THE
Jewish Encyclopedia
A
AACH: A small town in the circle of Constance, Baden, Germany, at one time belonging to the landgraviate of Nellenburg. The first mention of Jews in Aach is found in a document of the year 1518, in which the Jews of Geisingen are accused of having murdered a Christian child. In another document, of the year 1522, reference is made to a debt due to a Jewish tradesman of Aach from an inhabitant of Beuren. In the archives of Carlsruhe there are three documents dealing especially with the Jews of Aach during the last half of the sixteenth century. Every ten years the Jews of Nellenburg were required to renew their permits of residence in the landgraviate. The first document shows that between the years 1560 and 1570 only five Jewish families received such permits; and it is expressly stated that they were then entitled to all the rights enjoyed by the other citizens of Aach; but no Jew was allowed to harbor more than five strangers in his house. The arrival of any Jewish visitor had to be announced to the Landvogt and burgomaster; but no such stranger was allowed to trade with the people of Aach. The second document is an edict of Emperor Ferdinand I., dated Aug. 1, 1559, which deals with the laws regarding usury. The third document, dated at Innsbruck, Oct. 10, 1583, renews the right of residence for six Jewish families of Aach. The provisions of this act are much more severe than those included in the document relating to the period between the years 1560 and 1570, referred to above. The renewal of residence was granted for five years only; Jews were forbidden to deal in agricultural products, and they were no longer allowed to chant in the synagogue. This difference in the treatment of the Jews of Aach was due to the attitude of Emperor Rudolph II. The landgraviate of Nellenburg was sold in 1645 to Austria, and has belonged to Baden since 1810.
AACHEN: See Aix-la-Chapelle
AARGAU: A canton in northern Switzerland, formerly the only one in which Jews were permitted to live. The two townships Endingen and Lengnau, situated in the district of Baden and about three miles apart, formed for several centuries the Swiss ghetto. In the seventeenth century, or probably at an earlier period, when the Jews were banished from the confederation, several Jewish families were collected here under special protection as "Schirmund Schutzjuden." They were, however, forbidden to buy land or to own houses, and they were not permitted to live under the same roof with Christians.
The gulf separating them from the Christians was further widened in 1671, when a special oath was formulated for all Jews who appeared in the court of justice (see Oath, Jews'). The Jews were Renewals
of Charter. also heavily taxed. The authorities, who renewed their charter every sixteen years, received pay for protection. The provost and the district clerk and his secretary received "recognition money" and "settlement dues"; and whenever the Jews passed through a locality in the canton they paid a polltax. In 1712, when the Jews at Lengnau were pillaged by the country people, the former had their charter renewed for sixteen years, and again, at its recurrent expiration, in 1728, 1744, and 1760—on the last occasion even in spite of the subprovost's urgent demands that they be banished.
The renewal of the charter to the Jews in 1760 was granted only upon the express condition that "they should not multiply nor allow marriages between poor persons, and that all brides from without should bring Emancipa-
tion
Movement. with them a dowry of at least 500 gulden"; but there was the further restriction that "they could neither acquire houses, nor practise usury, nor buy estates, nor discount notes, without the permission of the authorities." In 1792 a condition was added forbidding Christian and Jew to live under the same roof; but this was the last time that the "Hebrews," as the Swiss were accustomed to call the Jews, had to renew the charter. Influenced by the results of the Revolution in France, several broad-minded Swiss statesmen gave their attention to the improvement of the precarious position of the Jews, who had increased from thirty-five to one hundred and forty-seven families during the interval between the years 1702-92. In the year 1799 all special tolls and imposts were abolished, and in 1802 the polltax was also abrogated. On Sept. 21 of the same year, during the French occupation, a riot broke out at Endingen and Lengnau; the Jews' dwellings were sacked, and they lost nearly all their possessions in spite of General Ney's attempts to protect them. Yet this check could not stem the tide of Jewish emancipation. By a law of May 5, 1809, the right of citizenship was granted to Jews, and they were permitted to engage in trade and agriculture. The right of settlement, however, still remained restricted to Endingen and Lengnau until May 7, 1846, when they were allowed to settle in any portion of the canton of Aargau. Ten years later (Sept. 24, 1856) the federal council voted them equal political rights with other Swiss citizens in that canton, as well as entire freedom of
