The Newsletter of the American Friends Volume 6, Issue 2 of the Jewish Museum Hohenems, Inc. July 2005 I N TOUCH J ULYJ ULY 2005 2005

A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT C LAUDE ROLLIN, ESQ.

subject he felt so passion- standing job creating in- ately about, namely, sup- teresting programs and Stephan Rollin porting the Jewish Museum exhibits, giving countless Founder in Hohenems. tours and responding to

numerous requests for Claude Rollin, Esq. The Jewish Museum in information and assistance. President Hohenems is one of only Thanks to their tireless Mark Brunner Dear Friends, three Jewish museums in all efforts, many thousands of Vice President of Austria. One of its most people from around the It seems most appropriate important functions is to world have been able to see, Uri Taenzer, Esq. that I am writing this letter educate people, young and hear (and hopefully under- Secretary-Treasurer on Father’s Day since my old, Jewish and non-Jewish, stand), the rich history of father was a founder and about the events of the past the Jews who once lived in Trustees enthusiastic supporter of and how those events may Hohenems. Dr. Robert Amler the American Friends until influence our future. In my Ronald Bernell his death last year. Since I judgment, the museum The heart of the museum is can no longer speak to him, staff, ably led by Dr. Hanno its permanent exhibition, Doris Billes I’ll speak to you about a Loewy, has done an out- (Continued on page 2) Nadia Follman Harvey Gutman N EWS FROM THE MUSEUM James Hirschfeld D R . HANNO LOEWY Francesca Brunner Kennedy THE TÄNZER- SCHNELL personality in a profound Hon. Susan Shimer EXHIBITION The exhibition about this and intimate way that great German-Jewish liberal touched a lot of visitors. Monica Wollner On March 8, 2005, the Mu- rabbi and reformer was cu- seum opened a double fea- rated by Eva-Maria Hesche The exhibition presented In Touch Editor: ture exhibition, one that pre- and Patrick Gleffe of the Mu- Aron Tänzer’s various at- Susan Shimer sented two impressive per- seum Staff, with support by tempts to create order and sonalities who made signifi- Göppingen Archive director, harmony in the world and to Please send your In Touch cant contributions to Dr. Karl-Heinz Ruess. The understand Jewish history in articles to our editor Hohenems history. These exhibition included docu- the context of assimilation. ments in the archives in Göp- Tänzer’s own illusions about Susan Shimer personalities, Aron Tänzer and Bartolomäus Schnell, pingen (near Stuttgart), the German-Jewish “sym- 16 Pond Lane were two exciting and very where Tänzer served as the biosis” became the source Armonk, NY 10504 different characters. community’s rabbi from of much anguish at the end [email protected] 1907 until his death in of his life, as is evidenced by or The show, Aron Tänzer. 1937, as well as newly found his will in which he declared Uri Taenzer, Esq. Rabbi, Researcher, Collector documents that could be that no German language and Loving Pedant, was or- shown thanks to the gener- prayer should be spoken at 123 N. Church St., ganized on the occasion of ous support of this project by his funeral. Moorestown, N.J. 08057 the 100th anniversary of his the Tänzer family in New Jer- Phone: 856-235-1172 masterpiece: “The History of sey, Erwin Tänzer and Uri The Tänzer exhibition is now Fax: 856-235-1911 the Jews of Hohenems,” first Tänzer. This made it possi- on display in Göppingen, [email protected] published in 1905. ble to present Aron Tänzer’s (Continued on page 2) Page 2 Volume 6, Issue 2

A LETTER... N EWS FROM THE MUSEUM (Continued from page 1) which includes a lot of inter- esting artifacts and historical documents that help bring to (Continued from page 1) Parallel to the great show Chronicle of 1616, as well life our remarkable family presented by the Municipal on Aron Tänzer, the Mu- as many other prints, such histories. Archives, which also has a seum, together with the as newspapers, bath books, significant permanent exhi- Vorarlberg State Library, theater plays, political pam- Next year, the Museum staff bition about the history of presented an exhibition on phlets and necrologies from plans to completely redo the the Jewish community. Bartolomäus Schnell. the 17th century. It also permanent exhibit, which has Rowdy, Free Artist and Pio- included the study Aron not been updated since the At the opening of the exhibi- neer of the Art of Printing in Tänzer wrote about Schnell museum first opened in tion, Uri Tänzer himself par- Vorarlberg. The exhibition in 1900, the first text ever 1991. The staff is just ticipated in a conference of project, put on track years written about the history of starting to develop ideas for this major redesign project. historians, organized by the ago by the Jewish scholar, printing in Vorarlberg. The You can read some of their Museum and the Alemannia the late Erik Weltsch, while exhibition also covers an- preliminary thoughts in the Judaica Association on working with the State Li- other project of Schnell and article entitled “The New March 12-13, 2005. That brary of Vorarlberg, enabled Wolf, the “first Jew of Permanent Exhibition Vision conference brought approxi- the Museum to present pre- Hohenems”, who planned of the Past – Vision for To- mately 45 historians and cious prints from the 17th on printing a Hebrew prayer morrow,” which appears on representatives of local mu- century, produced by the book in the 1620s. That page 5 of In Touch. As their seums, memorial sites, ar- first printing shop in Vorarl- project came to a halt when plans are further developed chives and initiatives from berg. Wolf was killed (under cir- and begin to crystallize, we the region between Freiburg cumstances never estab- will provide more details in and Ulm, Basel and Schnell’s printing factory lished) in 1624, and it fi- future editions of this Hohenems to the Museum. was installed in 1616 by nally ended with a legal con- newsletter. Uri Taenzer’s article on his the Count of Hohenems, to flict between Schnell and visit appears on page 10 in foster his political ambitions Wolf’s heirs. Thus, Over the years, the American this issue of In Touch. and to create resources for Hohenems never became Friends and some of its the cultural and political life the center of Hebrew print- individual members have of his territory. The year ing as it might have become contributed to the museum in 1616 was just a year before under more fortunate cir- many important ways, inclu- ding providing donations to the Count decided to en- cumstances. support specific projects. We courage the settlement of will undoubtedly be asked to Jews in Hohenems in order The exhibition also pre- contribute to the overhaul of to foster its economic fu- sented documents related the permanent exhibition ture. The exhibition in- to the history of the Jewish since it will be a major under- cluded the greatest master- Hohenems Reading Society, taking requiring significant Uri Taenzer presenting at the piece of book printing in founded in 1813, and rees- financial support from nu- Alemannia Judaica Confer- Vorarlberg (as Aron Tänzer tablished (naturally not as a merous public and private ence. put it in 1900), the Ems purely Jewish enterprise) in sources. In the next few 2004. months, I will confer with the trustees of the AFJMH to During the period that the discuss how we might best exhibition was in place, the support this project. Perhaps Museum, in collaboration we can establish a special with the Printing Museum fund and find a way to get Dornbirn, installed a print- matching funds for it to ing workshop in the base- increase our resources. We ment, where children, as will certainly keep you in- formed about our discus- well as adults, had the op- sions. portunity to experience old time printing technologies I hope everybody is enjoying themselves. the summertime! Thanks for your continued support of the American Friends.

