Mankind
Quarterly, Vol. 44, Nos. 3 & 4 (Spring-Summer 2004)
pp.
367-383
Jewish Migrations
from Germany to Poland: The Rhineland Hypothesis Revisited.
J. van Straten [Full
Text, pdf]
By the sixteenth century there was
already a substantial Ashkenazi population residing
in Eastern Europe which spoke Yiddish and followed
Jewish rituals modeled on those of the Jewish population
of Germany. It has consequently been assumed by many
historians that Eastern European Jewry originated
in a migration of Jews from Germany prior to that
century fleeing the pogroms of the First Crusade,
the pestilence of the Black Death, or the expulsions
of the fifteenth century. The author examines the
historical evidence for such migrations but concludes
that no major migration to Poland appears to have
taken place as a result of these three events.
