Siebengemeinden

The Siebengemeinden (English: "Seven Communities") were seven Jewish communities located in Eisenstadt and its surrounding area. The groups are known as "Sheva Kehilot" in Hebrew.

The communities were established after 1670, when Prince Paul Eszterházy accepted the Jews, who had been expelled from Vienna by Leopold I.

The Siebengemeinden (now in Austrian Burgenland, which formerly belonged to Hungary) were composed of communities in Eisenstadt, Mattersdorf (now Mattersburg), Kobersdorf, Lackenbach, Frauenkirchen, Kittsee, and Deutschkreutz. All together there numbered around 3,000 Jews, who were predominantly of Orthodox persuasion.

The most pious lived in Mattersdorf und Deutschkreutz, where there were important yeshivot. Another developed in Mattersdorf under the leadership of the great Rabbi Moses Sofer (1763-1839). All seven communities fell victim to the persecution of the Jews under the government of the National Socialists.

References

*The information in this article is based on a translation of its German equivalent.