AMMERSCHWIHR

AMMERSCHWIHR (Ger. Ammerschweier), town in eastern France, 5 mi. N.W. of *Colmar. Jewish residents in Ammerschwihr are mentioned in 1534 when *Joseph (Joselmann) ben Gershom of Rosheim notified them of complaints made by the Colmar magistracy that they were contravening its regulations by introducing foreign currency into the city and selling new clothes there. The municipal regulations of 1561–63, which refer to the text of a former regulation (of 1440), specify the conditions governing Jewish residence in Ammerschwihr. The Jews were required to make an annual payment of 16 florins to the city and city guilds and were prohibited from leaving their homes during the week preceding Easter, and from fetching water from the wells on Sundays and Christian holy days. Outside their homes they were to wear the Jewish *badge. Sale of goods was forbidden to Jews at any place other than in front of the "Stockbrunnen"; they could, however, engage in peddling, and sell their wares at the annual fair; all Jewish visitors to Ammerschwihr had to pay three deniers for each day they spent in the city, and an additional six deniers if they remained overnight. Jewish residence ceased from the end of the 16th century; the toll was still imposed between 1625 and 1630 on transients (Archives Municipals. BB 17 fol. 82, 103). The "rue des Juifs" was located between the Colmar gate and the market place.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Hoffmann, in: Documents inédits, 1 (1904), 81–82 (published by the Revue d' Alsace); Loeb, in: REJ, 5 (1882), 95.

[Bernhard Blumenkranz]

Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.