All the best, (Continued on page 3) Claude Rollin The Taenzer Exhibit. In Touch Page 3

N EWS FROM THE MUSEUM W E ARE P LEASED TO W ELCOME THE (Continued from page 2) ern world of mobility and N EW THE CURRENT EXHIBITION migration, of global ex- A SSISTANT TO change and the search for Jewish “Kitsch” And Other “authenticity,” that again THE DIRECTOR Secret Obsessions and again leads into con- Identity Shopping, God In flicts and wars. Detail And The Desire for the Objects of Luck Jewish The Jewish culture is rich in Kitsch@Hohenems – Why? rituals and its objects, per- A troll figure from the Kitsch formed mostly at home. Exhibit. The world of Jewish Kitsch This has created an abun- today is best explored on dance of identity objects the Internet and in souvenir that can be found in nearly On May 29, the Jewish Mu- shops. Jewish objects every Jewish household, be seum opened its great promise identity in a Dias- it religious or not. Only a summer show Jewish pora that did not cease to minority adheres to the Kitsch And Other Secret flourish after the rise of the laws of Kashrut and reli- Obsessions. More than State of Israel. Kitsch gious tradition in a literal 200 guests and journalists In March 2005, the Mu- seems to be a promise of sense. Nonetheless, the from Austria and abroad seum hired Birgit Sohler luck that maybe doesn’t material heritage repre- attended a most joyful as the assistant to the come to us in this world, but senting these traditions is event with many surprises. director. at least can be represented. still meaningful to most of Extensive press coverage The kitsch of the Diaspora us. from the great newspapers Birgit Sohler brings to the represents our bonds to a in Austria, Switzerland and Museum her experience tradition that has become Thus, the field of contem- Germany signals a growing running a bookstore. She a secular, cultural one for porary Jewish objects is a interest in the Museum’s also worked for several many of us, but is still world in which to explore activities. based on the religious laws the productive process be- years as assistant to the and the history of a people. tween religious traditions At the opening, the Mu- manager of a design And it represents our rela- and secular culture, and seum’s staff handed the bureau. Ms. Sohler has tion to the utopia that is the ironic twist that make microphone for the been active in different called Jerusalem. “Next some of them a provocative "keynote lecture" to Thiemo cultural institutions in year in Jerusalem” one says comment about the contra- Dalpra, a local pantomime Vorarlberg, organizing every year on Pessach. This dictions of Jewish life to- artist, who interpreted the literature festivals and film Jerusalem does not exist in day, between old myths collection presented at the programs. the Near East of today, but and new challenges. (Continued on page 4) it does in our dreams. In the three months since Particularly in the U.S., a her start at the Museum, market for Jewish products emerged on the scene Birgit Sohler has enabled about a hundred years ago, the Museum to make a market that offers all great progress in kinds of ritual objects and professional project educational toys, ironic and management and public kitschy keepsakes, and the relations. every day equipment for a more or less kosher way of The Museum staff is life. delighted that she has

joined them and look After the catastrophe of the forward with confidence to Shoah, the crime of the 20th century, Jewish tradition her future endeavors on has become the subject of the Museum’s behalf.™ nostalgia, not only by Jews. And the longing for identity moves everybody in a mod- Opening Kitsch exhibition with Clown Thiemo Dalpra and Mayor Richard Amann. Page 4 Volume 6, Issue 2

