Mikulov
Encyclopedia
Mikulov (ˈmɪkulof; , Nikolshburg) is a town in the South Moravian Region
South Moravian Region
South Moravian Region is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia, with exception of Jobova Lhota, that belongs to Bohemia. Its capital is Brno the 2nd largest city of the Czech Republic. The region is famous for its wine...

 of the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

 with a population of 7,608 (2004). It is located directly on the border with Lower Austria
Lower Austria
Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...

. Mikulov is located at the edge of a hilly area and the three Nové Mlýny reservoirs
Nové Mlýny reservoirs
The Nové Mlýny reservoirs are three reservoirs behind the Nové Mlýny Dam on the Dyje River in the Czech Republic. The lower reservoir, 1668 ha in area, is the Novomlynska Reservoir, the middle reservoir, 1031 ha, is the Věstonice Reservoir and the upper reservoir, 528 ha, is the Musovska ...

. Pálava Landscape Protected Area
Pálava Landscape Protected Area
The Pálava Landscape Protected Area is a landscape protected area and UNESCO biosphere reserve located in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic, on the border with Austria. This unique area was originally recognized by UNESCO in 1986 and expanded in 2003 to include another UNESCO site,...

 begins in Mikulov, and so does the Moravian Karst
Moravian Karst
The Moravian Karst is a karst landscape and protected nature reserve to the north of Brno in the eastern part of the Czech Republic, located near the town of Blansko. It encompasses a number of notable geological features, including roughly 1100 caverns and gorges and covers an area of roughly 92...

.

History

In 1249, Ottokar II of Bohemia
Ottokar II of Bohemia
Ottokar II , called The Iron and Golden King, was the King of Bohemia from 1253 until 1278. He was the Duke of Austria , Styria , Carinthia and Carniola also....

 granted the land of Mikulov, including a castle, and the surrounding area to the Austrian noble Henry I of Liechtenstein
Princely Family of Liechtenstein
The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name, is the family which reigns by constitutional, hereditary right over the nation of Liechtenstein...

. Mikulov remained in the Liechtenstein family until 1575, when it was purchased by Adam von Dietrichstein, the Emperor's
Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian II was king of Bohemia and king of the Romans from 1562, king of Hungary and Croatia from 1563, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from 1564 until his death...

 ambassador to the Spanish court. Mikulov was the site of the Treaty of Nikolsburg in 1621 during the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

. After a fire damaged the original Mikulov Castle
Mikulov Castle
Mikulov Castle is situated in the town of Mikulov in South Moravia, Czech Republic. The castle stands on a place of historic Slavonic settlement, where since the end of the 13th century the original stone castle was erected. The present castle is the result of a reconstruction in 1719-1730 under...

 in 1719, the Dietrichstein family reconstructed the chateau to its present appearance.

After the Austro-Prussian War
Austro-Prussian War
The Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...

, Count Károlyi
Alajos Károlyi
Count Alajos Károlyi de Nagykároly , was an Austro-Hungarian diplomat.He was born in Vienna, into the great Hungarian family of Károlyi, whose fame dates from the time of Sándor Károlyi , one of the generals of Francis II Rákóczi, who in 1711 negotiated the peace of Szatmár between the insurgent...

 began work on a peace treaty in Mikulov that led to the Treaty of Prague in 1866. In 1938, prior to the German occupation of Czechoslovakia
German occupation of Czechoslovakia
German occupation of Czechoslovakia began with the Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions, known collectively as the Sudetenland, under terms outlined by the Munich Agreement. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's pretext for this effort was the alleged privations suffered by...

, the population of Mikulov was 8,000 mostly German-speaking inhabitants. 472 Jews lived in Mikulov at this time, but only 110 managed to emigrate in time, and 327 of Mikulov's Jews did not survive the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...

. After Germany was defeated in World War II, the town's German
Ethnic German
Ethnic Germans historically also ), also collectively referred to as the German diaspora, refers to people who are of German ethnicity. Many are not born in Europe or in the modern-day state of Germany or hold German citizenship...

 population was expelled between 1945-46. In 1948, Mikulov's population was around 5,200.

