Maximilian granted their request, citing as reasons for the expulsion the Jewish pollution of the Christian sacrament, the ritual killings of Christian children, and the defrauding of debtors. The expulsions started immediately, with the last Jews expelled by 1718. The Jews were expelled from Maribor in 1496. Following separate demands by the citizens of Ljubljana for the expulsion of Jews, Jews were expelled from Ljubljana in 1515. After the expulsion of the Jewish community, the Maribor synagogue was turned into a church.