N EWS FROM THE MUSEUM

(Continued from page 3) The satirical project Fein- zle of every day life in all FORTHCOMING EXHIBI- Museum by his own kost AdamTM requires all kinds of objects and senti- TION means. your senses: you can see ments: Jewish things in a it, you can smell it, you can magic landscape of pri- Anti-Jewish knick-knack Michael Wuliger, one of touch it, you can hear it, vacy. and popular images of the editors of the Berlin you can taste it. For the Jews, The Finkelstein col- Jewish weekly, Jüdische Jewish Museum Peter Loewy, born in 1951 lection and its context Allgemeine, introduced the Hohenems, Feinkost Adam in Israel, has turned to the In the fall 2005, the Jew- audience into the world of has prepared new offer- objects of wishes and ish Museum will confront Jewish Kitsch with a hu- ings which you can enjoy in dreams, the world of a delicate subject: the ma- morous speech that the Museum shop. Kitsch, food culture and terial heritage of centuries touched everyone’s heart. commodities, and of ma- of anti-Jewish fantasies Anna Adam, born in 1963 terial self representation, and popular images of Since 2001, Michael in Germany, studied art in many of his photo- Jews. The exhibition will Wuliger has presented his and education in Düssel- graphic projects. A num- be based on about 400 Shlock Shop in the dorf and is a member of ber of his projects have mainly anti-Semitic ob- Jüdische Allgemeine the diasporic artists group been published. For ex- jects from the collection of weekly in Berlin. In these meshulash in Berlin. She ample, his Bagel book and Gideon Finkelstein articles, he has presented has had a number of exhi- his project about window (Belgium), as well as cur- ironic statements about bitions in Germany and shopping in Paris. He is rent phenomena of anti- Jewish Kitsch and com- abroad. Her controversial currently working on a pro- Semitism, philo-Semitism modities found on the project Feinkost Adam TM ject on artist’s studios. and conspiracy theories. Internet. I and others first appeared in the Jew- His book Jewishness joined Mr. Wuliger in surf- ish Museum of Fürth a (Kehayoff Publishers, Mu- The stigmatisation of “the ing the World Wide Web, number of years ago, and nich 1997) is available in Jews” and “Jewishness” in shopping in duty free has made her one of the bookstores in the US too Europe was traditionally shops and souvenir best known Jewish artists (ISBN No: 3929078473). characterized from the stands. The exhibition and in Germany. perspective of European its catalog present their …and other secret obses- confrontation with the choice of Jewish contem- Jüdisches (Jewish things) sions “Orient, ” as well as Chris- porary objects, between The Frankfurt based pho- Hidden in the drawers of tianity’s desire to purge its secular dreams and ritual tographer Peter Loewy has the Museum’s permanent own past – an ambivalent tradition, searching for portrayed Jewish things, exhibition showcases are attempt to eliminate and God and identity. The ritual objects and keep- some of the collections of to assimilate the oriental catalogue of the exhibition, sakes, artifacts and ob- friends of the Museum: and Jewish heritage of Shlock Shop. Die wunder- jects of memory, little col- fetishes and talismans, Europe. We now encoun- bare Welt des jüdischen lections and arrange- smoking pipes and art, ter the same phenomenon Kitschs (edited by Hanno ments. Judaica and Islamic post- in the context of a post- Loewy and Michael cards, historical docu- colonial world. Jews are Wuliger), has 144 pages, Thanks to the confidence ments and the chaos in now, from a self-conscious and 48 color images, and with which he was wel- kitchen drawers, all kinds “oriental” perspective and is available though the comed, he could readily of collecting activity hu- in the frame of new anti- Jewish Museum move through the private man beings perform in Jewish conspiracy theo- Hohenems (12,10€ plus world of the homes of Jews their every day life. ries, the “western” intrud- shipping and handling). living in Frankfurt today – ers and a challenge to a and to explore what they The Exhibition will con- self-centered, Orien- In the Museum’s Parlor - display on their shelves tinue until October 8, tal” (“Islamic”, “Arabic” Feinkost Adam (Adam’s and tables, in boards and 2005. etc.) ideology of “culture”, delicatessen) show cases, on walls and that seem to be – at the The Berlin based Jewish doors. What we see are same time - attractive to artist Anna Adam attacks the markers of identity, political movements like prejudices and clichés still life and little paradise, the no globals in Europe about Jews, with an ironic kitschy and ironic, nostal- and the Americas today. slant and a lot of good and gic and melancholic. Like sometimes vicious humor. a child, we search for the “Jewish” things in the puz- (Continued on page 5) In Touch Page 5

N EWS FROM THE MUSEUM

(Continued from page 4) presentation of and non-Jews alike, the new permanent Interestingly enough the Hohenems’ Jewish connected by a mutual exhibit, and a year later images and objects that history. Since that time, interest in the heritage of we want to celebrate it express these ideologies Hohenems and its Hohenems and its impact together with the descen- are strikingly inter- Museum have become on our world. The de- dants in a reunion in the cultural. The success for the focus of vivid, scendants can make a summer of 2008, ten instance of the Egyptian thought provoking difference in the Muse- years after the unforget- television special on the remembrances – and a um’s well being at a table event of 1998. “Protocols of the Elders meeting point for locals, crucial moment of its of Zion”, a Czarist Rus- descendants, Jewish existence. The Museum looks sian propaganda piece, tourists and academics forward to the prepar- was meant to establish from Europe and the In 2006, the Museum’s ation of the new per- “anti-western” cultural world. team will concentrate on manent exhibit with much identity, by copying one the relaunch of its perm- excitement and looks of the most powerful cul- Not the history of the anent exhibition. The forward to expending tural myths of Europe. Jews of Hohenems, but a tasks for which it is taking much energy in making it lot has changed since the responsibility are a great happen. It will be looking On the other hand, the Museum opened its challenge: for funds from many traditional Christian moti- doors in 1991. The world sources, including its vated fascination by eve- around us is different, as --To tell the rich and present generous public rything “Jewish” has ex- are the questions our meaningful story of and private sponsors, the perienced a kind of ren- visitors ask. Hohenems Jewry in a municipality of Hohenems aissance in the West. modern and attractive and the State of This is now expressed in Museums are backbones way, addressing different Vorarlberg, the federal the form of philo-Semitic of our culture – and a audiences who have a government in Vienna (even philo-Zionist) medium for dialogue renewed interest in and the Association of modes and fashions as about cultures in a global Jewish life and an the Museum. It also will much as by anti-Semitic world. Migration has be- understanding that is include corporations, (and anti-Zionist) ideolo- come a decisive part of informed by contempor- foundations and person- gies. To confront anti- everyday lives in Europe, ary problems of migra- alities in Austria, Switzer- Semitism in a globalized and Jewish history has tion, globalization and the land and Germany in world seems to be a task become a focus of in- new composition of formulationg its plans this no easier than before. terest with increasing cultural identities; fall. We, The Museum, To examine its repertoire significance even for a would be particularly is a necessary element of non-Jewish audience. --To present biographies grateful for the generous this effort. The exhibition and personal stories, support of the American will be accompanied by a For many years now, the regarding newly acquired Friends of the Jewish Mu- catalogue and a volume descendants of objects and documents seum Hohenems, con- of essays. Hohenems Jewry have that are the fruit of tinuing our terrific coop- contributed significantly continuing communica- eration. ™ to the life of the Muse- tion with descendants um – and its archives and living all over the world; collections. The reunion of 1998 made a change: --To develop the Muse- THE NEW PERMANENT being founded as a Jew- um’s story showing the EXHIBITION ish Museum by non-Jews manifold connections for a non-Jewish audi- Jewish life in Hohenems Vision Of The Past - Vi- ence, the Hohenems has had with the world sion For Tomorrow Museum has now be- around- with Switzerland, The permanent exhibition come part of a dialogue Tyrol, and Vienna, Italy of the Jewish Museum that involves many dif- and Germany, Israel and dates back to 1991. It ferent perspectives. the US, even South has been fifteen years America and Australia. since a marvellous team The Museum is a living In February 2007, the created this remarkable community today of Jews Museum wants to open Page 6 Volume 6, Issue 2

