Anchoring the Schischa Family Firmly in Austro-Hungarian History During the 1600s by Carole Garbuny Vogel akob (Yaakov) Levy lived in perilous times. He was to prove the validity of their grievance against Frau Bruck- J born in the early 1600s in the small village of Matters- ner. Through her advocate (lawyer), Frau Bruckner claimed dorf on Hungary’s sparsely populated western frontier. If he that she had accused only one specific Jew of the crime, not were alive to tell his story, he could regale you with tales of all the Mattersdorf Jews. The advocate noted that “when bubonic plague, marauding Turks, and lying scoundrels. He that Jew reappears, Frau Bruckner will bring him to court to might warn you about the rising tide of Jew-hatred and per- account for his crimes.” Jakob Levy and Hirschel Löbl pro- haps he would tell you about his community’s own harrow- tested that Frau Bruckner had libeled all Jews from Mat- ing brush with it. tersdorf. They also reported that the missing girl had turned Jakob is the earliest known member of the Schischa fam- up alive a week after vanishing. The council assigned two ily from Mattersdorf, and my eighth-great-grandfather.1 men to investigate the events.5 The records did not show Like many of his descendants prior to the Holocaust, he any resolution to the matter but bloodshed was averted. dwelled in the Judengasse, the village’s small Jewish quar- Eight years later in 1669, antisemitic acts taking place in ter.2 In 1622, when Jakob was still fairly young, Matters- Vienna, 33 miles due north of Mattersdorf, had disastrous dorf came under the rule of the Esterházy family. They repercussions for Jakob and his coreligionists. Christian were Hungarian nobles loyal to the Austrian Habsburg merchants petitioned the Habsburg monarch, Kaiser Leo- pold I, to rid Vienna of their Jewish rivals. A fire broke out in the Hofburg, the imperial palace, and the merchants ac- Jakob is the earliest known member of cused the Jews of igniting it. A Christian woman drowned the Schischa family from Mattersdorf, in the Jewish quarter and her death, too, was attributed to Jewish malfeasance. Finally, the young queen suffered a and my eighth-great-grandfather. miscarriage and blamed it on the presence of Jews in the city. Kaiser Leopold decided to expel the Jews. monarchy and staunch supporters of the Roman Catholic Vienna had the fourth largest Jewish population in Eu- Church. Today, due to border changes and growth, Mat- rope at the time with approximately 3,000 to 4,000 Jews. tersdorf is the substantial town known as Mattersburg, Aus- Kaiser Leopold did not limit his Judenrein policy to the city tria. walls. In April 1671, he ordered all Jewish inhabitants of In May 1661, a Catholic girl disappeared from Matters- Niederösterreich (Lower Austria) to leave. This decree ex- dorf. Her foster mother, Catharina, the wife of Caspar Bruck- tended to the western Hungarian towns of Mattersdorf, Ei- ner the field warden, accused three Mattersdorf Jews of ab- senstadt and Kobersdorf. Paul Esterházy was powerless to ducting and killing the girl. Frau Bruckner made the accusa- stop the forced exodus of the Jews in his domain, but he tion in the marketplace on market day.3 She was heard by a resettled the exiles in other villages on his vast estate. large crowd, and many of the Christians believed her.4 A few months later, Esterházy secured their return. The Frau Bruckner based her allegation on the false premise Mattersdorf Jews discovered that in their short absence that Jews murdered Christian children to use their blood for Christians had claimed their houses. Paul Esterházy did not ritual purposes. Blood libels sometimes led to pogroms— intervene and the Jews had no legal recourse. Presumably organized, deadly riots targeting Jews and condoned by among the cheated homeowners were Jakob Levy, who was local authorities. Jakob Levy and other Mattersdorf Jews now well advanced in years, and his only known son, Isaac surely feared for the accused and their entire community. Jakob. Four years later, Esterházy permitted the Jews to buy They decided to fight back by appealing to the feudal court. back their own homes, but they lacked the capital to do it en Jakob and Hirschel Löbl traveled to Sopron, a distance of masse. In subsequent years, they gradually repurchased all nine miles (15 km), to file a grievance against Catharina the Judengasse houses. By the time Isaac Jakob died 25 Bruckner with the Council of Sopron. They did this on be- years later in 1700, he and his sons owned four of the half of the Mattersdorf Jewish community and the three homes.6 The 1738 and 1744 Mattersdorf Jewish censuses Jews who could not safely appear in public. To take such a (Conscriptio Judaeorum Nagymarton) and a Grundbuch prominent