Deutschkreutz

DEUTSCHKREUTZ (also Cruez; Hung. Keresztúr or Németkeresztúr, Sopronkeresztúr; Heb. צלם, צעלם), town in E. Austria. Its community, one of the "Seven Communities" of *Burgenland, increased mainly at the end of the 15^th century. In 1526 it absorbed Jews expelled from *Sopron. The situationof the Jews in Deutschkreutz improved when the princes Esterházy took over Deutschkreutz in 1664. In 1701 an agreement was signed between them and the community, renewed several times against payment; Deutschkreutz Jews were permitted to do business in Sopron. A synagogue was built in 1747 and rebuilt in 1834. It was destroyed by the Nazis in 1941. The community was known for its Orthodoxy; its yeshivah became celebrated, especially under Menahem *Katz-Wannfried. The composer Karl *Goldmark grew up in Deutsch-kreutz. When in 1921 Burgenland was finally separated from Hungary, Deutschkreutz lost its hinterland, and the community decreased. It numbered 28 persons in 1672; 47 in 1725; 20 families in 1729; 222 persons in 1735; 100 families in 1780; 1,230 persons (37.8% of the total population) in 1880; 764 in 1911; 410 in 1929; and 433 (12.1%) in 1934. Immediately after the Anschluss in 1938 the Nazis expelled the Deutschkreutz Jews to Vienna. At the time there were 103 families (433 persons) there. In 1944 hundreds of Hungarian Jews were deported to Deutschkreutz to build the Ostwall fortifications. There were no Jews living in Deutschkreutz in 1970. A monument was erected on the site of the synagogue in 1949. The cemetery, including 286 gravesites of forced laborers from Hungary, has been fenced in and is cared for by the Vienna community. Part of the community archives has been preserved and transferred to the Burgenland state archives in Eisenstadt.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.