A RTICLE FOR S TUDIA MUSEUM’S CAFÉ AND THE READING R OSENTHALIANA B Y EVA SOCIETY G RABHERR Jewish wedding cake, follow- first sign of the emerging ing the recipe included in a tendencies of reform and Dr. Eva Grabherr, the first Yiddish love letter written in enlightenment within the Director of the Museum, has Hohenems in 1670, and in- Jewish community. Judging published an article in the cluded in the Museum’s per- by a list of books found in the Studia Rosenthaliana, Vol- manent exhibition. Löwenberg-house (Schweizer ume 36, entitled “Multi- Str. 4), the citizens of Jewish lingualism Among the Jews The walls of the room remain Hohenems of those times of Hohenems: A Micro- decorated with images of the were familiar with the major Historical Study.” Hohenems Reading Society of works of the Enlightenment 1813. On February 1, 1813 and contemporary drama. This is a fascinating article Hohenems Jews founded a derived, in part, from her In March 2005, the new private society. Its purpose: In 2004, the Hohenems doctoral work on the Museums café opened its "informal gatherings of the Reading Society was newly Löwenberg letters found in doors for visitors. members, finding diversion in founded, reestablishing a Hohenems. Dr. Grabherr’s discourse and the reading of culture of literature and article discusses the ed- The foyer of the Museum has most remarkable passages of discourse, once flourishing in ucational systems for Jewish been turned into a friendly periodicals and books". The Hohenems, by public readings th students in the 17 and lounge that welcomes the reading society soon had and discussions about th 18 centuries and the guest with comfortable seats about 30 - predominantly literature in the café. This has extent to which they were for getting together, reading young - Jewish members, encouraged new visitors to proficient in both Hebrew (or and enjoying cappuccino, ko- among them teachers, clerks come to the Museum and Yiddish) and the national sher Italian Wine and little and secretaries employed by broadened its appeal to the language and compares the snacks, such as bagels with Hohenems’ merchants. public.™ experience of Hohenemsers cream cheese and lox or the Although the society existed to the experience in other Museums café's specialty: the only for a few years, it was the areas, such as Pressburg (Bratislava) where Yiddish remained the language of learning and teaching at the HOHENEMS-MERAN-ST. GALLEN Yeshiva until the Yeshiva GERHARD SALINGER was closed down.

Dr. Grabherr, notes the The best historical source for some of the Jewish families Southern Tyrol was up to importance of multi- a study of the Jews of were well enough established 1918 part of Austria; in 1919 lingualism for pre-modern Hohenems is Aron Tänzer’s to build elegant mansions. it became part of Italy. This Jewry as a means of “Die Geschichte des Juden in region included Bozen (it. engaging in commercial Hohenems,” published Up to the 1850s the Jewish Bolzano), where Jews already transactions with non Jews. originally in 1905. Dr Tänzer population was growing lived in medieval times. After She also points out that served as rabbi in Hohenems constantly. The numbers the blood libel accusations in during this period literacy from 1896 to 1905. were 274 in 1792, 493 in Trient (Trent, it. Trento) in was not that wide spread 1820 and between 500 and 1475, when several Jews and that scribes were im- The history of the Jewish 541 during the years 1830 to were murdered and the rest portant both for Jews and community in Hohenems can 1849. When Jews were expelled, the rabbis placed a Christians.™ be traced to 1617. Some gradually permitted to settle Cherem (Herem, Ban) on the years before this time, the elsewhere, a number of area and Jews were either not local ruler (Landherr) Jewish families left permitted to resettle there or The entire article can be Reichsgraf (count) Kasper von Hohenems. The Jewish avoided this area.2 viewed on the internet at Hohenems invited Jews to population in 1860 was still http://poj.peeters-leuven. settle there to improve the 490, 1866 465, 1868 271, The reestablished Bozen be/content.php? economic conditions of this and 1878 165.1 This (Bolzano) Jewish community url=issue&journal_code=SR little market town indicates that between the during the 19th century to &issue=0&vol=36 (Marktflecken). He had 1850’s and 1878, two thirds about 1940 numbered barely houses built for them, of all Jewish residents had left hundred persons. Meran permitted the building of a Hohenems. After this time (Merano) was avoided by Jews Jewish school and provided there was a further exodus of until the middle of the 19th the land for a Jewish Jewish families. century when several Jewish cemetery. Some years later, (Continued on page 7) In Touch Page 7

