BADEN BEI WIEN

BADEN BEI WIEN , spa in N.E. Austria. During the later Middle Ages Jews doing business there lived in nearby Tribuswinkel. In 1805 Isaac Schischa of Mattersdorf was granted permission to settle in the town, opened a Jewish restaurant, and established a prayer room. From around 1800 there was a Judenbad, a bath frequented by Jews in Baden, but Jews were not granted the right of residence in the city until 1861. A synagogue for 500 was built in 1873, and the community of 80 members was officially recognized in 1878. The first rabbi, W. Reich, installed in 1880, brought about a compromise between Orthodox and Liberal elements and was active in the foundation of the Agudat Israel orphan home. The community increased mainly by settlers from Hungary. By 1928 it numbered 1,500 (6.7% of the total population), and was the third largest in Austria, but in 1934 there were only 1,108 Jewish inhabitants. On Nov. 10, 1938, the synagogue and all community buildings were blown up, and the Jewish population was arrested to "make room" for Aryans. In 1946 the congregation was reconstituted, with a prayer room; it had 30 members. There were about 80 Jews in Baden in 2004. A synagogue was built in 2004/5.

bibliography:

W. Reich (ed.), Festschrift zum 40-jaehrigen Jubileum der Chewra Kadische zu Baden bei Wien (1914); Juedisches Jahrbuch fuer Oesterreich (1932); L. Moses, Die Juden in Niederoesterreich (1935), 203; Rosenkranz, in: Yad Vashem Bulletin, no. 14 (1964), 35–41. add. bibliography: H. Meissner, Die Juden von Baden und ihr Friedhof (2002).

[Henry Wasserman]