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334 Austria Authentication

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Jews of Austria should not be permitted to have any dealings with Ludwig Philippsox, nor to join his society for the promotion of Jewish literature (Aug. 5, 1855). The Concordat of Aug. 18, 1855, which delivered Austria altogether into the hands of the clericals, had its effects upon the condition of the Jews. They were excluded from positions as teachers in elementary and high schools, and, contrary to the spirit of the legislation of Joseph II. the government wished even to exclude Jewish children from the public schools, which were to be exclusively Catholic. Count Thun, minister of public education, attempted to force the congregation of Vienna to establish a Jewish school. Jewish house-physicians in the Vienna hospital were to be limited in numbers (1856); and even the farming of rural estates was prohibited. issued that the

,

The language

some of the governmental orders is in itself significant; for instance, one was issued to the administrative authorities requiring them to see that the Jews "who have sneaked into Christian real estate are removed " (March 23, 1856). Returning to the policy of 1670, the government prohibited the of

establishment of Jewish congregations in the province of Lower Austria (April 28, 185T), and restricted the appointment of Jewish veterans to civil positions to towns where Jews possessed the right of residence The commercial high school (" Handelsaka(1858). demie")in Vienna, established from funds appro-

whom were quite a of Jews, could not be opened because the minister insisted that no Jew should be appointed to a position therein. Some municipal authorities followed the example of the government in their own way. The burgomaster of Saaz, Bohemia, on the. strength of the privileges granted to the city in 1561, ordered that all Jews should leave the city within two weeks and the municipal authorities of Marburg, insisting on the legality of the edict of expulsion issued in 1496, ordered a Jew who had lived in that The city for nine years to leave within a fortnight. defeat of Austria in the Italian war of 1859, terminated by the peace of Villafranca (July 11, 1859), brought a change of policy. As late as June 6, 1859, the prohibition against keeping Christian domestics was reenforced, and on June 17 the marriages concluded without special license were declared void but on Nov. 29 these restrictions were removed, and on Aug. 22 a liberal legislation on the position of priated

by merchants, among

number



Jews was promised. This legislation was promulgated Feb. 18, 1860. It gave to the Jews of most of the Austrian prov-

the.

Dawn

of

Freedom,

inces full right to hold property. In Galiciaand in the Bukowina this right was limited to those who possessed a

Upper Ausand Vorarlberg were excluded from the law, and in these provinces Jews were not permitted to hold any real estate until the certain education; while

tria,

new

Styria,

Carinthia, Tyrol,

constitution,

Staatsgrundgesetze of Dec.

1867, abolished all disabilities on the

ground of

21,

relig-

In the population the new condiious differences. tion of affairs aroused enmities, and again occasional disturbances occurred, as in Trebitsch, Moravia, and Lemberg. The clerical party also protested against the admission of the Jews to the full lights of citi-

334r

Noteworthy

in this connection

is the libel Sebastian Brunner, the anti-Semitic editor of the " Wiener Kirchenzeitung," May 10, 1860, though it was dismissed. At the election to the new parliamentary bodies, the "Landtage," a number of Jews were returned, twoof whom, Kuranda and Winterstein, were delegated by the Landtage to the Reichsrath. The emperor called into the House of Lords Baron Anselm von Rothschild, which is perhaps the first case of a. Jew being made a peer. The constitution of Dec.

zenship. suit

brought against

finally

21, 1867,

Kuranda by

removed

all disabilities,

and from

that date the political history of the Jews in Austria is limited to their treatment by the administrative authorities and to the position of the several political parties, on which subject information will

be found under Anti-Semitism. The government of Austria has always taken great interest in internal

Jewish

affairs.

Even under

the

Count Thun, the high schools was made

clerical minister of public instruction,

religious instruction in

compulsory (Feb. 11, 1852). At a later period the government paid the teachers' salaries. On March 21, 1890, a law was issued which regulated the conIt makes it comdition of Jewish congregations. pulsory for every Jew to be a member of the congregation of the district in which he resides, and so gives to every congregation the right to tax the individual members. In elective bodies and in governmental positions since the beginning of the constitutional era the Jews have always held their own, especially in the army, where some of them have even risen to the rank of general. The Reichsrath has since its inception had its quota of Jewish members, and the House of Lords has always numbered Jews among its members; at present there are three, the two brothers Gomperz and Baron von Oppeniieimer. As soon as the new era began (1860), Jews were appointed to positions in the university. The first regular professor in the University of Vienna was the dermatologist Zeissl, and in Prague in the

same year Wolfgang Wesserly was appointed

full

professor of criminal law. Culture The intentions of Joseph II. to raise the intellectual and moral status of his Hebrew subjects awakened an echo in the hearts of the Austrian Jews. In towns where there were already centers of civilization, as in Triest and Prague, Jewish

Other schools (" Normalschulen ") were established. places followed, especially after the awakening of the modern spirit in Austria (about 1830-39). In Galicia this movement was not very successful, although even there some men like Perl obtained

good results. In Lemberg, Abraham Kohn died a martyr to the cause of education and progress (Sept. The movement to lead the Jews to me7, 1848). chanical and to agricultural occupations was very energetically reciprocated by the Jews of Austria. The noble and active philanthropist Joseph von

AVertheimer founded

the Society for the Promotion Occupations in Vienna, 1840; and similar societies followed in other parts of the country, as in Prague, 1846. Wertheimer was also instrumental in introducing the Kindergarten in Austria. Hirsch Kolisch in 1844 established in Nikolsburg the first Jewish institute for deaf-mutes, which in 1852 of Mechanical