H OHENEMS-MERAN-ST . GALLEN

(Continued from page 6) The Jewish cemetery in near the city center. About families settled there. Meran Hohenems was not destroyed this time, the first rabbi, Dr. References: was a well-known spa (Kurort) by the Nazis, but gradually Engelbert, arrived in St. and a synagogue was built became neglected due to lack Gallen. The rented facility 1. A. Tänzer, Die Geschichte there in 1901. Only in 1905 of maintenance. After the previously used was replaced der Juden in Hohenems, was an official Jewish com- war, in 1945, the small in September 1881 by a page 310. munity established there.3 At Jewish community of representative synagogue 2. Philo Lexikon, 1935, p. that time, the rabbinate for Innsbruck was financially building located at Fron- 766. Tyrol and Vorarlberg was unable to maintain the gartenstrasse. Among the moved to Meran and Dr. Aron cemetery. speakers at the inauguration 3. Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol Tänzer became the first rabbi. was Dr. Adolf Guttmann, then Eleven He remained there two years- Since a number of Jewish rabbi in Hohenems. 4. Jüdisches Jahrbuch für until 1907 and accepted then families had previously moved Österreich, 5693 the rabbinate in Göppingen in from Hohenems to St. Gallen, Both the Hohenems and St. (1932/1933), page 8. Württemberg. they or their descendants Gallen communities adopted established the “Verein zur what was then called 5. Ibid, page 89/90. In later years Meran had 780 Erhaltung des Jüdischen “moderate reform,” which 6. Montfort, Zeitschrift für Jewish inhabitants, mostly Friedhofs in Hohenems“ means that the basis of the Geschichte, Heimat- und Volk- foreign citizens. In 1945, the (Organization for the Main- religious service was tra- skunde Vorarlbergs, 19. Jahr- number was only 64 and tenance of the Jewish ditional, but with changes and gang 1967, Heft 3, page 198 1970 30. Between 1990 and Cemetery in Hohenems). innovations. Among those f. 2000, only 38 Jews lived in Three hundred and fifty years were the introduction of the the former region of South after the establishment of the vernacular besides the 7. Dr. Lothar Rothschild, Tyrol. cemetery, this group came Hebrew language, the use of who died in on March 27, together on September 3, an organ (“harmonium,” not a 1974 in St. Gallen, was born Vorarlberg was the least 1967 to commemorate this pipe organ) and deviations on in Karlsruhe (Baden) in 1909. populated land of Austria. It event. The speaker was Dr. festivals from the traditional His first rabbinic position was had in 1923 only about Lothar Rothschild, then rabbi Torah readings. Dr. Engel- in Saarbrücken. He was a 139,200 inhabitants, which in St. Gallen.6 bert’s successor as rabbi was prolific writer, speaker and was less than the Jewish Dr. Emil Schlesinger (1900- publicist. His weekly Torah population of Vienna at that [A newspaper report from the 1939). Much more is known comments were published in time. The Jewish community year 1970 mentions the about Dr. Lothar Rothschild Germany and Austria. In addi- then consisted of 24 persons funeral of Harry Weil, who who became rabbi in St. tion to St. Gallen, he also offi- and was concentrated in emigrated to the United Gallen in 1943 and retired in ciated as rabbi in Kreuzlingen, Hohenems.4 The president of States. At his request, he was 1968.7 His successor was a small community south of the community was Ivan buried at the Jewish cemetery Rabbi Imre Schmelczer. Konstanz near the German Landauer; board members in Hohenems and many local border. Among his publica- were Harry Weil and Bernhard residents participated at his Little statistical information tions were “Im Strom der Zeit, Schwarz. Jacob Weil funeral. He was born in exists about the size of the Hundert Jahre Israelitische officiated as cantor. Dr. Link, Hohenems in 1898 as the Jewish community in St. Gemeinde St. Gallen” 1863- the rabbi of Innsbruck, was at son of the local cantor of the Gallen. In an interview in 1963, which is here cited. that time in charge of rab- community. Before his 1990, the then president of binical matters in Tyrol and emigration he played the the community, Simon Vorarlberg. The Jewish school organ at the synagogue and Rothschild, mentioned a in Hohenems was no longer was active in the local figure of 120 persons for that used for Jewish education Gesangund Orchesterverein.] year. Since the Jewish and Cantor Weil resided at religion was not recognized by that time in the former rabbi’s A Jewish community in St. the Canton St. Gallen as a house.5 During the following Gallen was not officially “confession,” Jews were not years both Tyrol and constituted until 1863. Their obligated to be members of Vorarlberg came under the new cemetery was not used the Jewish community administrative control of the until 1869 when the first because the latter could not Innsbruck Jewish community. burial took place. Before that be incorporated. He pro- During the Nazi years, about time, the deceased were mised to do everything in his the time of the deportations brought to Hohenems. power to have the legal status in 1942, the remaining Jews changed. He estimated that still living there had to move The first synagogue in St. the numbers of Jews in the to Vienna where they shared Gallen was established in canton may amount to 350 the fate of the other Jews still 1866 and was located in (1990).™ living there. rented quarters in a courtyard Page 8 Volume 6, Issue 2

