METZ and LORRAINE

Before civil registration of 1792

The Jews were permitted to take up residence in Metz in 1565 and the community grew to 2200 individuals at the beginning of the XVIII^th Century. Several censuses were taken in between but they are brief. The registration of births, marriages, and deaths were kept rather regularly from 1717 to 1792. These registrations were studied and published by P.A. MEYER (click on Publications).

Jean FLEURY has analyzed more than 2000 Jewish marriage contracts of the period 1690-1792 (click on Publications). These contracts are not only for Metz but also the surrounding villages where Jewish communities were established.

Other sources of information by name for Metz:

The Memorbuch. This is a series of death notices in Hebrew. The first part (1600 - 1720) has been translated into French by Simon SCHWARZFUCHS and will be soon reissued by the CGJ. These notices are sometimes difficult to interpret, but are often essential. 

Jean-Claude BOUVAT-MARTIN has analyzed the second part of the Memorbuch (1720 - 1849), which has been published in 2001 by the CGJ (click on Publications).  

Pascal FAUSTINI has been able to reconstruct the families of Metz in the period 1565-1665 and, in some cases, to track their origin back to Germany in his book La communauté juive de Metz et ses familles (1565-1665) 280 pages.
(Available by writing to the author   -   13 bd Hildegarde, 57100 Thionville, France) Price :France: 35 Euros.

After 1792

Beyond the civil records common to ALL FRENCH CITIZENS, one should also consult the 1808 lists of the names chosen by the Jews. For Lorraine, all 19 registers from the Meurthe-et-Moselle are available but only 57 of 111 for the Moselle. These registers have been edited by Pierre KATZ (click on Publications).

Very recently, we published Les Mariages Juifs en Moselle (1792-1892) by Jean-Louis Calbat. The author found 4900 marriages presumably of Jewish people in the Moselle "departement"(click on Publications).

Cemeteries

S. et F. JOB et C. FREUND, Le cimetière de Lunéville, CGJ 1999.

Jean-Pierre BERNARD, 40 cimetières juifs lorrains de Moselle, CGJ 2002 (click on Publications or Cemeteries).

Historical works on the region

Pierre-André MEYER, La communauté juive de Metz au XVIII^e siècle, Presses Universitaires de Nancy, 1993.

Françoise JOB, Les Juifs de Nancy, and also Les Juifs de Lunéville aux XVIII^e et XIX^e siècles, Presses Universitaires de Nancy, 1991 et 1989.

Pascal FAUSTINI, La Communauté juive de Sarrelouis et environs entre 1680 et 1850 (available from the author, 1998).

It might be interesting to know the corresponding French/German names of  villages in the Moselle Departement. Just click here.