On February 6th, 2026, Thomas Ertl, Professor of High and Late Medieval History at Freie University in Berlin, Germany, delivered the 2026 Bostiber Lecture in Austrian Studies entitled, “The Jewish Community of Vienna in the Middle Ages: A Turbulent History and its Material Remains.” Co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley Institute of European Studies and the Botsiber Institute for Austrian American Studies, the lecture was delivered to an audience of 25 attendees. Opening remarks were given by Professor Jeroen Dewulf, Botsiber Institute Director Michael Burni (attending virtually from the Institute’s headquarters in Philadelphia), and the Consul of Austria, Isabella Thomas. During the lecture, Ertl explored the development, integration, persecution, and material legacy of the Jewish community in medieval Vienna, highlighting its deep integration in urban society and the causes of its eradication in 1420.
In providing historical context, Ertl established Vienna’s role in the Holy Roman Empire as both politically and economically significant. Population statistics for the city’s Jewish community shows it as having grown from 15 members in 1200 to a sizable 900 in 1400. Ertl then organized his talk into three themes: assimilation and exchange, discrimination and violence, and legacy and interpretation.
He first presented evidence that, contrary to the common assumption of an existence confined to strict cultural ghettos, Vienna’s Jewish quarter, Judenplatz, was not forcibly segregated in its early stages. Jews built households around community institutions, namely the synagogue, mikveh, hospital, and slaughterhouse, remaining embedded within the larger city and ducal holdings. Archaeologists discovered household items, including game pieces and kitchen utensils, that were indistinguishable from those used by Christian Viennese families, implying shared lifestyles during this era, and demonstrating that economic exchange tied communities together. Moneylending linked Jewish and Christian Austrians through systems of credit and trust. Motivated by adaptation, Jews had a multilingual advantage in economic transactions, both speaking German and reading Latin. Hebrew was reserved for conversation, religious practices, and informal notes – showcased in a 1407 loan charter which included Hebrew notes on the reverse side. Ertl also used a contemporary proverb to compare the proximity of the Yiddish language to German. Lastly, the use of Christian liturgical garments as collateral showed interreligious trade and respect.
However, antisemitic discrimination was persistent. Ertl listed specific recorded events of violence in the 14th century: the 1370 capture and ransom of several prominent Jewish figures and the 1406 fire of the Jewish quarter, both accompanied by attacks and looting of Jewish households and businesses. The Gesera (1420-1421) marked a violent end of Jewish medieval life in Vienna. Initiated by Duke Albert V of
Austria, Jews were arrested, imprisoned, and stripped of legal protection. Forced to choose between conversion to Christianity or expulsion, many refused to be baptized and were executed, with their properties being sold and redistributed. The Duke, citing a fabricated accusation of eucharistic desecration, weaponized antisemitic myths to legitimize violence and possession. Ertl said a combination of actors – ducal, academic, elite, and church authorities – were to blame. He emphasized a culmination of motives besides evident religious differences, including political consolidation and opportunism, material profit for urban dwellers, and a larger trend towards expulsion across Europe.
The lecture ended with Ertl’s reflections on cultural memory. Recent excavations at Judenplatz uncovered remains of a medieval synagogue destroyed in 1421, now an underground exhibition at the Jewish Museum of Vienna. Right above, the Holocaust Memorial, built in 2000, symbolically ties medieval persecution with the much later genocide. After a Q&A session with the audience, Ertl stressed the importance of accentuating Jewish resistance rather than pushing a victimization narrative, and championed the continual preservation of Hebrew historical sources. He highlighted today’s flourishing Jewish community at Judenplatz as a case study illustrating the remarkable resilience of the Jewish diaspora, transforming violent exclusion into a rebuilt center of cultural renewal and celebration.