JEWISH SETTLEMENTS SOUTH OF HOHENEMS G ERHARD SALINGER

SULZ, VORARLBERG, AUSTRIA publication are Aron Tänzer’s 100 Taler to the town of Sulz mobilized its reserves book on the Jews of and 200 fl to the Austrian (Landsturm) and was able to Under the rule of many feudal Hohenems and Bernhard government as “Schutzgeld.” repel the French forces. Once landowners in Europe, it was Purin’s, “Die Juden von Sulz. the danger was over, the well known and accepted that Eine jüdische Landgemeinde After the death of Salamon reserves were demobilized the Jewish subjects of these in Vorarlberg 1676 –1744.” Levi, his son Josle became the and returned to their homes. rulers would serve them as a leader of the Jewish commu- source of revenue to fill their Sulz is to this day small nity in Sulz. His house con- During the prior years, hatred coffers. enough, so that the address tained a prayer room and his had been kindled against the is the house number, not the wealth permitted him to em- Jews. There was political This was also the case in street number. At the time of ploy a rabbi and a teacher. unrest and criminal elements Hohenems in 1675 under the the Jewish settlement in Sulz, under the leadership of local rule of Count Carl Friedrich the town had a total There were substantial com- officials were ready to expel who exploited his Jewish population of 200-300. mercial relations between the the Jews and destroy and subjects financially, but tol- Already in 1663, two Jewish Jews of Sulz and Hohenems. plunder their property in Sulz. erated them as long as they families resided in Sulz, those Tänzer lists the following Jew- This destruction of Jewish satisfied his fiscal needs. of Josle Levi and Mayer ish households in Sulz in property extended over several After his death in 1675, his Moos. They were granted 1743. days. The Jewish houses were son Count Franz Karl permission to live there for totally demolished and succeeded him. two years by Archduke everything destroyed. This Sigmund Franz. The 1. Josle Levi, Salamon’s son mob action resulted in a On the ninth of January 1676, “Schutzgeld” they had to pay planned expulsion of the Jews he confirmed the letters of was 18 fl per family. One year 2. Jacob Levi, son of the Josle from Sulz. protection (Schutzbriefe) later, in 1664, Josle Levi, Levi granted to his Jewish subjects father of three adult sons, 3. Jacob Wolf, son-in-law of Following these events, court in Hohenems previously lived in Altenstadt near Josle Levi action by the Austrian under Carl Friedrich, but this Feldkirch and then returned authorities took place and a was of short duration. Four to Hohenems in 1666. 4. Emanuel Wolf trial took place in Innsbruck. months later, without any 5. Baruch Wolf There were 14 defendants known reason, he expelled Most of the Jewish settlers 6. Wolf Levi, Josle Wolf’s son who were charged with them from Hohenems. By a stayed in Sulz for only about participating in what was threatened fine of 20 fl. twelve years, because in 7. Samuel Levi called at that time a (Florin), they were also 1688 they were able to return 8. Levi Lazarus Levi “Raubzug” (pillage and prohibited from attending the to Hohenems. Only the plunder). The authorities 9. Levi Weil markets in Hohenems . wealthiest Jewish families treated the perpetrators rather remained in Sulz after 1688 , 10. Wolf Wolf, Emanuel’s son leniently. However, Jewish After their expulsion they where they occupied four 11. Moses Levi victims received a partial moved south to the Austrian houses. They were Salamon, restitution in the amount of domain of Feldkirch where Abraham and Wolf Levi and 2900 fl. they received the protection were tolerated by the Austrian Burmeister describes the of the Austrian authorities. A government. Gradually the opening of a new synagogue in Since that time no Jewish number of Jews settled in number of Jewish families 1738, in one of the four community was ever Sulz, a small town between increased to ten, but the existing Jewish houses. It was reconstituted in Sulz. Hohenems and Feldkirch. additonal families were most probably established in a mostly descendants or wing which had been vacated Thus began a relatively brief relatives of the existing by one of the Jewish families AM ESCHNERBERG, period between 1676 and families. During the period who had returned to LIECHTENSTEIN 1744 in which a small Jewish from 1676 until 1688, the Hohenems. Only for six years, community was in existence total Jewish population until 1744, was this place of “Die Jüdische Gemeinde Am in Sulz1. consisted of about 60 to 70 prayer in use. Eschnerberg –1637-1651” is persons. In 1685 Wolf Levi a brief chapter of Jewish The periodical “Rheticus” moved from Aulendorf to Sulz. That year, 1744, was a year of history in the 17th century in published an article by Karl He and Josle Levi’s son calamity for the Jews in Sulz. the area south of Hohenems. Heinz Burmeister, “Die Salamon were considered to It was at the beginning of the Synagoge in Sulz, 1738- be quite wealthy. second Silesian War Karl Heinz Burmeister de- 1744,” in which the author (Schlesischer Krieg), when scribes in this publication in describes this brief chapter in In additon to the regular Prussia and France were allied great detail the development Vorarlberg’s Jewish history.2 taxes, each of the Jewish that French troops approached of this Jewish settlement. Major sources for this families had to pay annually Vorarlberg. Vorarlberg (Continued on page 9) In Touch Page 9

