KORNEUBURG

KORNEUBURG, town in Lower Austria. According to 15th-century legends, Korneuburg was the capital of judaesaptan in pre-Christian times. Though the earliest documentary evidence for the presence of Jews dates from the beginning of the 14th century, a Jewish settlement already existed in the 13th century. On the Day of Atonement, 1297 or 1298, it was alleged that a bleeding Host was found near the home of a Jew; ten members of the community, men and women, were subsequently burned at the stake (see Desecration of the host ). The Host was interred in the church, where it reputedly performed a number of miracles. When the bishop of Passau ordered an investigation to be opened in 1305, it was discovered that the affair was the result of gross deceptions, but in spite of this the story was popularized in paintings and engravings. The Jews were expelled from Korneuburg in 1420. The synagogue that had been built in the 14th century was given to the city by Frederick III in 1460. In the 17th century Jews were allowed to frequent the annual fairs but not the weekly ones. A number of complaints were lodged against Jewish peddlers and merchants. Only in 1848 did Jews settle again in Korneuburg. In 1869 there were 819 Jews in the district of Korneuburg (63 in the town itself), and 1,118 in 1880. In 1933 the ancient synagogue was still standing. There were 80 Jews in the town and there was a small congregation that held services in a prayer room. The dead were buried in a part of the municipal cemetery. After the Anschluss (1938), Korneuburg Jews moved to Vienna. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dr. Bloch's Wochenschrift, 26 (1909), 770–1; Strakosch-Grassmann, in: Juedisches Archiv, 2:1–2 (1928), 14–20; L. Moses, Die Juden in Niederoesterreich (1935), 134–5; 203; Germ Jud, 1 (1963), 143; 2 (1968), 450–1.