abolished.

On September 12 , 1798 the gates of the ghetto were torn down, and Jews began to acquire residences among the local population. Mainz Jews sent delegations to Napoleon’s Sanhedrin convention in 1806. In 1820 they were granted citizenship and in 1841 full equality as citizens of the French Republic.

In the mid-19th century, the community split when Rabbi Joseph Aub introduced ritual reforms, such as the use of an organ, in a newly built synagogue (1856). Marcus Lehmann founded a Jewish school (a high school with instruction in foreign languages) in 1859. Until the Prussian law of 1876 regulating secession from religious communities, the orthodox remained within the community and seceded only later.

Orthodox Jews, who objected to the Reform practices, founded a meeting place for their own congregation on the corner of Flachsmarkt and Margarethenstrasse. Renovated in 1879, this synagogue was enlarged to accommodate 300 worshipers. Eastern European Jews conducted services in a prayer hall at 13 Margarethenstrasse (established in the 1880s). Then the mainstream community inaugurated a new synagogue on Hindenburgstrasse in 1913, with 580 seats for men and 482 for women. Finally, in 1929, the Orthodox congregation opened another new synagogue.

In the 19th Century the Jewish population of Mainz increased, and in the 20th Century it declined. In the 20th Century its percentage of the general population also declined:

2,665 (5.8%) in 1861
2,998 (5.8%) in 1871
3,104 (3.7%) in 1900
2,738 (2.5%) in 1925 
2,730 (1.8%) in 1933

 

The Holocaust

On November 9, 1938 (the “Kristallnacht” pogroms) the mainstream community’s synagogue (including the museum and library) was looted and burned down. The interior of the Orthodox synagogue was destroyed, but the ensuing fire was extinguished. The Eastern Europeans’ prayer hall was destroyed and looted. 1 local Jew was killed, two committed suicide and 60 Jewish men were deported to Buchenwald. On May 17’ 1939 only 1,452 Jews remained.The Orthodox synagogue was demolished in 1939/40, after which services took place in the community center (2, Forsterstrasse), until the deportations. The steady flow of emigrants was partly balanced by an influx of refugees from the countryside.

In March and September of 1942, the majority of the community was deported to Poland and Theresienstadt concentration camp, and on February 10, 1943 the remaining Jews suffered the same fate. Between 1,300 and 1,400 Mainz Jews perished in the Holocaust. 

 

Postwar

The Mainz Jewish community was reestablished by survivors in October 1945, and a synagogue was opened in 1947. In 1952 that synagogue was moved to the Forsterstrasse building, which had been returned to the community. The synagogue was renovated and enlarged in 1966, and a government office was built on the site of the mainstream community’s destroyed house of worship. In 1988, several of its original pillars were converted into a memorial.The Jewish community of Mainz grew from 80 persons in 1948 to 122 in 1970.

Vienna

Vienna

In German: Wien. Capital of Austria

Early History

Documentary evidence points to the first settlement of Jews in the 12th century. A charter of privileges was granted by Emperor Frederick II in 1238, giving the Jewish community extensive autonomy. At the close of the 13th and during the 14th centuries, the community of Vienna was recognized as the leading community of German Jewry. In the second half of the 13th century there were about 1,000 Jews in the community.
The influence of the "Sages of Vienna" spread far beyond the limits of the city itself and continued for many generations. Of primary importance were Isaac B. Moses "Or Zaru'a", his son Chayyim "Or Zaru'a", Avigdor B. Elijah Ha- Kohen, and Meir B. Baruch Ha- Levi. At the time of the Black Death persecutions of 1348-49, the community of Vienna was spared and even served as a refuge for Jews from other places.

