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Bragança is a medieval hilltop town in northern Portugal, 22 kilometres from Spain. Although there seems to be no record of a Jewish presence in Bragança in the 12th century, the royal privileges of 1187 mention the penalties for attacking a Jew on arrival. In exchange for this royal protection, the community had to pay high taxes. During the reign of Alfonso IV (1325-1357), the city’s ...
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The presence of a Jewish community in Jaen is first recorded in 612 when a king’s edict forbade Jews to own Christian slaves. If the Jewish population reached its peak during the seventh century, there were most probably Jews already during the Roman period. The geographer Abd al Nur Al-Himyari mentions during the ninth century a mikveh in Jaen, known as Isaac bath. The walls of the ...
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It is unknown how far in the past a Jewish community existed in Izmir. When we speak of the Jews of Izmir, usually the Sephardic Jews who immigrated from Spain and Portugal between 1492 and 1497 come to mind. However, it has been proven that there was a Jewish settlement in Izmir as soon as the antique age. There is an evidence that a Jewish community existed in Izmir during the ...
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Jews settled in Pergola in the thirteenth century. The building which housed the synagogue can still be seen on Via Don Minzoni, 9. A Jewish cemetery was identified on the road to Mezzanotte, an excavation operation is ongoing.
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There are little remaining traces of the Jewish presence in Macerata. You can nevertheless visit the which contains archives mentioning the presence of a Jewish community in the city since 1287. houses a tombstone with an Hebrew inscription from 1553 and referring to the passing of Rabbi Avigdor. The tombstone was probably transferred here from the old Jewish cemetery of Cappuccini ...
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Jews settled in Corridonia in 1436. The only remaining trace of this community is the ghetto entry gate located Via Antonio Mollari.
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Sabbioneta is a special city: it was created in the sixteenth century by prince Vespasiano I Gonzaga Colonna according to the architectural principles of the Renaissance. In this “ideal city”, a Jewish ghetto was included. In 1551, Tobias Foa opened an Hebrew printing house in Sabbioneta. Although the community was described as “lively” in the nineteenth century, there ...
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Naples is known for Mount Vesuvius, the volcanic enthusiasm of its people, the pages of Elena Ferrante and more recently the films of the great director Paolo Sorrentino. The Neapolitan Jewish presence dates back to at least the first century, as mentioned in the texts of Flavius Joseph. As archaeological finds from 1908 attest, Jewish life in the 4th century was significant. Graves from this ...
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A Jewish community established itself in Soragna when Jews were expelled from Parma in 1555 and from Piacenza in 1570. In front of the city’s castle, one can find the oratory dating from 1584, since then transformed into a synagogue and Jewish museum. You’ll find there a great collection of crafted objects, as well as documents retracing Jewish life in this region since the ...
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A famous inspiration for Stendhal, Parma is a city with a wealth of cultural institutions: museums, theatres and concert halls. It was also the regional birthplace of Verdi, who is celebrated here every year at a festival. And, of course, Parma is also famous for all the culinary specialities that go with its name. History of Parma’s Jews The Jewish presence in Parma probably dates back ...
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One of Oria’s gates, (or Porta Taranto) leads to the old giudecca of the city. The gate dates from the fifteenth century and bears a bronze mezuzah. There are no traces left of the Jewish community in Oria, but a stroll in Santa Giudea little streets, the old Jewish neighborhood, will let you see the medieval architecture of what was once one of the biggest giudecca in Italy. The site ...
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Historians believe – although the exact dates are still lacking – that there was a Jewish quarter in the small town of Manduria between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries. It is likely that, the Jewish community of Naples found refuge there after its expulsion from the kingdom. The giudecca was not separated from the rest of the city by walls, until the expulsion of 1510. At ...
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Lecce had one of the most prominent Jewish settlements in the Neapolitan kingdom before the expulsion of the Jews. Though there is no evidence of a Jewish presence prior to the 15th century, there are traces its existence Lecce at the time of the Normans (G. T. Tanzi, “Gli Statuti della Città di Lecce,” p. 19, Lecce, 1898). Their occupations were mostly textile dyeing (silk and wool), ...
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Unlike other cities in the region of Apulia, there are now very few traces of the Jewish presence in Bari, although we know that the community was very developed. The city was, in the 12th century, a recognized center of Talmudic studies. The which housed the place of worship of the community – now renamed Via Sabino attests of the importance of the Jewish life in Bari. In the of the ...
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Thanks to its geographic position and the presence of Brindisi, Otranto, Bari, Trani and Barletta ports, Apulia has been a transit point for many Jewish exiles -most heading to Israel. This crossing point therefore made of Puglia a privileged region for the Western Europe diaspora. The first evocation of a Jewish presence in Puglia was written by Rabbi Akiva (17-137): en route from Jerusalem ...