Jewish Mikulov



The beginning of the Jewish settlement in Mikulov dates as far as 1421, when Jews were expelled from Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 and the neighboring province of Lower Austria
Lower Austria
Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...

 by the duke of Austria, Albert II of Germany
Albert II of Germany
Albert the Magnanimous KG was King of Hungary from 1438 until his death. He was also King of Bohemia, elected King of Germany as Albert II, duke of Luxembourg and, as Albert V, archduke of Austria from 1404.-Biography:Albert was born in Vienna as the son of Albert IV, Duke of Austria, and Johanna...

. Fugitives settled in the town situated close to the Austrian border, some 85 kilometers from the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n capital, under the protection of the princes of Liechtenstein, and additional settlers were brought after the expulsions of the Jews from the Moravian royal boroughs by the king Ladislaus the Posthumous after 1454.

The settlement grew in importance and in the first half of the 16th century when Mikulov became the seat of the regional rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...

 of Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...

, thus becoming a cultural centre of Moravian Jewry. The famous rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel
Judah Loew ben Bezalel
Judah Loew ben Bezalel, alt. Loewe, Löwe, or Levai, widely known to scholars of Judaism as the Maharal of Prague, or simply The MaHaRaL, the Hebrew acronym of "Moreinu ha-Rav Loew," was an important Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic, and philosopher who served as a leading rabbi in the city of...

 (1525 – 1609), who is said to have created the golem
Golem
In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being, created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing....

 of Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, officiated here for twenty years as the second regional rabbi between 1553 and 1573. Cardinal Franz von Dietrichstein, son of Adam von Dietrichstein, was a special protector of the Jews, whose taxes were necessary to finance the Thirty Years' War.

In the first half of the 18th century the congregation in Mikulov totalled over 600 families, being the largest Jewish settlement in Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...

. The census of 1754 decreed by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...

 ascertained that there were some 620 families established in Mikulov, i.e. the Jewish population of about 3,000 comprised half of the town‘s inhabitants. It is obvious that only a small number of the Mikulov Jews could make their living in the town as artisans; the rest had to become merchants. The congregation suffered severely during the Silesian wars
Silesian Wars
The Silesian Wars were a series of wars between Prussia and Austria for control of Silesia. They formed parts of the larger War of the Austrian Succession and Seven Years' War. They eventually ended with Silesia being incorporated into Prussia, and Austrian recognition of this...

 (1740–1742, 1744–1745 and 1756–1763), when they had to furnish the monarchy with their share in the supertaxes exacted by the government of Maria Theresa from the Jews of Moravia.

Quite a number of Mikulov Jews continued to earn their livelihood in Vienna, where they were permitted to stay for some time on special passports. The freedom of residence, which was conceded to the Jews in Austria in 1848, reduced the number of resident Jews in Mikulov to less than one-third of the population which it contained at the time of its highest development. In 1904, there were 749 Jewish residents in the city, out of a total population of 8,192.In 1938 the city population totaled about 8,000 inhabitants. Out of these, 472 were Jewish. The Jewish settlement in Mikulov ceased to exist during World War II.

Demographics

generated with :de:Wikipedia:Helferlein/VBA-Macro for EXCEL tableconversion V1.7<\hiddentext>>
Census year Population Ethnicity of inhabitants
year German Czechs other
1793 7440
1836 8421
1869 7173
1880 7642 7447 144 61
1890 8210 8057 79 74
1900 8092 7843 170 79
1910 8043 7787 189 67
1921 7699 6359 626 485
1930 7790 6409 898 483
1939 7886

Economy

Mikulov is a centre of Czech wine-making
Czech wine
Wine in the Czech Republic is produced mainly in southern Moravia, although a few vineyards are located in Bohemia. However, Moravia accounts for around 96% of the country's vineyards, which is why Czech wine is more often referred to as Moravian wine ...

 due to its favorable geographic location and climate, as well as its unique history. Mikulov is not only the centre, but the namesake of, the Moravian wine sub-region vinarská podoblast Mikulovská
Mikulovská wine
Mikulovská is one of four Czech wine regions within southern Moravia, Czech Republic. The Mikulovská wine region, containing 30 wine villages, is famed for producing white wines grown in the limestone soils, particularly in and around the area of the Pálava Landscape Protected Area...