role, Jakob and Hirschel surely were community (real estate registry) place Isaac’s son Aron Schischa in leaders. One of them was likely the Rosh Hakohol (head of Haus 4; Joseph Schischa in Haus 8; Moses Schischa in the Jewish community) of Mattersdorf. Typically, the Rosh Haus 26 and Yishai Schischa in Haus 32. Hakohol was one of the richest men in the community. A week later in a second hearing before the council, Researching the Schischa family Jakob and Hirschel repeated their complaint. The record Jakob Levy and Isaac Jakob are the progenitors of the showed that outside of the council sessions they had offered enormous Schischa clan from Austro-Hungary. The family AVOTAYNU Volume XXXV, Number 1, Spring 2019 17 can be tracked from the 1600s to the present day and con- MZO. First, the court cases of interest were written in a sists of least 13,150 descendants in 14 generations. Anyone combination of Old German and Latin that was quite dif- with Jewish ancestors from the Austro-Hungarian Empire ficult to translate even for professional translators. Sec- with the surname Schischa likely belongs to this family. ond, the MZO contains transcriptions only, with no imag- It was Isaac’s signature that first brought Jakob to the es of the original, handwritten record. The occasional, attention of my collaborator, Yitzchok Stroh. In February inevitable transcription error is a concern. For example, in 1698, Isaac Jakob had signed a statement in the “Black two documents, Mattersdorf was transcribed as Marders- Book” of Mattersdorf’s Jewish Community using his He- dorff, and Jakob Levy as Jakob Lang.8 Third, patronymics brew name, Yitzchak, the son of Yaakov Segal.7 (Yaakov is proved problematic on occasion as the names were re- the Hebrew version of Jakob.) The suffix Segal following versed.9 the name indicated that Jakob belonged to the Levite tribe. When I first turned to the MZO, I hoped to find general Levite status is passed from father to son. Not every Segal background material on Mattersdorf Jews. I did not expect in Mattersdorf was a Schischa but with one exception, eve- to uncover information that would illuminate the lives of ry male Schischa was a Segal. (The exception had adopted my ancestors, so I was astounded to find three court cases the maiden name of his grandmother.) No Hebrew records pertaining to the Schischa family. The MZO shed light in with a patronymic for Jakob were found, only secular rec- more mundane ways too. Jewish traders paid annual fees to ords where he appeared as Jakob Levy. It is not absolutely towns with marketplaces for the right to sell their wares clear whether Jakob’s father was named Levy or if the term within their borders.10 Undoubtedly paying these charges Levy simply denoted Levite status. was no pleasure for Jakob Levy and Isaac Jakob. Records The Black Book is known formally as the Protokollbuch of their transactions from the 1680s and 1697, however, der Gemeinde 1698–1825 (Protocol Book of the Communi- established that they were traders who sold their products in ty 1698–1825). It is the oldest known record book created the Sopron marketplace. by the Mattersdorf Jewish community and was crucial to The MZO also revealed that Jakob Levy was wealthy the creation of Mattersdorf genealogies. Written in Hebrew enough to participate in an informal banking system in and Yiddish script, it provides a record of the major issues which individual lenders loaned money directly to the bor- that confronted the community. Of special genealogical rowers. The loans were secured with collateral and/or importance are pages dealing with critical issues, such as promissory notes, and they crossed religious lines. Jews not significant tax increases to pay off new financial burdens only loaned money to each other, but they also loaned mon- placed on the Jews by the Esterházy family or the Habs- ey to Christians and sometimes borrowed money from burgs. Eligible voters—married men who knew the To- Christians. rah—voted on the new tax levies and signed statements to In the early 1660s, Jakob Levy was pressured into mak- back up their vote. These tax lists form a record of most of ing a bad loan. Jörg Schreiner, a Christian, had beseeched the Jewish men who lived in Mattersdorf at that time. Jakob to loan 40 florint kayserlich (the value of at least 30 The Black Book, along with census and property records cows) to his farmhand, Hans Bastl from Zinkendorff. Jakob in Latin and German, provided the backbone for the recon- initially refused because Bastl had no collateral. He relent- struction of the early history of Mattersdorf families. Addi- ed, however, when Schreiner signed a promissory note tional insight about their lives came from documents pub- pledging to repay the loan if Bastl could not.