J EWISH SETTLEMENTS SOUTH OF HOHENEMS

(Continued from page 8) Jews in the Eschnerberg Jew- frequently in Innsbruck “for ish community. Including negotiations” This seems to have occurred in The Eschnerberg community women and children as well as the case of the Eschnerberg 7. Salomon Bernheim was located near the villages service personnel and tea- Jews, although details are not of Eschen and Mauren, in the chers, the total number of 8. Elias Bernheim, probably known. The community was northern part of the domain persons may have exceeded from Thannhausen dissolved before July 19, 1650, (Herrschaft) Schellenberg, 100. but a number of Jews remained 9. Jacob Dannhauser or which is located southwest of until Martini 1651, An order Theinhauser, who Feldkirch, in the northern part In 1649, Abraham Neuburg entered in 1650 specified that according to his names of the principality of served as rabbi and Moses all debts owed to Jews had to comes from Thannhausen Liechtenstein. Bernheim as advocate. be repaid “ by Martini,” which in 10. Jacob Simon/Sima 1651 fell on March 13th. Individual Jews settled in the A prayer room probably existed 11. David Filischrebest area in 1637. The impetus for in the house of the rabbi. A As Burmeister explains, it is the establishment of a larger sketch in Burmeister’s paper 12. Joseph (also Josle) Henli unknown to what locations settlement was created at that (page 162) points to the house 13. Jacob Henli these Jewsih families migrated. time by the expulsion of the number 10 and 11 in Popers In some cases, he believes Jews from Feldkirch. The (Mauren) where this prayer 14. Nathaniel they returned to those places settlement of Feldkirch was in room may have existed. These 15. Lazarus Bock from which they had originally turn influenced by the fact that buildings, later privately come.™ the Jews in Rheineck were owned, burned down in 1856. 16. Wilhelm Bock under pressure to leave that Presumably there was a 17. Marx Hildefüng town. Count (Graf) Kaspar of mikvah, but Burmister could References: Hohenems, who was also the not find any specific evidence. 18. Oswald Kaufmann Austrian overseer (Vogt) in the Fridolin Tschügmell refers to a 19. Anstel Kaufmann 1. Aron Tänzer in “Die domain of Feldkirch, wel- “Judenbüchel” which was not Geschichte der Juden in comed the Jews to his ter- far from the location of the 20. Mendline Liebermann Hohenems” p. 41 f. ritory. But the local citizens of prayer house. There is also 2. Rheticus, Heft 4-1992, Feldkirch opposed any Jewsish speculation that this Jahrgang 14, page 205 f establishment there for “Judenbüchel” may have Since the Jewish residents in economic reasons and contained a small Jewsih the Eschnerberg vicinity came obstructed the Count’s plan. cemetery, but Tschügmell has as refugees to this area, their It was the fear of Jewish com- no proof for this. community could not be con- petition in commerce and sidered wealthy. Their money trade which influenced that Burmeister names the lending practices played a attitude. Gradually, by 1641, following persons comprising minor role and were not a all Jews had left Feldkirch and this community: substantial source of income. had found a new refuge near They were primarily traders Eschen and Mauren. The and horse and cattle dealers. Eschnerberg settlement was Their trading area covered a 1. Rabbi Abraham (probably not a closed ghetto, but was substantial territory and not Abraham Neuburg who spread over a considerable just the immediate vicinity. may be from Thannhausen area. 2. Moses Neuburg, son of the There were times when they Since it was so close to above, originally from Than- came in conflict with their non- Eschen and Mauren, these nhausen Jewish neighbors, but for the towns demanded in 1649 most part they were protected 3. Isaac Neuburg, probably a payment of local taxes. Both of by the local authorities. But relative, also from Than- these towns had a “Juden- enmity between the local Jews nhausen gasse,” so there is a proba- and their non-Jewish oppo- bility that individual Jews 4. Samson Bernheim, called nents existed. Outside of owned or rented houses there. “der Alte,” presumably also Hohenems, Jews in other However, Burmeister is of the from Thannhausen localities were not provided opinion that the name with a letter of protection 5. Samuel Bernheim, son of ”Judengasse” may have been (“Schutzbrief”) and were the above coined at a later time. merely tolerated, mostly for a 6. Moses Bernhim, probably period of time. This protection According to Burmeister, there from Thannhausen, leader by local rulers could at any were at least 20 male adult of the community who was time be withdrawn. Page 10 Volume 6, Issue 2

HOHENEMS REVISITED U RI TAENZER, ESQ.

It was a wish fulfilled. An numerous photographs of the original color painting of exhibition and symposia to my parents, uncles and the Hohenems Synagogue. commemorate the 100th aunts and their spouses This was a gift given to my anniversary of the during various stages of their grandfather in honor of his publication of my lives. Also displayed are 60th birthday by the grandfather’s book: “Die many letters and original Hohenems congregation. It Geschichte der Juden in documents reprising the is the same wonderful B OOKS Hohenems und im übrigen stations of Aron Tänzer’s life. painting featured on JMH Vorarlberg.” Although postcards and various A VAILABLE Marlena and I had just been Credit for the high caliber of brochures. to Hohenems in October, the exhibition belongs first T HROUGH THE 2004 in connection with the and foremost to our amazing I was particularly thrilled that A MERICAN Kantormania concert and and indefatigable Museum most of the original docu- exhibition, I was thrilled to Director, Dr. Hanno Loewy. ments which my uncle Erwin F RIENDS return on March 12th to For many months, Hanno, entrusted to the Museum at participate in the programs Eva-Maria Hesche and its formation and those We have available a few launching the “Aron Tänzer, Patrick Gleffe (of Innsbruck) which I brought at the time of copies of the 1998 Rabbiner, Forscher, assembled a mosaic of Aron the 1998 descendants Sammler und liebevoller Tänzer’s literary legacy, conclave were on display. descendants reunion book Pedant” exhibition which ran including original historical at a price of $35. We from March 9th to May 8th. records generously loaned Another very exciting and also still have a few books for the exhibition by Dr. Karl unexpected aspect of my of the history of the This was truly an emotionally Heinz Ruess, archivist of the visit pertained to the annual Synagogue, at a cost of charged, once-in-a-lifetime, city of Göppingen. My meeting of the “Alemannia $45. experience. Our family’s grandfather’s patriotic Judaica” which took place at esteem for our patriarch, service and personal the Museum during my stay. Please contact Uri Taenzer Rabbi Aron Tänzer, sacrifices as chaplain in the I met fascinating curators of if you would like to buy transcends our admiration “Bug Armee” on the eastern various Jewish museums in for his impressive literary front during WWI is southern Germany. Their one of these.™ accomplishments. He commemorated through presentations as well as fathered seven children, five photographs, by his diaries, photographs of the event are by my grandmother, Rosa in his book “Die Geschichte featured on http://www. (who passed away in 1912) der Juden von Brest- alemannia-judaica.de/ and two children by Bertha Litwosk,” and by collected jahresta- who was murdered in letters from front-line gung_hohenems_2005.htm. Theresienstadt. One child, soldiers. I am grateful to our Nostalgic floodgates opened Olga, died in infancy. Paul good friend and JMH when I mentioned to Dr. and my father, Fritz, as well stalwart, Felix Jaffe, who Christiane Walesch-Schneller as Irene, were born in retrieved these letters and that my maternal grand- Hohenems. Hugo was born in other memorabilia from the parents, Joseph and Rosa Meran. Erwin and Ilse were archives of Hebrew Burgheimer, were born in born in Göppingen. The University in Jerusalem. I Breisach and Kippenheim, exhibition includes was particularly intrigued by respectively. That seren- dipitous encounter opened a whole new chapter which compels a visit the “Blauen “YOU’ VE GOT Haus” in Breisach and E MAIL!” environs on our next trip to Europe.

