Brief history of Jewish heritage in Bordeaux

According to chronicles of the Middle Ages, the origins of Judaism in Bordeaux may date back to the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem. And it is possible that Mount Judaica, one name for a small hill in Bordeaux, was the first dwelling place of the community. A Merovingian gold ring from the 6th century was discovered in the city: it was one of the oldest pieces of Jewish jewelry found in Gaul. It was discovered at the corner of two roads, rue des Trois Conils and rue de Cheverus, which for several centuries was called “la rua judaica”. In addition to this Jewish quarter, there was also another one in the old city near the road, rue des Bahutiers. The presence of a small community in Bordeaux is attested from the beginning of the 6th century AD.

In the 9th century, when the city walls were attacked by the Vikings, the Jews were accused of treason. This invasion marked the end of the Jewish community at the time. In the Middle Ages under the Kings of England, the small number of Jews in Bordeaux settled outside the city, near the Saint-Seurin district. But they were expelled in 1316. Then at the end of the 15th century, Louis XI granted privileges to foreigners wishing to settle in Bordeaux. The community increases considerably after the decree of the Alhambra (on March 31, 1492) by which the Catholic kings decided to expel Jews from Spain and Portugal. Fleeing the persecutions of the Inquisition, many of them decided to settle beyond the Pyrenees, establishing often active and prosperous communities in the south-west of France.

The Jewish community of Bordeaux remained prosperous for several centuries, providing some great names in the fields of literature, arts and commerce. They then established themselves in the Jewish quarter (it was not a ghetto) which retains, in the names of certain streets, traces of the past, for example the Judaique street or the "Dijeaux" gate ("of the Jews" in Occitan).

In the 18th century, illustrious Jewish families contributed to the commercial development of the Southwest of France. Several of these families have left us important buildings, which open the door to visits telling their stories. In the 19th century, a wave of immigrants from the Papal States, but also from Germany and Poland, sought to take advantage of the privileges of the Marranos (Sephardic Jews forced to convert but continuing to practice secretly) who had been living in Bordeaux since the 16th century. The term Nation to define the Jewish community of Bordeaux derives from an expression in Portuguese for converted Jews “a gente da naçao”. The Nation was controlled by a council and was made up of merchants, shipowners, bankers and other solid citizens. It administered relief to the poor and was a model of democratic government, little known at the time.

The decree of December 24, 1789 allowed equal rights for all citizens. When Napoleon founded the Empire, he understood the importance of religious feeling: he promulgated a law aimed at organizing the different religions. Two eminent Bordeaux Jews represented the Gironde in Paris. When the central Consistory was created by Napoleon, a regional consistory was also created in Bordeaux in 1809. A year later, a “big” synagogue was built on rue Causserouge. The heart and center of the Jewish quarter, this building suffered a fire in 1873. The new lovely synagogue was built at the end of the 19th century. The tragic and horrifying history of the Second World War is inscribed on its walls and resonates here. Bordeaux served as the final station for countless Jewish refugees, who fled south from northern France in May-June 1940. The city, administered in the occupied zone after the Franco-German armistice of June 21, 1940 , was one of the most important centers of Nazi police and army activity. Two-thirds of the Jewish population, local Jews and refugees alike, were arrested and deported. Despite the horrors there are also stories of rescue, courage and kindness.

Aquitaine is rich in an original Jewish heritage, including the cemeteries in Bordeaux dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries, and other monuments, the most important of which is the Synagogue of Bordeaux, listed as a Historic Monument since 1998.

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