Well ok, this is in Venice, not Strasbourg. But the theme is local history, and I'm not living in Venice anymore... Then why? The Valentine's day 1349 massacre, or pogrom, that's why. The Black Death killed about 25 million people in Europe. The church authorities were sure the Jews poisoned wells, therefore causing the plague. So, February 14th, 1349, they decided to burn the entire Jewish population of Strasbourg, 2000 men, women, children. It didn't stop the plague.
A few families, fearing what would be happening, managed to escape before. They settled down at the only place allowing Jews, in the old foundry in Venice. Foundry = ghetto in the Venetian dialect. Many Venetian Jews are descendants of there Strasbourg Jews.
More theme day posts right... here.
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Madness.
ReplyDeleteSo that's the word origin.
Incredibly awful. It is a defect in human design that we are so dedicated to preserving our own tribe that we engage in genocide.
ReplyDeleteYes, the plague sure killed millions of people, I hear it's still around in isolated cases today.
ReplyDelete