As far as we know, the medieval Jewish community was obliterated when the plague swept through Western Europe in 1348-50 – which the Christian population blamed on the Jews. It seems that in Münster, as elsewhere, a pogrom cost the lives of many Jews, while others fled. There are isolated reports of some Jews living in Münster in the following two centuries, but no proper community took root.
It was thanks to Bishop Franz von Waldeck that Jewish families were again given the right to settle in the city. The portrait in the background illustrates his claim to be both a spiritual and secular ruler: the episcopal headdress, the mitre and the crozier are the insignia of his spiritual power, while the breastplate and sword identify him as the holder of secular power. The Playmobil figure in the foreground indicates that we don’t have an original portrait of this bishop.
Franz von Waldeck was elected Bishop of Münster in 1532. At this time, the political situation throughout Germany was dominated by the turmoil surrounding the Reformation. In Münster, the radically reformist Anabaptist movement had gained the upper hand and expelled the bishop from the city in 1534.
The bishop besieged the city for almost two years and was finally able to recapture it. Wars can get very expensive - but Franz von Waldeck knew how to boost his tax revenues and where to get credit. Since the 12th century, money lending in Western Europe was done almost exclusively by Jews: for religious reasons, Christians weren’t allowed to charge interest and were thus effectively barred from money transactions. The guilds set up in towns by craftsmen and merchants sought to prevent Jews from becoming members. That made it difficult or impossible for Jews to take up work in many important trades.
Franz von Waldeck brought Jewish families to Münster from his homeland in northern Hesse and – as had been customary since the Middle Ages – protected them with "letters of safe conduct". This gave them the right to live in Münster and pursue their trades, for which they had to pay taxes and other duties directly to him. Together with their servants and maids (who are mentioned in almost every letter of safe conduct), it seems that around 50 Jews lived in Münster between 1540 and 1550. They no longer lived together at a central location, as in the Middle Ages, but were spread around the town. Although the cemetery and other buildings still remained from the medieval Jewish community and were known about, there is no evidence that these were put back into use. Thus we don’t know where the Jews met to worship or where they buried their dead.
Thanks to their letters of safe conduct, the Jews enjoyed the personal protection of the bishop. But this also hinged on his ability to assert his power against the citizens – who, from 1541, were again insisting on their right not to tolerate Jews within the city walls. From then on, it seems, the bishop no longer dared to issue any more letters of safe conduct. Franz von Waldeck died in the summer of 1553. On February 15 of the following year, the city council – together with the representatives of the guilds – ruled that the Jews had until March 8 to wind up their business and leave the city. Thus ended the second Jewish community in Münster. Only one individual, Jacob von Korbach, managed to secure the right to stay for a few more years with the help of influential figures in the cathedral chapter as well as the city’s mayor. This was because von Korbach possessed medical skills and had a proven record of healing people.
A street in the Wolbeck district of Münster commemorates Jacob von Korbach and the brief period of Jewish life in Münster in the 16th century.
Once again, no Jews were able to settle in Münster for more than 200 years. However, they were allowed to enter the city briefly – mainly for the weekly market and the big annual fairs (the Send) or to settle court disputes with Münster citizens. It was only as of 1810, when Münster came under French rule, that Jews were granted the right to take up residence again.
Literature:
Diethard Aschoff, Die Juden in der ständischen Gesellschaft, in: Jakobi, Franz-Josef (ed.), Geschichte der Stadt Münster vol. I, Münster3 1994, 575-593, here pp. 579-585.
Diethart Aschoff, Benedikt, der erste Jude Münsters in der Neuzeit (1536/46), in: Westfäl. Journal 143 (1993) pp. 53-61.
Hans-Joachim Behr, Bischof Franz von Münster und die Korbacher Juden, in: Westfäl. Journal 144 (1994) pp. 89-95.
Gisela Möllenhoff, article on Münster, in: Susanne Freund et al. (eds.), Historisches Handbuch der jüdischen Gemeinden und Gemeinschaften in Westfalen und Lippe - Die Ortschaften und Territorien im heutigen Regierungsbezirk Münster, Münster 2008, pp. 487-513, here esp. p. 488f.
https://www.stadt-muenster.de/ms/strassennamen/jacob-von-korbach-weg.html
(compiled by Marie-Theres Wacker)