Toward the end of the 14th century there was a growing anti-Jewish feeling among the burghers; in 1406, during the course of a fire that broke out in the synagogue, in which it was destroyed, the burghers seized the opportunity to attack Jewish homes. Many of the community's members died as martyrs in the persecutions of 1421, others were expelled, and the children forcibly converted. After the persecutions nevertheless some Jews remained there illegally. In 1512, there were 12 Jewish families in Vienna, and a small number of Jews continued to live there during the 16th century, often faced with threats of expulsion. During the Thirty Years' War (1618-48), Jews suffered as a result of the occupation of the city by Imperial soldiers. In 1624, Emperor Ferdinand II confined the Jews to a ghetto. Some Jews at this time engaged in international trade; others were petty traders. Among the prominent rabbis of the renewed community was Yom Tov Lipman Heller, and Shabbetai Sheftel Horowitz,
one of the many refugees from Poland who fled the Chmielnicki who led anti-Jewish massacres of 1648.

Hatred of the Jews by the townsmen increased during the mid 17th century. The poorer Jews were expelled in 1669; the rest were exiled during the Hebrew month of Av (summer) of the year 1670, and their properties taken from them. The Great Synagogue was converted into a Catholic church. Some of the Jews took advantage of the offer to convert to Christianity so as not to be exiled.

By 1693, the financial losses to the city were sufficient to generate support for a proposal to readmit the Jews. Only the wealthy were authorized to reside in Vienna, as "tolerated subjects", in exchange for very high taxes. Prayer services were permitted to be held only in a private house.

The founders of the community and its leaders in those years, as well as during the 18th century, were prominent Court Jews, such as Samuel Oppenheimer, Samson Wertheimer, and Baron Diego Aguilar. As a result of their activities, Vienna became a center for Jewish diplomatic efforts on behalf of Jews throughout the Habsburg Empire as well as an important center for Jewish philanthropy. A Sephardi community in Vienna traces its origins to 1737, and grew as a result of commerce with the Balkans.

The Jews suffered under the restrictive legislation of Empress Maria Theresia (1740- 80). In 1781, her son, Joseph II, issued his "Toleranzpatent", which, though attacked in Jewish circles, paved the way in some respects for later Emancipation.

By 1793, there was a Hebrew printing press in Vienna that soon became the center for Hebrew printing in Central Europe. During this period, the first signs of assimilation in social and family life of the Jews of Vienna made their appearance. At the time of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Viennese salon culture was promoted by Jewish wealthy women, whose salons served as entertainment and meeting places for the rulers of Europe.

The Jewish Community and the Haskalah Movement

From the close of the 18th century, and especially during the first decades of the 19th century, Vienna became a center of the Haskalah movement.

Despite restrictions, the number of Jews in the city rapidly increased. At a later period the call for religious reform was heard in Vienna. Various maskilim, including Peter Peretz Ber and Naphtali Hertz Homberg, tried to convince the government to impose Haskalah recommendations and religious reform on the Jews. This aroused strong controversy among the Viennese Community.

Jewish Immigration

During the second half of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, the Jewish population of Vienna increased as a result of immigration there by Jews from other regions of the Empire, particularly Hungary, Galicia, and Bukovina. The influence and scope of the community's activities increased particularly after the annexation of Galicia by Austria. By 1923, Vienna had become the third largest Jewish community in Europe. Many Jews entered the liberal professions.

Community Life

In 1826, a magnificent synagogue, in which the Hebrew language and the traditional text of the prayers were retained, was inaugurated. It was the first legal synagogue to be opened since 1671. Before the Holocaust, there were about 59 synagogues of various religious trends in Vienna. There was also a Jewish educational network. The rabbinical Seminary, founded in 1893, was a European center for research into Jewish literature and history. The most prominent scholars were M.Guedeman, A. Jellinek, Adolph Schwarz, Adolf Buechler, David Mueller, Victor Aptowitzer, Z.H. Chajes, and Samuel Krauss. There was also a "Hebrew Pedagogium" for the training of Hebrew teachers.

Vienna also became a Jewish sports center; the football team Hakoach and the Maccabi organization of Vienna were well known. Many Jews were actors, producers, musicians and writers, scientists, researchers and thinkers.

