Siebengemeinden

The Siebengemeinden (Hebrew: שֶבַע קְהִלּוֹת‎; English: Seven Communities) were seven Jewish communities located in Eisenstadt and its surrounding area. The groups are known as Sheva Kehillot in Hebrew.^[1]

Kobersdorf Synagoge

History

The communities were established after 1670, when Paul I, 1st Prince Esterházy of Galántha accepted the Jews that had been expelled from Vienna by Leopold I.

The Siebengemeinden (now in Austrian Burgenland, which formerly belonged to Hungary) were composed of communities in Eisenstadt, Mattersdorf (now Mattersburg), Kobersdorf, Lackenbach, Frauenkirchen, Kittsee, and Deutschkreutz (Tzeilem). All together there numbered around 3,000 Jews, who were predominantly of Orthodox Jewish persuasion.

The most pious lived in Mattersdorf and Deutschkreutz, where there were important yeshivas. Another community developed in Mattersdorf under the leadership of the great Rabbi Moses Sofer (1763–1839). All seven communities fell victim to the persecution of the Jews under the government of the National Socialists.

People

• Samson Wertheimer (1658–1724), chief rabbi of Hungary and Moravia, and rabbi of Eisenstadt
• Moses Sofer, rabbi of Mattersdorf, 1798 - 1806^[2]
• Joseph Joachim (1831 - 1907), violinist, conductor, composer from Kittsee

Data from the 1910 Census

• Alsókismartonhegy (Unterberg, now part of Eisenstadt): 276 Jews (79.3% of the town or village)
• Lakompak (Lackenbach): 464 Jews (27.8%)
• Kabold (Kobersdorf): 256 Jews (20.2%)
• Sopronkeresztúr (Deutschkreutz): 621 Jews (18.6%)
• Boldogasszony (Frauenkirchen): 412 Jews (15.1%)
• Nagymarton (Mattersdorf): 511 Jews (13.5%)
• Kismarton (Eisenstadt): 168 Jews (5.5%)
• Felsőkismartonhegy (Oberberg, now part of Eisenstadt): 58 Jews (4.4%)
• Köpcsény (Kittsee): 92 Jews (2.9%)

See also

• Kiryat Mattersdorf
• History of the Jews in Hungary
• Jewish history of Slovakia
• Jewish history of Austria

References

Further reading

• Johannes Reiss (ed.): Aus den Sieben-Gemeinden. Ein Lesebuch über Juden im Burgenland. Eisenstadt 1997. ISBN 978-3-900907-05-1
• Hugo Gold (ed.): Gedenkbuch der untergegangenen Judengemeinden des Burgenlandes. Tel Aviv 1970.

External links

• SHEBA' ḲEHILLOT (Jewish Encyclopedia)