Answer for Usual Wyss-Frey . swiss Jews ? #general


We quote from the first volume of the two-volume work "History of the Jews
in Switzerland from the 16th century to after the Emancipation", which was
published in German and we would like to inform you, that these stories in
JewishGen are based on unresearched information and questionable sources.
Some of them are related and other research about the Jews in Switzerland
are comprehensible in the above work with the reference to the respective
sources.

On pages 17 to 20 of this first volume, the continuity of Jewish settlement
since the Middle Ages is reported, in what is now German-speaking
Switzerland. Between 1481 and the 18th century there were isolated Jews in
various smaller villages, i.e. in Wuelflingen, today part of the city
Winterthur in the canton of Zurich, a man called Lazarus used to live with
his wife, sons, daughters, and grandchildren there. He came from Thurgau,
recommended by the local bailiff, and practiced as physician. Also, in
Schaffhausen and surroundings there were isolated Jews living there in the
16th century. Mostly they worked also as physicians. It is known, that in
Bremgarten, now in the canton of Aargau, approx. in the years of 1537, 1538,
1560, 1585 also Jewish families were living there.
In the diocese of Basel this was an actual settlement. There are also
references, that in the year of 1567 in Allschwil, near Basel and from 1573
on in Zwingen (there is a memorial for the Jewish cemetery that existed
there), and as well in 1580 in Arlesheim (also near Basel) Jews could be
found. These Jewish settlements disappear towards the end of the 16th
century. New settlements arise only in the middle of the 17th century in
Allschwil, Oberwil and Schoenenbuch. (See Achille Nordmann "Geschichte der
Juden in Basel seit dem Ende der zweiten Gemeinde bis zur Einfuehrung der
Glaubens- und Gewissensfreiheit 1397-1875", Basel 1913). On the Solothurn
territory, especially in Dornach, there are traces of Jewish life in the
16th century until their expulsion in 1736. Probably at the end of the 16th
century, however, a growing number must have migrated to the bailiwick of
the Rhine valley and the county of, Baden, since attempts were made to
remove the Jews from these places in 1608 and 1612. In the year of 1633
there was a Jewish oath in Rheineck in the Rhine Valley and apparently a
synagogue. There were no more Jews there in 1647. From 1638-1639 there was a
Jew living in Emmishofen and in Mammern in 1643, (both places are in the
canton of Thurgau), there was a strong Jewish settlement with 24 households.

There is said, that there was a fire in Endingen and /or Lengnau. Only there
you can find Jewish civil registers of Endingen, the earliest date of birth
was from 1710 and of Lengnau from 1716.
These civil registers prove the birth, marriage and death dates of the
persons listed. In Lengnau and Endigen, the two synagogues were built around
1850, which are now under “heritage protection”. At the same time the
cemetery was built, which is still used today and is in the middle between
the two villages Lengnau and Endingen.

By Johann Caspar Ulrich, pastor from the Fraumuenster Church of Zurich,
"Collection of Jewish stories", there exists a beautiful drawing from the
year 1760, on which one can count 35 graves, 12 of them were children's
graves.

Before that period, there was a Jewish cemetery on an island on the Rhine
near Koblenz, called “Judensaeule”, used for the burials of the Jews from
the two mentioned villages. They had leased this island. Over the years, the
Rhine washed out the bottom of this island and washed away the entire
graves. For this reason, they could build a cemetery in 1750. The Jews paid
the rent to the city of Waldshut (Germany) until 1813, until they bought the
island. The "Jews' Column" fell into oblivion in the 19th century, finally
in the years 1954 and 1955 they exhumed the bones and the still existing
gravestones, and everything was transferred to the Surbtal cemetery by the
"Association for the Preservation of the Endingen-Lengnau Cemetery and
Synagogues". The oldest gravestone from the "Judensaeule" bears the date of
1716. To conclude, there was never a Jewish cemetery in Endingen around
1535.

Ariane Mil and René Loeb , Swiss Society of Jewish Genealogy

rene.loeb@...

rene.loeb@...