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Encyclopaedia Judaica
Jews in Austria 02: Jews from
16th to 19th century
Kings playing with protection and
expulsion - "useful citizens" and Toleranzpatent 1782
from: Austria; In: Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971, vol. 3
presented by Michael Palomino
(2007)
<Counter-Reformation to 19th
Century.
In the period of the Counter-Reformation, during the reigns of
Maximilian II (1564-76), *Rudolph II (1576-1612), and Matthias
(1612-19), there were frequent expulsions and instances of oppression.
[Protected Jews under Ferdinand II]
Under Rudolph the Jewish population in Vienna increased; certain
families enjoying special court privileges ("hofbefreite Juden")
[["Jews liberated by the court"]] moved there and were permitted to
build a synagogue.
In 1621 *Ferdinand II allotted the Jews of Vienna a new quarter outside
the city walls. In the rural areas the jurisdiction over the Jews and
their exploitation for fiscal purposes increasingly passed to the local
overlords. Important communities living under the protection of the
local lordships existed in villages such as Achau, Bockfliess,
Ebenfurth, Gobelsburg, Grafenwoerth, Langenlois, Marchegg, *Spitz,
Tribuswinkel, and Zwoelfaxing.
In Vienna also, *Ferdinand III (1637-57) temporarily transferred Jewish
affairs to the municipality. The *Chmielnicki massacres in Eastern
Europe (1648-49) brought many Jewish refugees to Austria, among them
important scholars.
[Expulsion of the Jews from Vienna
under Leopold I]
The situation of the Jews deteriorated under *Leopold I (1657-1705). In
1669 a commission for Jewish affairs was appointed, in which the
expulsion of the Jews from Vienna and the whole of Austria was urged by
Bishop Count *Kollonch. In the summer of that year, 1,600 Jews from the
(col. 890)
poorer and middle classes had to leave Vienna within two weeks; and in
1670 the wealthy Jews followed. The edict of expulsion remained
nominally in force until 1848, although sometimes transvened.
A number of *Court Jews in particular, such as Samuel *Oppenheimer,
Samson *Wertheimer, Simon Michael, and Joseph von Geldern, were
permitted to live in Vienna. Their households included Jewish clerks
and servants. In 1752 it is estimated that there were 452 Jews living
in Vienna, all of whom were connected with 12 tolerated families.
[18th century until 1848:
Discrimination of Jews by segregation, by marriage laws - Turkish Jews
since 1718]
Restrictive legislation was enforced in most localities in the Hapsburg
empire; often Jews were segregated from Christians. In 1727, in order
to limit the Jewish population, the *Familiants laws were introduced,
allowing only the oldest son of a Jewish family to marry. They remained
in force until 1848. By the peace treaty of Passarowitz between Austria
and Turkey (1718), Jews who were Turkish subjects were permitted to
live and trade freely in Austria. Their position was thus more
favorable than that of Jews who were Austrian subjects. In 1736, Diego
d'*Aguilar founded the "Turkish community" in Vienna.
Jewish order of Maria Theresa, 1753
Encyclopaedia Judaica: Austria, vol.3, col.903: Jewish order 1753: Title page of Maria Theresa's
Jewish Order ("Judenordnung") of 1753, regulating Jewish life throughout her empire.
|
[Jews as "useful citizens" under
Joseph II]
From the end of the 18th century, with the growing centralization of
the government of the empire and new political developments, the
position of the Jews in Austria proper became increasingly linked with
the history of the empire as a whole. As part of his endeavors to
modernize the empire, *Joseph II (1780-90) attempted to make the Jews
into useful citizens by introducing reforms of their social mores and
economic practices and abolishing many of the measures regulating their
autonomy and separatism.
Although not altering the legal restrictions on Jewish residence
(mainly affecting Vienna) or marriage, he abolished in 1781 the wearing
of the yellow badge and the poll tax hitherto levied on Jews.
[1782: The Toleranzpatent - Jews
between assimilation and cultural identification]
Joseph II's Toleranzpatent
[[law of tolerance]], issued in 1782, in which he summarized his
previous proposals, is the first enactment of its kind in Europe. Jews
were directed to establish German-language elementary schools for their
children, or if their number did not justify this, to send them to
general schools. Jews were encouraged to engage in agriculture and
ordered to discontinue the use of Hebrew and Yiddish for commercial or
public purposes.
It became official policy to facilitate Jewish contacts with general
culture in order to hasten assimilation. Jews were permitted to engage
in handicrafts and to attend schools and universities. Jewish judicial
autonomy was abolished in 1784. Jews were also inducted into the army,
which in due course became one of the careers where Jews in Austria
enjoyed equal opportunities, at least in the lower commissioned ranks.
The "tolerated" Jews in Vienna and the (col. 892)
intellectuals who, influenced by the enlightenment movement (see
*Haskalah), tended toward assimilation, accepted the Toleranzpatent enthusiastically.
The majority, however, considered that it endangered their culture and
way of life without giving them any real advantages. The implementation
of these measures promoted the assimilation of increasingly broader
social strata within Austrian Jewry. In 1792 the Jewish Hospital was
founded in Vienna, which benefited Jews throughout the Empire for many
years. In 1803, there were 332 Jewish families living in Austria proper
(including Vienna), and approximately 87,000 families throughout the
Hapsburg Empire.> (col. 893)
Sources
|
 Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 887-888 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 889-890 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 891-892 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 893-894 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 895-896 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 897-898 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 899-900 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 901-902 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 903-904 |
