Vienna Gesera

The Vienna Gesera (German: Wiener Gesera, Hebrew: גזרת וינה, romanized: Gezerat Wina, meaning "Viennese Decree") was a persecution of Jews in Austria in 1420–21 on the orders of Duke Albert V. The persecution, at first consisting of exile, forced conversion and imprisonment, culminated in the execution of over 200 Jews.

[3] The few Jews still living in freedom took refuge in the Or-Sarua Synagoge at Judenplatz, in what would become a three-day siege, through hunger and thirst, leading to a collective suicide.

[4] The contemporary Jewish chronicle reports that the Rabbi Jonah set the Synagogue on fire for the Jews at Or-Sarua to die as martyrs.

[5] At the instigation of the Italian rabbinate, Pope Martin V condemned the forced conversion of Jews with threats of excommunication.

[1] At the command of Duke Albert V, the approximately two hundred remaining survivors of the Jewish community were accused of crimes such as dealing arms to the Hussites[3] and host desecration,[5] and on 12 March 1421 were led to the pyre at the so-called goose pasture (Gänseweide) in Erdberg and burned alive.