Shlom the Mintmaster

SHLOM THE MINTMASTER (d. 1195), the first Jew mentioned by name in Austrian records. In charge of the mint and other property of Duke Leopold V, Shlom was entitled to acquire real estate and to employ Christian servants. He owned four plots of land near the synagogue in Vienna. (The assumption that he founded the first Jewish community there cannot be proved.) Although he lost a lawsuit in 1195 trying to reclaim a vineyard given by a burgher to a monastery, he was nevertheless granted some compensation. After a former servant of his had stolen some money from him and left to join the Crusades, Shlom had the man seized and imprisoned. Incited by the wife of the imprisoned man, the crusaders murdered Shlom and 15 others. Duke Leopold executed two of the murderers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Aronius, Regesten, nos. 336, 339, 363; H. Gold, Geschichte der Juden in Wien (1966), 1; Germ Jud, 1 (1963), 260, 397–9.