Geographic origins of Alsatian Jews (18th c.)
16
JULY
2012
The Jewish population of Alsace can be estimated to approximately 1,500 people at the beginning of French domination (1635-1648). More than 22,000 people were counted in the 1784 census and 26,000 people during First Empire. This development is not only the consequence of natural increase, but corresponds to a continuing men, women and whole families immigration, from various countries of Europe, attracted in Alsace by conditions of life deemed easier for Jews, as summarised the popular adage: "Glücklich wie Gott im Frankreich, Happy as God in France". Rabbi Moïse Ginsburger has been the first to show, at the beginning of 20th century, the importance of this immigration and what onomastics can teach us about the history of the Jewish population in Alsace since the Middle Ages. This demographic phenomenon however has never yet been the subject of any study about the geographic origins of the immigrants.
This lecture aims at showing how it is possible to identify the original localities and countries of a certain number of these immigrants. We searched censuses indicating the nicknames later becoming surnames and marriage contracts that mentioned the places of origin. The Censuses (as the one of 1784) and the Statements of names of 1808 have also been used with the help of the Index published by the CGJ. The identification of the geographic names mentioned allows us to produce a list of places outside Alsace, and to locate them on a contemporary atlas with a relatively low error rate.
An initial assessment shows that the majority of communities are located in Lorraine, in former French Palatinate, the valleys of the Middle Rhine, the Neckar, the upper Danube, Hesse, Saxony and Bavaria, but also in Austria, Poland, Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary and Switzerland. the place of origin are often very small villages. There are also some large trading cities. It is very difficult though to find the immediate origins of the old Romanesque families such as the Bloch, Wahl, Wallach and Welsch families. The Jews of Alsace easily declare themselves of old French stock, which is accurate following the current meaning of the term - but they sometimes forget that most of their ancestors came from Germany or further countries in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Speaker | Location |
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Georges WEILL |
Pont des Arts B & C |