COMUNITATEA EVREILOR SEFARZI DIN TIMIŞOARA ÎN SECOLELE XVIII-XX. EVOLUŢII DEMOGRAFICE
THE SEPHARDIC JEWISH COMMUNITY FROM TIMIŞOARA DURING THE 18TH AND 20TH CENTURIES. DEMOGRAPHIC EVOLUTIONS

Summary/Abstract: The Sephardic Jewish Community from Timişoara During the 18th and 20th Centuries. Demographic Evolutions. The paper’s main goal is to offer an image of the Sephardic Jews’ demographic evolution in the city of Timişoara, between 1716 (the year of the Austrian conquest) and the interwar period of the 20th century. The conclusions point to the fact that after a century of struggle (1716-1822), the Sephardic Jews lost the demographic race against the Ashkenazi immigration and during the 19th century the community slowly regressed, up to the point in which they weren’t even able to perform the religious duties (1890s). A case study in the school archives of Timişoara dating from the interwar period shows how, at that time, the presence of the Sephardi children was incidental, supporting the image of an already disappeared community. The main causes of this historical outcome have been identified in the draining of the Sephardic demographical reservoir South of Danube during the 19th century, corroborated with the growing immigration of Ashkenazi from the Northern Habsburg lands; but the more conservatory social attitude of the Sephardic Jews might have also played an important role.

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