. Twelve registered cadastral vineyard tracts (Czech: trat) are situated within the Mikulov wine village as defined under the Czech Viticulture Act.Other significant economic activities in Mikulov are the machine-making and clay industries, as well as oil found at the edge of the Viennese Basin.

Landmarks

Mikulov's historic buildings, such as Mikulov Castle, and the surrounding wine country draw tourists from the Czech Republic and neighboring countries. Beginning in Mikulov, the 65 kilometer long Mikulov Wine Trail winds throughout the Mikulov wine region and is a part of wine tourism
Wine tourism
Wine tourism refers to tourism whose purpose is or includes the tasting, consumption or purchase of wine, often at or near the source. Wine tourism can consist of visits to wineries, vineyards and restaurants known to offer unique vintages, as well as organized wine tours, wine festivals or other...

 in the area. Other noteworthy historic sights are the Dietrichstein
Dietrichstein
Dietrichstein was the name of a German/Austrian noble family.Maximilian von Dietrichstein was created Graf von Dietrichstein on 18 September 1612 and Fürst von Dietrichstein zu Nikolsburg on 24 March 1639...

 sepulchre, the old Jewish Quarter
Jewish quarter (diaspora)
In the Jewish Diaspora, a Jewish quarter is the area of a city traditionally inhabited by Jews. Jewish quarters, like the Jewish ghettos in Europe, were often the outgrowths of segregated ghettos instituted by the surrounding Christian authorities. A Yiddish term for a Jewish quarter or...

, and the Piarist College. Several historic churches and a synagogue, built in various architectural styles, are located in Mikulov, including the Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

 Church of St. Václav and charnel house, the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 Church of St. John the Baptist, St. Sebastian Chapel on the Holy Hill (Svatý Kopeček), the neo-Gothic Eastern Christian Church of St. Nicolas, and the Altschul Synagogue.

Rabbis

  • Judah Löw ben Bezaleel, the first rabbi of Nikolsburg, chief rabbi of Moravia, officiated in Nikolsburg about 1553–1573
  • Judah Löb Eilenburg (1574–1618)
  • Gabriel ben Chajjim ben Sinaj (1618–1624)
  • Yom-Ṭob Lipmann Heller (1624– )
  • Pethahiah ben Joseph (1631–1637)
  • Abraham ben Mordechaj Jaffe (1637–1647)
  • Menahem Mendel Krochmal (1648–1661)
  • Gerson Ashkenazi (1661– )
  • Aaron Jacob ben Ezekiel ( –1671)
  • Judah Löb, son of Menahem Krochmal (1672–1684)
  • Eliezer Mendel Fanta (1684–1690)
  • David Oppenheimer (1690–1702)
  • Gabriel Eskeles (1709–1718)
  • Bernard Eskeles (1718–1753)

  • Moses Lwow-Lemburger (1753–1757)
  • Gershon Politz (1757–1772)
  • Shmuel "S(c)hmelke" (ben Hirsh Halevi) Horowitz of Nikolsburg
    Shmelke of Nikolsburg
    Shmelke of Nikolsburg was one of the great early Chasidic Rebbes. Born Shmuel Horowitz Shmelke of Nikolsburg (1726 Chortkiv, Galicia - 1778 Nikolsburg, Moravia) was one of the great early Chasidic Rebbes. Born Shmuel Horowitz Shmelke of Nikolsburg (1726 Chortkiv, Galicia - 1778 Nikolsburg,...

     (1772–1778)
  • Gershon Chajes (1780–1789)
  • Mordecai Benet
    Mordecai Benet
    Mordecai ben Abraham Benet was a Talmudist and chief rabbi of Moravia born at Csurgó, a small village in the county of Stuhlweissenburg, Hungary.-A Gifted Child:...

     (1789–1829)
  • Nehemias Trebitsch (1831–1842)
  • Samson Raphael Hirsch
    Samson Raphael Hirsch
    Samson Raphael Hirsch was a German rabbi best known as the intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism...

