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Dortmund

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Dortmund
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Dortmund
The Jewish Encyclopedia
• Dortmund

Capital of the circle of the same name, in the district of Arnsberg and the Prussian province of Westphalia, situated on the Emster. That there were Jews in Dortmund in the middle of the twelfth century is shown by the fact that several Jews living at Cologne at that time were designated as natives of Dortmund (compare Höninger, "Das Judenschreinbuch der Laurenzpfarre zu Köln," p. 9). A letter of protection was granted to the Jews of the city in 1250 by Archbishop Conrad of Cologne, Dortmund having been pledged to him in 1248 by King William of Holland. For this they were to pay 25 marks in Cologne pfennigs. They had also to pay to the king a tax of 84 marks sterling every eighteen months. About 1250 the municipality issued regulations concerning the form and ceremonial to be observed in administering an oath to Jews (see OATH).

The jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Cologne over the Dortmund Jews was confirmed by Albrecht I. in 1298. A year later, in consequence of extortions on the part of the followers of the Margrave of Mark, many Jews left the city. Albrecht rebuked the municipal authorities for having allowed these extortions, and ordered them to recall the Jews and give them adequate protection.

Like many other German communities, that of Dortmund was wiped out in 1349, at the time of the Black Death. But in 1372 Engelbert of Mark allowed the municipality to admit Jews. But every Jew who wished to settle at Dortmund had to conclude an agreement with the municipality, fixing the amount of his taxes. In 1596 the municipality decreed the banishment of the Jews. It is uncertain whether this decree was carried out; and if so, for how long a time. Jews lived at Dortmund at the beginning of the eighteenth century, as is shown by an edict of the municipality dated 1705, forbidding the Jews to trade in horses.

During the eighteenth century the municipality of Dortmund was remorselessly severe in enforcing the poll-tax; and on festivals and Sundays the city was closed to Jews.

During the first fifteen years of the nineteenth century the Dortmund Jews enjoyed the rights of French citizens. From 1815 the history of the community of Dortmund differs in no essential particular from that of other German communities. The Dortmund Jews in 1898 numbered 998 in a total population of 66,544; in 1901, 1,950 in a total of 142,418.