Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/618

568 Basel Basel Congress

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Emperor Charles presented to Duke Leopold of Austria the taxes of the Jews at Basel. Most of the Jews who settled in Basel had come from Colmar and other Alsatian cities, and were wealthy. In 1367 they presented to the council 200 gulden " for the journey of the emperor." The expenses for the fortification of the city were defrayed by voluntary probably also by involuntary contributions and loans from the Jews. In 1374 the Jews of Basel loaned to the council 5,000 gulden, one Jew advancing 4,000. In 1375 the Jews Mcnlin and Helya gave 20 pounds others, as much as 50 and 100. In 1385 the Jew Moses donated " for the wall " 50 gulden, and a year later another Moses gave 70 gulden. In general, the Jews were merely protected; but some were received as citizens, though only for a limited number of years. On being accepted as citizens, they received a so-called letter of protection

—



(ScJiirmbrief), enumerating all the rights and privileges which were to be theirs (see letters of protection of 1386 issued for Slemme, wife of Moses de Colmar, the Jew, and for Joseph of Richenweiler, the Jew, uncle of the above-mentioned Slemme, in

"Beitrage zur VaterlandischenGeschichte,"

vi.

279

et seq. Basel, 1857).

The

was

in some cases revoked. For an order was issued that Umelin, the son of Menlerin the Jewess, should "never again become a citizen, nor is he to be accepted as a citizen; and he is forbidden to exchange or to buy

franchise

instance, in 1382

He was, however, again accorded citizenship on payment of 400 florins. Religious tolerance was assured to the Jews. In 1370 they already had a synagogue in a house which until recently was called the " Judenschule. " They were compelled to remove their dead from Basel and to bury them elsewhere. In 1394, Religious four years after King Wenzel had Inagain given the city the right to admit tolerance. Jews, the council permitted them to lay out a cemetery in a garden bought by them in the neighborhood of the Spahlenthurm, in the suburb of Spitalschilren. For every interment they had to pay to the council a tax of a halfflorin for a resident and of one florin for a stranger. The legal and social position of the Jews differed here, as elsewhere, from that of the Christians. In a lawsuit of a Christian against a Jew there had to be a Christian and a Jewish witness. Jews could not be called before an ecclesiastical court, but only before the Schultheiss, or into the synagogue before the rabbi, who also acted as judge. They took an oath on the Pentateuch, according to a special formula, which included the following horses."

" True shalt thou swear,

Dathan and Abiram forget

not,

Their fate shalt thou share Whom the earth swallowed."

Even in outward appearance they were distinguished from the Christians by the so-called "Jew's hat." In 1374 a Jew was executed in Basel. Mathys, the son of Eberlin the Jew, who spoke disrespectfully of the Christian religion in 1377, was exiled from the city. Another Jew who had spoken ill

of St. Catherine in 1392

florins.

A

Jew who had

was

fined no less than 500 kissed the daughter of a

568

Christian citizen of Basel was sentenced to remain three days in the pillory and to imprisonment for life. The girl was imprisoned for five years and

the servant who had kept at a distance, so as not to disturb the lovers, was imprisoned for two years. In spite of their isolated social position, Jews were appointed by the council as town physicians. As such are named Master Josset in 1372 and Master Gutleben in 1379. The first received 25 pounds, the other 18 (or, according to others, 50) pounds, besides his fees. In 1543 the Jews were for the second time exiled from Basel on this occasion, it is said, to please the citizens of Been. At first they were permitted to enter the city accompanied by some official, but in 1549 this also was prohibited. In 1552 they were again allowed to enter the city once a month on payment of a body-tax of 5 batzen (= 10 Second cents) and 1 batz to the gatekeeper. Expulsion. In spite of this prohibition several Jews were employed as correctors of the press by the publishers Froben, Conrad Waldkirch, and Ludwig Konig, who printed a number of Hebrew works, among them the Babylonian Talmud. Abraham Braunschweig, the corrector of the large Buxtorf Bible, had special permission to live at Basel until the work was completed. Although no Jews were permitted to live in Basel until the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Jews who were expelled from Alsace at the time of the French Revolution were given temporary shelter and treated compassionately. This noble deed of the inhabitants of Basel was celebrated by Hartwig Wessely in a Hebrew poem printed in the "Meassef," 1789. Basel for a long time resisted the readmission of Jews. Gradually a small number of Alsatian and French Jews settled there. In 1845 there were thirty Jewish families in the city. The law of 1849 decreed that no Jews were to settle in Basel beyond those already residing there and their children and they might only remain at the pleasure of the government. Since 1862 residence has been freely accorded to Jews, and in 1872 full civic rights were granted to them. The Jewish community of Basel began the building of a synagogue in 1866, and held the dedication service on Sept. 9, 1867. In 1901 the congregation consisted of about 220 families, with a rabbi (Arthur Cohn) and several charitable organizations.



Bibliography

Ulrich, Sammlung Jildischer Gesch. in der Schweiz. pp. 186 et seg.; Ochs, Gesch. der Stadt Basel, 1. 397 Ii.



67, 323, 466 et seq.



Heusler, VerfasmngsgeschicMe der et seq. idem, Basel im,

Stadt Basel im Mittelalter, pp. 36 Ik. Jahrhundeit, Basel, 1856.



M. K.

d.

BASEL CONGRESS An international

Zionist

convention held at Basel on Aug. 29, 30, and 31, 1897, in the Stadt Casino, and which was called at the instance of Dr. Theodore Herzl. It was attended by Jews from all parts of the world, its purpose being to consider how best to relieve the misery of the Jews, particularly those of eastern Europe, Russia, Rumania, and Galicia, who had suffered so much, both morally and materially, through the anti-Semitic

movement. 28-31,

The second Basel Congress met Aug.

the third, Aug. 15-18, 1899. The fourth Congress was transferred to London, where it took place on Aug. 13-16, 1900; the fifth was again held at Basel, Dec. 29-30, 1901. 1898;