History of The Jews in Trieste - History

History

The oldest official document available mentioning a Jewish settlement in Trieste goes back to the year 1236 and it is composed of a notarial deed that mentions an economic transaction made by a certain Bishop Giovanni: he paid 500 'marche' to the Jew Daniel David, who had spent them to fight thieves on the Carso.

After Trieste was annexed to Austria in 1382, Jewish people from Germany, some subjects to the Austrian Dukes while others to local princes, came to live in Italy. Lacking synagogue and legal recognition, the small Ashkenazic Jewish community held services in a private home from the 15th century. From 1684 to 1785 the authorities ordered the construction of a Ghetto and the compulsory residence there. However, after the first Jewish public Synagogue was built, the Jews from Trieste felt the need to give a constitution to their Community; therefore the evening of 14 December 1746, the Chiefs called a meeting of the "particolari", that is the heads of families who contributed to the expenses of the Community.

On 19 April 1771, Maria Theresa granted two Sovereign Licenses to the Jews of Trieste, licenses that constitute real regulations. In 1782, with the famous Edict of Tolerance, Joseph II admitted the Jews to some charges in the Stock Exchange and to other liberal professions. A year later the Jewish primary school was opened with the name of Scuole Pie Normali Israelitiche. The following year, in 1784, the gates of the Ghetto were opened so that the Jews of Trieste could live together with their fellow citizens of different religions; however most of them continued to live in the Ghetto. Indeed, after a short occupation of the French in 1797, they began to build two new Synagogues in the street of the Jewish schools, but they were demolished during the first quarter of the 20th century when the Old Town was destroyed.

In the 19th century the Jews of Trieste become more and more important in various fields such as Humanities, Industry, and Commerce, and they also gradually grew in number. Jews became pioneers in the realms of banking, commerce, and insurance that drove the city's spectacular growth. They held prominent political positions, established important firms and founded or were leading figures in insurance companies such as Assicurazioni Generali, RAS and Lloyd Adriatico. Several local Jewish families were even raised to the nobility by the House of Habsburg. Importantly, too, the Trieste Jewish community produced towering cultural figures such as the writer Italo Svevo and poet Umberto Saba, both of whom today are commemorated with busts in the city's Public Gardens.

Also in the 1830s there was an influx of Jews from Corfu, leading to the establishment of a Sephardic community alongside the established Ashkenazic one.

One of Jewish Trieste's most illustrious sons, Rabbi Professor Samuel David Luzzatto, (1800–1865) known as the Shadal, was a philosopher, poet, Bible scholar and translator. He directed the newly established rabbinical seminary, Collegio Rabbinico in Padua. His scholarship combined the deep erudition of the medieval rabbis with the newer trends in Judaic scholarship emanating from the enlightened Haskalah circles of northern Europe. He was a master of Hebrew philology and translated the Bible into Italian. His literary circle included Hebrew poets, such as his cousin Rachel Morpurgo — whose sonnets, elegies and wedding poems in the style of the Spanish Hebrew religious poets and the Italian Renaissance related mostly to family and biographical incidents.

Although most Triestino Jews were not of Italian origin, they rallied to the unification of Italy. The peace settlement brought Trieste into the Kingdom of Italy in 1919. Immigration swelled Jewish numbers to 6,000; Jews were prominent in the city’s economy and assimilation spread unchecked. In 1910, the affluent Trieste Jewish community approved the construction of the Great Synagogue of Trieste. Designed by the Christian architect, Ruggero and Arduino Berlam, its plan followed the trend of other central European communities in a style reminiscent of Middle Eastern buildings, ancient and modern.