The cradle of Swiss Jewry
Jewish life has been documented in the Surbtal (or, Surb Valley), Aargau canton since the beginning of the 17th century. This marked a new chapter of Jewish history in Switzerland, after centuries of intermittent tolerance, expulsions and extermination in the Middle Ages. Until the 19th century, Endingen and Lengnau were the only places in the Old Swiss Confederacy where Jews were allowed to settle. This gave rise to a rich Jewish cultural life, with traditions, customs and its own language, Surbtal Yiddish. In addition, two thriving Jewish communities arose, each with its own architectural styles.
Jewish life in the Surbtal until Jewish Emancipation in 1866
Until Emancipation in 1866, the Jewish population of Endingen and Lengnau lived as “protected foreign residents”. Every 16 years they had to purchase a residency permit from the Federal Diet (Tagsatzung). The bailiff (Landvogt) of Baden laid down the terms and conditions of settlement and relations with non-Jews. Jews were not allowed to work as craftsmen or farmers, to purchase land, or to build houses. Many lived in poverty and worked in the cloth trade or as peddlers. Those who were better off worked in the cattle and horse trade.
Despite these restrictions, Surbtal Jews developed an independent religious and cultural life. Jewish communities elected their own governing bodies, managed their own school systems and cared for the poor.
In 1750, Jews in Lengnau received permission to build a synagogue, followed, in 1764, by the Jews in Endingen. In 1750, the Jewish cemetery was consecrated. This laid the foundation of an infrastructure for Jewish community life. A number of historic buildings, such as the two synagogues, the mikvehs (ritual baths), schoolhouses, community centres, and the Jewish cemetery bear witness to this thriving community.
The synagogue in Lengnau, engraving by Johann Rudolf Holzhalb from Johann Caspar Ulrich's “Sammlung jüdischer Geschichten” from 1768.
The synagogue in Lengnau.
Jewish men's choir, 1856.
The peddler “Kalbfell-Herschele” from Endingen, photograph taken around 1900.
Copperplate engraving by Johann Rudolf Holzhalb from Johann Caspar Ulrich's “Sammlung jüdischer Geschichten,” 1768, “Versammlungs Haus oder Sinagog der Juden zu Endingen.”
Letter of protection and patronage from 1776.
How Jews and Christians lived side-by-side
Remarkably, the indigenous Christians and the forcibly resettled Jewish minority lived side-by-side at the village level. Despite the “Jewish Mandate” of 1776, which prohibited Jews and Christians from living together under the same roof, Jews in Endingen und Lengnau did not live in ghettos but, rather in shared houses in both villages.
This peaceful coexistence was interrupted by the “Plum War” of 1802, a pogrom in which Jewish families were the victims of looting and expulsion.
Emigration in the second half of the 19th century
After Jews were granted equal rights under the law, Jews in Endingen and Lengnau began emigrating to small and large cities. Of the original 1,500 Jewish residents around the year 1850, only 300 remained by 1900 in the Surbtal.
Many Jewish families emigrated to Baden, Zurich and other Swiss cities, but also to other countries, such as France, the United States, and later, to Israel. Emigrants included later renowned figures such as the American film director William Wyler, the composer Ernest Bloch, and the Guggenheim family, which founded, among other things, the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
To find out more about emigration history, go to The Golden Medina: Jewish Emigration from the Surbtal (only available in German).
Salomon Guggenheim (1861–1949). Source: Israelite Retirement and Nursing Home, Lengnau
The Guggenheim family
The Guggenheim family are among the best-known emigrants from the Surbtal. Simon Meyer Guggenheim was born in Lengnau in 1792 and was a tailor by trade. In 1824, he married Charlotte Levinger, a marriage that produced six children. After she died relatively young, he emigrated in America in 1847 with his son Meyer and his second wife, the widowed Rachel Weil, along with their seven children. In Philadelphia, they laid the foundation of the Guggenheim dynasty’s brilliant rise to become one of America’s wealthiest families by around 1900. Their descendants included Solomon R. Guggenheim, founder of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the art collector Peggy Guggenheim.
The homeland left behind as a place of identity and remembrance
In the 20th century, Jewish emigration from the Surbtal accelerated. By 1950, only about 100 Jews were still living there, some of whom at the Margoa retirement home.
Most descendants of Jews interred in the Jewish cemetery have scattered throughout the world, but they retain ties with their ancestral homeland.
The emigrants often returned to visit, including the film director William Wyler, who had become famous in Hollywood. In 1960, he visited his hometown of Endingen and played a game of jass (a popular Swiss card game) with local officials.
Even those who remained in Switzerland often wish to be buried in the Endingen-Lengnau Jewish cemetery.
Many Jewish families living in Switzerland today trace their ancestry back to the Surbtal. The best-known family surnames are Bernheim, Bloch, Bollag, Braunschweig, Dreifuss, Gideon, Guggenheim, Meyer, Moos, Oppenheim, Picard, Schlesinger, Weil and Wyler. Famous figures such as the painter Varlin (Willi Guggenheim), the writer Kurt Guggenheim, the artist Alis Guggenheim, and former Swiss Federal Council member Ruth Dreifuss have roots in the Surbtal.
Alis Guggenheim (1896–1958), born in Lengnau, was a Jewish artist who also painted the important Lengnau picture cycle.
Kurt Guggenheim (1896-1983) is regarded as a chronicler and ethnographer of the World War generation.
Hollywood director William Wyler (1902–1981), pictured here in 1960 in his hometown of Endingen playing cards at the Schützen restaurant (front right in the picture).
Double-door houses
With their two identical entrances, double-door (Doppeltür) houses bear architectural witness to Jewish-Christian coexistence in Surbtal. How exactly residents lived in the houses has not been conclusively researched, and their historical significance is a matter of debate. However, the close-knit village life at that time suggests a sense of togetherness and coexistence. That’s why the double-doors are regarded as testimony of how two different cultures lived together – something that has echoes in our contemporary diverse societies.