     (1847–1851)
  • Hirsch Teltscher (1851–1853)
  • Isak Weinberger (1853–1855)
  • Solomon Quetsch
    Solomon Quetsch
    Solomon Quetsch was an Austrian rabbi and Talmudist. He was born at Nikolsburg, Moravia on October 13, 1798, and died there January 30, 1856. He was educated at the yeshiva of his native city under Mordechai Benet, and was his premier disciple. He officiated as rabbi successively at Piesling,...

     (1855–1856)
  • Mayer Feuchtwang (1861–1888)
  • David Feuchtwang (1892–1903), also chief rabbi of Vienna; Son of Mayer
  • Moritz Levin (since 1903–1918)
  • Alfred Willmann (1919–1938)

  • Adam von Dietrichstein, purchaser of the Mikulov estate in 1575
  • Maximilian, Prince of Dietrichstein
    Dietrichstein
    Dietrichstein was the name of a German/Austrian noble family.Maximilian von Dietrichstein was created Graf von Dietrichstein on 18 September 1612 and Fürst von Dietrichstein zu Nikolsburg on 24 March 1639...

     (1596–1655), grandson of Adam von Dietrichstein and owner of the Mikulov estate
  • Auerbach (Jewish family)
  • Moses ben Avraham Avinu
    Moses ben Avraham Avinu
    Moses ben Avraham Avinu was an Czech-Austrian printer and author who was a Christian convert to Judaism. His father, Jacob, was also a convert....

     (?–1733), printer, author, Christian convert to Judaism
  • Joseph von Sonnenfels
    Joseph von Sonnenfels
    Joseph von Sonnenfels was an Austrian and German jurist and novelist. He was among the leaders of the Illuminati movement in Austria, and a close friend and patron of Mozart. He is also the dedicatee of Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 15, Op...

    , né Lipmann (1732–1817), Austrian and German Jewish (later Christian) jurist, novelist
  • Anton Josef Leeb (1769–1837), Mayor of Vienna (de)
  • Heinrich Landesmann
    Heinrich Landesmann
    Heinrich Landesmann, Hieronymus Lorm was an Austrian poet and philosophical writer....

     (1821–1902), Jewish poet and philosophical writer
  • Heinrich Auspitz
    Heinrich Auspitz
    Heinrich Auspitz was an Austrian dermatologist. Trained at the University of Vienna, he specialised in dermatology and syphilis...

     (1835–1886), Jewish dermatologist
  • Edmund Wengraf (1860–1933, Vienna), Austrian jurist, journalist, narrative writer, novelist, essayist, poet, theatre critic
  • Siegfried Altmann (1872–1961), Jewish educator and former Director of Das Israelitisches Blindeninstitut, a Jewish institute for blind children.
  • Adolf Schärf
    Adolf Schärf
    Adolf Schärf was, from 1957 to his death, the sixth President of Austria. Born into a poor working class family, he put himself through law school working part time and with a scholarship granted for academic excellence...

     (1890–1965), Moravian German politician
  • Karel Krautgartner
    Karel Krautgartner
    Karel Krautgartner was a Czech jazz and classical clarinetist, saxophonist, arranger, composer, conductor and teacher.- Life :...

     (1922–1982), Czech jazz and classical clarinetist, saxophonist, arranger, composer, conductor and teacher
  • Joseph Almosnino
    Joseph Almosnino
    Joseph Almosnino was the son of Isaac and grandson of Moses ben Baruch Almosnino. He was rabbi at Belgrade, and author of numerous responsa, collected by his son Isaac under the title Edut bi-Yehosef and published at Constantinople, 1711-33.Joseph died at Nikolsburg, Moravia, in 1689.-...

    , Greek-Serbian rabbi
  • Simon Bacher
    Simon Bacher
    Simon Bacher was a Hungarian Neo-Hebraic poet.Bacher, whose name was originally Bachrach, came of a family of scholars, and counted as one of his ancestors the well-known Moravian-German rabbi Jair Ḥayyim Bacharach. He studied Talmud in his native city, and in Mikulov under Menahem Nahum...

  • Samuel Baeck
    Samuel Baeck
    Samuel Baeck, also spelled Samuel Bäck was a German rabbi and father of Leo Baeck.His father, Nathan Baeck, was rabbi in Kromau, Moravia; his grandfather, Abraham, rabbi in Holitsch, Hungary...