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Rakovnik is located between Prague and Plzen; 32 miles west of Prague, and 30 milesnortheast of Plzen. Jews are on record as living in Rakovnik since 1441. Between 1618 and 1621 three Jewish families from the nearby town of Senomaty came to live at Rakovnik. In 1690 there were 38 Jews living in the town and 1724 seven Jewish families had made Rakovnik their home. The Jewish community was ...
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Hermanuv Mestec is located in Bohemia, 56 miles south from Prague. The Jews began settling there in the fifteenth century and the community reached its peak in the nineteenth century. The Baroque-style synagogue was built in 1728 in the center of the ghetto, then reconstructed in neo-Roman style in 1870. It was closed in 1939 and served as a warehouse until the 1990s. Today it houses an art ...
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The Jewish presence in Breclav dates to the sixteenth century. The ghetto, constructed in the seventeenth century can still be visited. The neo-Roman style Synagogue built in 1888. Closed by the Nazis, it served as a warehouse for a half century. The synagogue today houses a cultural center, an exhibition hall and an auditorium. In 2000, a plaque was affixed in the synagogue’s entrance ...
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The presence of a Jewish settlement in Holešov dates back to at least the 16th century. Holešov hosted one of the most important Jewish communities in Moravia, a centre of culture and education. The Jewish population of the city reached 1,700 (one third of the whole) by the mid-19th century. In the northern part of the town, some houses of the old ghetto can still be seen. The ...
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Jews began settling in Lomnice in 1656. The eighteenth-century ghetto is composed of a square where one can still see the rabbi house and yeshiva. The Baroque-style synagogue was built in 1870 in the ghetto. Rehabilitated after the war, it was restaured in 1997 and today houses cultural events. You can access the Jewish cemetery through Zidovske street. Dating from the eighteenth century, it ...
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Dolni Kounice is a small town of Moravia located 115 miles South of Prague. Jews began settling there in the Fifteenth century and part of the ghetto has been preserved. The Renaissance-style was built in 1652. Closed by the Nazis in 1940, it was restaured in 1994 and today houses a exhibition hall. Inside the synagogue, you will observe arcades and Hebrew writings on the wall. There’s ...
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Polná is located in Bohemia, about 70 miles South West of Prague. Jews started settling in Polná in the fifteenth century. The ghetto was created in the seventeenth century, some houses can still be seen. The synagogue was built in 1682. Destroyed by a fire, it was restored in the nineteenth century. It served as a place for worship until 1936, then was used as a store for confiscated Jewish ...
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Hartmanice is located South-West of Bohemia, in a mountainous region close to the Austrian border. Hartmanice Synagogue, also called “Mountain Synagogue” was built in 1881 that would become a new house of prayer for the growing Jewish community of Hartmanice (about 10% of the population). After the annexation of the region in 1938, the synagogue was confiscated by the Nazis. It ...
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Szeroka 24, 31-053 Kraków +48 12 431 05 45 Old Synagogue – Museum of Krakow (muzeumkrakowa.pl)
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There is proof of a Jewish community in the Middle Ages in Sicily, particularly in the towns of Palermo, Messina, Taormina and Syracuse. This prosperous community was mainly in activities of commerce until their expulsion in 1492 by Ferdinand II. Only in 1989 will be unveiled one of the most beautiful treasure of the Jewish European heritage: Syracuse’s mikvah, this oldest known ritual ...
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Seitenstettengasse 4, 1010 Wien +43 1 53104167 http://www.ikg-wien.at/
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The library in this university town of Heidelberg on the banks of the Neckar River contains a collection of Hebrew manuscripts dating back to the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries. Among the manuscripts are the songs of the Jewish troubadour Süsskind von Trimberg decorated with 137 illuminated miniatures. A has also been built in the city to comemorate the victims of the Shoah. ...
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It was not until the law passed in 1814, prohibiting the entry of Jews into Norway, was revoked in 1851, that Jews could officially settle in Oslo. A small Jewish community was organised and recognised in 1892, with 29 members. Following a separation of the community, two separate synagogues were opened in 1920. Norwegian Jewish cultural activity developed, especially through the press. First ...
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Visitors walking on the street named after Norway's national poet Henrik Wergeland (1808-45) will be reminded that it was Wergeland who was behind the law that allowed Jews to immigrate to this country. Most of Norway's Jews live in Oslo (950 people), with about 100 living in Trondheim. The Norwegian community can pride itself on having given Israel a minister: the great rabbi Michael Melchior, who
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Jews have lived in Göteborg since 1782. The Conservative (masorti) rite synagogue is located at the same address as the community center. There is also an Orthodox minyan in Göteborg. Before settling in the city of Gothenburg in 1792, Jews were welcomed along with other minorities to the nearby island of Marstrand. Although the first synagogue was built in 1808, the presence of a rabbi did ...
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