WINKLER, LEO

WINKLER, LEO (Judah; 17th century), leader of the Vienna Jewish community at the time of the expulsion of the Jews from the city in 1670. By profession a physician, he graduated from the medical school in Padua in 1629. He corresponded with the Christian Hebraist johann christoph wagenseil , and ably represented the community when it was threatened with expulsion. In conjunction with herz coma and Enoch fraenkel he signed a letter to Manuel Texeira requesting the intervention of Queen Christina of Sweden on behalf of the Jews. With Coma he offered 100,000 gulden to leopold i to enable 1,000 Jews to remain in Vienna. He was also among the signatories of the request for assistance to the Venice communities. His sons ISAAC and JACOB graduated as physicians in Padua in 1669. Winkler apparently later settled in Poznan (Posen), where Jacob was a physician. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: D. Kaufmann: Die letzte Vertreibung der Juden aus Wien (1889), 69, 129, 132, 138, 146, 222; M. Grunwald, Vienna (1936), index. (Meir Lamed)