Urban Historical Research in Lower Austria
The Jewish community in Wiener Neutstadt in the late Middle Ages
After Vienna and Krems, Wiener Neustadt had the largest Jewish community in the late Middle Ages in Austria. Following the expulsion and murder of the Jews in Vienna and Lower Austria in 1420 and 1421, it became the center of Austrian Jewry. The family of Shalom of Neustadt and his relative Rabbi Isserlein bar Petachya formed a learned dynasty whose religious commentaries and decisions on points of law are still cited today.
After the Emperor Frederick III (1439-1493) chose Wiener Neustadt as a royal residence, the Jews came under his tutelage, attracting the resentment of many Christians in the process. But the imperial protection, upheld by his "eternally faithful" citizens, was so effective that there were no persecutions in the town. The expulsion of the Jews in 1496 from Styria, to which Wiener Neustadt belonged, was also bloodless and relatively equitable, with the Jews being allowed up to three years after the official leaving date to sell their houses and property to the town's inhabitants.
Today there is not even a street name to commemorate the once flourishing community. Six Hebrew gravestones incorporated in the town walls are the sole testimony to Jewish life in the Middle Ages.
Information: Martha Keil
Publications
Martha Keil: "vormals bey der Judenn Zeitt". Studien zur Geschichte der jüdischen Gemeinde Wiener Neustadt im Spätmittelalter. Ungedr. phil. Diss. Wien 1998.
Dies., Juden in Grenzgemeinden: Wiener Neustadt und Ödenburg im Spätmittelalter. In: Martha Keil, Eleonore Lappin (Hrsg.), Studien zur Geschichte der Juden in Österreich, Bd. 2. Bodenheim/Mainz 1997, S. 9-34.
Dies., Der Liber Judeorum von Wr. Neustadt (1453-1500) - Edition. In: Martha Keil, Klaus Lohrmann (Hrsg.), Studien zur Geschichte der Juden in Österreich, Bd. 1. Wien-Köln 1994, S. 41-99.
Kehila Kedusha (Holy Community) of Neunkirchen (c. 1850 to the present)
The history of the small Jewish community of Neunkirchen from its origins in the 19th century until its destruction in 1938 has been reconstructed on the basis of a detailed historical analysis. The fate of this community reflects both the imperial policy towards the Jews and the anti-Semitism of the 19th and 20th centuries. The Holocaust was not a sudden and unexpected catastrophe imported from the outside. The study shows that the precursors to the Holocaust created an attitude that was firmly in place long before the "Anschluss", making the expulsion and annihilation of the Jews of Neunkirchen that much easier to accomplish. The Jews living in this non-Jewish environment had for centuries been alternately accepted and then rejected.
A separate chapter is devoted to the camps for Hungarian Jews who were brought to Neunkirchen in 1944 and 1945 as forced labour to build the bunkers in the main square.
The reminiscences of former inhabitants of the town are also given plenty of space, producing a highly personalised picture of Jewish life in this town.
Information: Gerhard Milchram
We thank the town of Neunkirchen for its support and assistance.
Publications
Gerhard Milchram, Heilige Gemeinde Neunkirchen. Eine jüdische Heimatgeschichte. Verlag Mandelbaum, Wien 2000.
Ders., Die Entwicklung der Jüdischen Gemeinde in Neunkirchen/NÖ im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. In: Martha Keil, Eleonore Lappin (Hrsg.), Studien zur Geschichte der Juden in Österreich, Bd 2. Bodenheim/Mainz 1997, S. 123-140.
