How did Judaism reach Speyer, Germany?

Question

I'm trying to trace my genealogy. So far I have traced my grandmother's last name Shapiro to Speyer.

Answer 1

Alternate town names are: Speyer [Ger], Spire [Fr], Spira [Pol, Ital], Spires [Eng]

I may be wrong, but I think that the SHAPIRO surname is a form of the word Spira.  If so, maybe your grandmother's surname is based on the town itself?

"Palatinate, Germany. Members of the illustrious Italian Kalonymus family from Mainz arrived in the 1070s, joined by others fleeing the Mainz riots of 1084....They were allowed to build a wall around their settlement in the village, given land for a cemetery, and accorded the privelge of unrestricted trade and moneylending activities....The community ended in 1349 in the Black Death massacres with a few fleeing and a few converting to save themselves.  Jews were formally readmitted to the city in 1352....The Jewish pop. reached 539 in 1880.  In 1848, 61% of Jews were merchants and 25% practiced trades (including butchers).  Later Jews opened shoe, cigarette , and woodworking factories....In 1933, the J. pop. was 269."

Source: "The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust" Ed. Shmuel Spector

(I did not type the entire entry as it was quite long...Jews from Speyer were deported to Dachua Concentration Camp and Gurs Concentration Camp in southern France....also, Auschwitz.)

It appears that Speyer, Germany was an important Jewish community in the Middle Ages.  This wouldn't necessarily mean that your SHAPIRO ancestors lived there at that time, though.

http://www.jewishhistory.org.il/history....

In 1096 during the First Crusade, the Jewish community of Speyer was massacred.

http://domainhelp.search.com/reference/S...

You might want to go to: http://www.jewishgen.org It is the most comprehensive Jewish genealogy site on the internet.