The Jews of Stühlingen

6. Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Dogs of War

Ralph

December 23, 2016

¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 It is commonly taught that the Thirty Years’ War lasted from 1618 to 1648, though many historians will claim 1609 to 1660.1 However long it lasted, it appears that the war touched the lives of Stühlingen Jews mainly between 1632 and 1640. We know that in February 1633 Samuel (Schmol) ben Jacob was required to deliver grain to the troops on behalf of the village of Eberfingen [R2793].

¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 In the fall of that year, the Bavarian troops under Johann Count of Aldringen and the Spanish army under Gómez Suárez de Figueroa y Córdoba, Duke of Feria, con­ver­ged on Stühlingen with the intent of passing the winter there.2 The armies lived off the land and plundered both Jews and gentiles. According to the legend, some terrified Jews fled into the steep, wooded slope south of Stühlingen and hid in caves,3 which are still called “Jews’ Holes” (Judenlöcher) today. Some Jews ran even farther. Samuel (Schmol) ben Jacob Gugenheimb sought refuge in Hallau, Switzerland [R4069]. Some Stühlinger Jews must have fled to join the small Jewish community of Rheineck in the Rhine Valley above Lake Constance. The flow of refugees led the five Swiss Catholic cantons to demand the expulsion of all the Jews from Rheineck.4 Notable among the immigrant Jews was “Jakob of Stühlingen” who was caught selling stolen jewellery, possibly acquired from plundering soldiers around 1632/3.5 We now know that  the person in question was a certain Jekuff Gugenheimb [R2534].

¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 Conversely, Stühlingen provided limited shelter to Jews who had fled from other regions ravaged by war. But greed was never far [R2533].

1Steinberg, “The “Thirty Years War”.

2Du Jarrys de la Roche, Der Dreissigjährige Krieg, 296.

3Brandeck, Geschichte der Stadt, 123.

4StAZ, Eviction  Request for Rheineck.

5Jakob von Stühlingen, Sale of Stolen Jewellry..