  • Vincent, Count Benedetti
    Vincent, Count Benedetti
    Vincent, Count Benedetti was a French diplomat. He is probably best known as one of the central figures in the instigation of the Franco-Prussian War.Benedetti was born at Bastia, on the island of Corsica...

  • Simcha Bunim of Peshischa
    Simcha Bunim of Peshischa
    Rabbi Simcha Bunim Bonhart of Peshischa was one of the main leaders of Hasidic Judaism in Poland. After studying Torah at yeshivas in Mattersdorf and Nikolsburg, he was introduced to the world of Hasidism by his father-in-law, and became a chasid of Rabbi Yisroel Hopsztajn , and then Rabbi...

  • Bonifác Buzek (1788, Příbor - 1839, Brno) (de)
  • Judah he-Hasid
    Judah he-Hasid (Jerusalem)
    Judah he-Hasid Segal ha-Levi was a Jewish preacher who led the largest organized group of Jewish immigrants to the Land of Israel in the 17th and 18th centuries.-Departure from Europe:...

  • Balthasar Hubmaier
    Balthasar Hubmaier
    Balthasar Hubmaier was an influential German/Moravian Anabaptist leader. He was one of the most well-known and respected Anabaptist theologians of the Reformation.- Early life and education:...

     (c. 1480, Friedberg, Bavaria – March 10, 1528), Moravian German Anabaptist (Schwertler (de)) leader
  • Aaron Samuel Kaidanover
    Aaron Samuel Kaidanover
    Aaron Samuel ben Israel Kaidanover was a Polish-Lithuanian rabbi...

  • Meyer Kayserling
    Meyer Kayserling
    Meyer Kayserling was a German rabbi and historian.-Life:He was educated at Halberstadt, Nikolsburg , Prague, Würzburg, and Berlin. He devoted himself to history and philosophy...

  • Karl (Carl) Borromäus Landsteiner (pseudonym: Arthur Landerstein; 1835, Schloß Stoitzendorf, Stoitzendorf bei Eggenburg
    Eggenburg
    Eggenburg is a municipality in the district of Horn in Lower Austria, Austria....

    , Lower Austria - 1909, Mikulov), Austrian Catholic theologian, author
  • Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin
    Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin
    Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin, also Jacob Isaac of Lublin, or Y. Y. Horowitz , known as "The Chozeh of Lublin" , or simply as the "Chozeh", was a Hasidic rebbe from Poland....

  • Alfons Mucha
    Alfons Mucha
    Alfons Maria Mucha , known in English as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech Art Nouveau painter and decorative artist, known best for his distinct style. He produced many paintings, illustrations, advertisements, postcards, and designs.-Early years:...

    , hired by Count Karl Khuen of Mikulov
  • Abraham Neuda
    Abraham Neuda
    Abraham Neuda was an Austrian rabbi.He was the son of Rabbi Aaron Neuda of Loštice, and the nephew of Rabbi Jacob Neuda of Lomnitz , Moravia...

  • Leonhard Schiemer
    Leonhard Schiemer
    Leonhard Schiemer was an early pacifist Anabaptist writer and martyr whose work survives in the Ausbund.-Background:...

  • Richard Teltscher (1888, Vienna - 1974, London), Jewish Austrian wine-merchant, patron and patriot, founder of the Jewish Central Museum for Moravia-Silesia in Mikulov
  • Abraham Trebitsch
    Abraham Trebitsch
    Abraham ben Reuben Trebitsch was an Austrian-Jewish scholar...


See also

  • Lednice - Valtice area
  • Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape
    Lednice–Valtice Cultural Landscape
    The Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape is a cultural-natural complex of 283,09 km² in the Czech Republic, South Moravian Region, close to Břeclav and Mikulov....

  • Old Hungarian alphabet of Nikolsburg
  • Ostlandkreuz
    Ostlandkreuz
    Ostlandkreuz or Kreuz des deutschen Ostens is the name of memorial crosses in Germany remembering the expulsion of Germans after World War II from the former Sudetenland areas of Czechoslovakia, from Poland and the Soviet part of the former Province of East Prussia...


External links

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