Some Prominent Viennese Jews: Arnold Schoenberg (1874 - 1951), musician, composer; Gustav Mahler (1860 - 1911), musician, composer; Franz Werfel (1890 - 1945), author; Stefan Zweig (1881 - 1942), author; Karl Kraus (1874 - 1936), satirist, poet; Otto Bauer (1881 - 1938), socialist leader; Alfred Adler (1870 - 1937), psychiatrist; Arthur Schnitzler (1862 - 1931), playwright, author; Isaac Noach Mannheimer (1793 - 1865), Reform preacher; Joseph Popper (1838 -1921), social philosopher, engineer; Max Adler (1873 - 1937), socialist theoretician; Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939), psychiatrist, creator of Psychoanalysis; Adolf Fischhoff (1816 - 1893), politician.

The Zionist Movement

Though in the social life and the administration of the community, there was mostly strong opposition to Jewish National action, Vienna was also a center of the national awakening. Peretz Smolenskin published Ha-Shachar between 1868 and 1885 in Vienna, while Nathan Birnbaum founded the first Jewish Nationalist Student Association, Kadimah, there in 1882, and preached "Pre-Herzl Zionism" from 1884. The leading newspaper, Neue Freie Presse, to which Theodor Herzl contributed, was owned in part by Jews.
It was due to Herzl that Vienna was at first the center of Zionist activities. He published the Zionist Movement's Organ, Die Welt, and established the headquarters of the Zionist Executive there.

The Zionist Movement in Vienna gained in strength after World War I. In 1919, the Zionist Robert Stricker was elected to the Austrian Parliament. The Zionists did not obtain a majority in the community until the elections of 1932.

The Holocaust Period

Nazi Germany occupied Vienna in March 1938. In less than one year the Nazis introduced all the discriminatory laws, backed by ruthless terror and by mass arrests (usually of economic leaders and Intellectuals, who were detained in special camps or sent to Dachau). These measures were accompanied by unspeakable atrocities. Vienna's Chief Rabbi, Dr. Israel Taglicht, who was more than 75 years old, was among those who were forced to clean with their bare hands the pavements of main streets. During Kristallnacht (November 9-10, 1938), 42 synagogues were destroyed, hundreds of flats were plundered by the S.A. and the Hitler Youth.

The first transports of deported Jews were sent to the notorious Nisko concentration camp, in the Lublin District (October 1939). The last mass transport left in September 1942; it included many prominent people and Jewish dignitaries, who were sent to Theresienstadt, from where later they were mostly deported to Auschwitz. In November 1942, the Jewish community of Vienna was officially dissolved. About 800 Viennese Jews survived by remaining underground.

Last 50 Years

In the last 50 years, Vienna has become the main transient stopping-place and the first refuge for hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees and emigrants from Eastern Europe after World War II.

The only synagogue to survive the Shoah is the Stadttempel (built 1826), where the community offices and the Chief Rabbinate are located. A number of synagogues and prayer rooms catering to various chassidic groups and other congregations are functioning on a regular basis in Vienna. One kosher supermarket, as well as a kosher butcher shop and bakery serve the community

The only Jewish school run by the community is the Zwi Perez Chajes School, which reopened in 1980 after a hiatus of 50 years, and includes a kindergarden, elementary and high school. About 400 additional pupils receive Jewish religious instruction in general schools and two additional Talmud Torah schools. The ultra-orthodox stream of the community, which has been growing significantly since the 1980's, maintain their separate school system.
Though the Zionists constitute a minority, there are intensive and diversified Zionist activities. A number of journals and papers are published by the community, such as Die Gemeinde, the official organ of the Community, and the Illustrierte Neue Welt. The Austrian Jewish Students Union publishes the Noodnik.

The Documentation Center, established and directed by Simon Wiesenthal and supported by the community, developed into the important Institute for the documentation of the Holocaust and the tracing of Nazi Criminals.

In 1993, the Jewish Museum in Vienna opened its doors and became a central cultural institution of the community, offering a varied program of cultural and educational activities and attracting a large public of Jewish and non-Jewish visitors. The museum chronicles the rich history of Viennese Jewry and the outstanding roles Jews played in the development of the city. The Jewish Welcome Service aids Jewish visitors including newcomers who plan to remain in the city for longer periods.

Jewish Population in Vienna:

1846 - 3,379

1923 - 201,513

1945/46 - 4,000

1950 - 12,450

2000 - 9,000