If you would like to receive I am grateful to everyone associated with the Museum your copy of In Touch by as well as Mayor Richard email, please drop a line Amann who welcomed me to Uri Taenzer at: with open arms. Finally, a special thank you to Astrid [email protected] Loewy for her warm and gracious hospitality.™ Uri with Dr. Karl Heinz Ruess, Bürgermeister Amann and his wife. In Touch Page 11

THE VIENNA PARADOX, A MEMOIR BY MARJORIE PERLOFF SUSAN R. SHIMER

fascinated, and I am not told with wit and insight into alone. a life well lived.”

The review by Douglas Clay- Tag Gronberg of Birkbeck ton of the Harvard Graduate College, London, writes in School of Education in Textual Practice, Vol 19, #1 World Literature Today, (Spring 2005) that “[o]ne of “IN VIENNA January-April 2005, states the chief fascinations of this that it is an “interesting, book is the way in which the T HEY PUT YOU highly nuanced, even ele- format of the memoir is IN JAIL: THE gant book.” It tells of “her deployed to present differ- family’s flight from Vienna to ent periods and national M AX BIRNBACH the United States…and is cultures (pre-Second –World also an insightful account of War Vienna and the post- S TORY” their forced transition from war period in the USA) not B Y FILMMAKER the refinements of high Cen- only as contrasts but also as tral European culture to the symbiotically interrelated.” C HERYL democratized, popular cul- B LAYLOCK ture they encountered in A number of the reviews I Marjorie Perloff, a descendant their new homeland.” The have read report details of Joseph Rosenthal, one of book tells “the intertwined about the book; I will not do We have previously reported the Gebrüder Rosenthal, was stories of her parents, that here, but rather encour- about this film recounting Max born Gabriele Mintz in Vienna. grandparents, and sundry age you to read The Vienna Birnbach’s harrowing flight The day after the Anschluss other relatives. The result is Paradox. There is so much from Vienna to Hohenems and she left for Zurich with her a rich portrait of a fasci- to learn. then through Hohenems parents and brother Walter. A nating, ambitious family and across the water to Switzer- short time later, the family its social milieu, both before As Adam Kirsch put it in The land and his internment in that emigrated to the United and after the Nazi annex- New York Sun, her “achieve- country. States. Subsequently, she ation of Austria.” The review ment is all the more valu- studied at Oberlin and continued that “[m]ixed with able because Ms. Perloff At the time of our last report, Barnard, took her PhD in these complex, memoiristic was born into a world on the the film was a work in pro- English literature at Catholic elements are equally ambi- brink of annihilation, which gress. Since that time, Blay- University, and began an tious considerations of now survives only in me- lock’s film was honored as academic career culminating Austrian, European and mory: the refined, assim- Best Documentary at the Long at Stanford University, where American history and of an ilated, always precarious Island International Film Expo she is now Professor emerita impressive range of ideas paradise of Jewish Vienna. in 2004, and featured in last of English and Comparative about culture and society.” In telling the story of her year’s Portland Jewish Film Literature. She is also transformation from Festival, as well as other recognized as a leading A review of the book by Gabriele Mintz, born in festivals throughout the United American literary critic. Corinna Lothar in the Vienna in 1932, to Marjorie States. Washington Post states that Perloff, leading American While there is extensive lit- it is “a fascinating and lively literary critic, she offers a In December, Safra Hall at the erature on the experience of account of the cultural, probing and affectionate Museum of Jewish Heritage in Jewish émigrés from Nazi political and intellectual tribute to that vanished New York City was filled for a Germany/Austria, Professor time in which Marjorie milieu…. The book ends as a showing of this film and to Perloff tells a delightful and Perloff lived; in the Vienna charming New York memoir, honor Max Birnbach, now 92 informative tale detailing her she was too young to richly evocative of 1940s years old. Some of the letters family history from the mid remember firsthand but Jewish life in the Bronx and featured in the film were do- 19th century, through the 20th. which comes alive in de- the Upper West Side.”™ nated by Mr. Birnbach to that She describes their life in tailed family memoirs and Museum for their permanent Vienna, their hasty departure letters, and then in the collection. Ms. Blaylock from that city and their sub- United States, where she recently visited the museum sequent adjustment to the would become a distin- and presented a copy of the United States. I, the editor of guished professor of English film to it.™ your Newsletter, who also left and a literary critic. It’s Vienna at an early age, was what a memoir should be, The Jewish Museum of Hohenems, as a regional museum, remembers the rural Jewish com- The Newsletter of the American Friends of the Jewish Museum Hohenems, Inc. munity of Hohenems and its various contributions to the development of Vorarlberg and the surrounding regions. It confronts contemporary questions of Jewish life and culture in Europe, the diaspora and Israel - questions of the future of Europe I N TOUCH between migration and tradition. J ULY 2005 The museum also deals with the end of the community of Hohenems, the regional Nazi his- tory, the expulsion or deportation of the last members of the com- munity, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. Along with these frag- mented lines of regional and global history, it is also devoted to the people and their histories and maintains a relationship to the de- scendants of Jewish families in Hohenems around the world.

The permanent exhibition in the Heimann-Rosenthal Villa, which was built in 1864, documents the history of the Jewish community in Hohenems which existed for over three centuries until its destruction during the era of the Nazi regime. The museum offers annually changing exhibitions and an exten- sive program of events. ™

J OIN US . . . We’re on the Web! B ECOME A MEMBER AND LET’ S KEEP I N TOUCH! http://www.jm-hohenems.at

During the meeting of the de- of Hohenems in various ways. much appreciated and thus scendants of Jewish families Annual dues are $25. We enable the American Friends from Hohenems in 1998, the hope to count on you to join to continue to make impor- idea to found the American today. Dues can be sent to: tant contributions to the Mu- Friends of the Jewish Mu- seum at Hohenems as well as seum Hohenems, Inc. PO Box 237 to other endeavors designed emerged. The association Moorestown, NJ 08057-0237 to contribute to knowledge of unites the numerous descen- the Hohenems Jewish Com- dants living in America and Any additional contribution munity as it was when our supports the Jewish Museum you could make would be very ancestors lived there. ™