DEUTSCHKREUTZ (also Cruez; Hung. Keresztúr or Németkeresztúr, Sopronkeresztúr; Heb. צלם, צעלם), town in E. Austria. Its community, one of the "Seven Communities" of *Burgenland, increased mainly at the end of the 15th century. In 1526 it absorbed Jews expelled from *Sopron. The situationof the Jews in Deutschkreutz improved when the princes Esterházy took over Deutschkreutz in 1664. In 1701 an agreement was signed between them and the community, renewed several times against payment; Deutschkreutz Jews were permitted to do business in Sopron. A synagogue was built in 1747 and rebuilt in 1834. It was destroyed by the Nazis in 1941. The community was known for its Orthodoxy; its yeshivah became celebrated, especially under Menahem *Katz-Wannfried. The composer Karl *Goldmark grew up in Deutsch-kreutz. When in 1921 Burgenland was finally separated from Hungary, Deutschkreutz lost its hinterland, and the community
L. Moses, in: JJLG, 18 (1927), 305–26; 19 (1928), 195–224; Magyar Zsidó Lexikon (1929) S.V. Németkeresztúr; MGWJ, 74 (1930), 92–93; Y. Gruenwald, Mekorot le-Korot Yisrael (1934), 91–99; MHJ, 2 (1937); 5, pt. 1 (1959); 5, pt. 2 (1960); 6 (1961); 7 (1963); 8 (1965); 10 (1967), index; N. Gergely, in: Új Élet, 14 (Dec. 15, 1969); A. Zistler, in: H. Gold (ed.), Gedenkbuch der untergangenen Judengemeinden des Burgenlandes (1970), 57–74; BJCE; PK. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Spitzer, Die juedische Gemeinde von Deutsch-kreutz (1995).
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