History of the Jews in Central and Eastern Europe

Introduction

OSTJUDEN X WESTJUDEN

• Type of culture which almost disappeared in the Holocaust

• Austria, big cities in Bohemia, Hungary, German parts of Poland

• Jewishness above all a RELIGIOUS QUESTION

Antisemitism in Antiquity

• Anti = against• Sem (Shem) = patriarch,

one of the three sons of Noah

• Caused by ignorance and irrational fear of unknown and different

• Ancient Rome and Greece– Against monotheism– Ignorance – believed

that Jews sacrify Greek kids in the Temple• Believed that Jews spread

leprosy – a reason of the expulsion from Egypt

– Jews refused to asimilate and continued to respect the tradition

Poland as a Refuge

• 1st c. BCE : Hasmonean Kingdom of Israel = an independent Jewish state became a client kingdom & a province of the ROMAN Empire = JUDEA, 6th c. CE

• Jewish- Roman Wars:• 1) Great Jewish Revolt,

66-70 CE– TITUS besieged &

destroyed Jerusalem, looted and burned Herod´s Temple & Jewish strongholds

– & massacred and enslavened a large part of Jewish population

Poland as a Refuge

• 2) Bar Kochba´s Revolt, 132-135 CE– Jewish state crushed by

a massive Roman army– HADRIAN attempted to

root out Judaism– To erase memory of

JUDEA renamed it to SYRIA PALAESTINA after Phillistines, the ancient enemies of Jews

• Majority of Jews of Judea killed, exiled or sold to slavery

• Jews though continued to live in Judea (completion of the Mishnah, Jerusalem Talmud, Safed – kabbalah)

Exile

• To Mesopotamia, Egypt, N Africa & Spain = SEPHARDI JEWS

• To Turkey, Greece, Italy & then Central Europe = ASHKENAZI JEWS– Later the majority of the

European Jews– Lost Hebrew – YIDDISH– To C & EE in the 11th &

12th C. – Crusades• Financial reasons for

killing Jews

– Jews have to wear a distinctive garb– Consistent separation of Jews and Christians– Jews are not allowed to own or rent any land– Limited in crafts– Merchants, money lenders - medieval antisemitism often

inspired by economy reasons

1215

– IV

. Lat

eran

Cou

ncil

Antijudaism of the Church

• Jews are against the mainstream beliefs and thus are responsible for their suffering

• Jews = Old Israel• Church = New Israel

– „The only and real“

• Johannes Chrysostomus (Church father, 4th c.)– Jews are equal to evil

and are on the level of animals

– Since the 10th c. – devil portrayed as a buck with a Jewish nose

– Jews paralelled to annoying insect can be chased away or stamped out with impunity

Medieval Antisemitism

• „It would be licit to hold Jews because of their crimes (of failing to embrace Christianity) in perpetual servitude, and therefore the princes may regard the possesions of Jews as belonging to the State.“

St. Thomas Aquinas, De Regimine Judeorum

Church triumphant over synagogue, Strassbourg, c. 1230

Medieval Antisemitism

• 313 – Milan Edict – legalized christianity but not judaism

• 6th c. Codex of Justinian– Jews are not allowed to hold public functions,

build new synagogues and have sexual intercourse with Christians

Poland as a Refuge

• 14th C. – Plagues – attacking Jews MORE THAN ETHNIC HATRED = A WAY TO CRITICIZE the MONARCHS who protected them & MONARCHIC FISCAL POLICIES which were OFTEN ADMINISTRED BY JEWS

• Frederic II, 1236– Jews subjects of the Emperor Jews

became dependent on the royal power and were gradually isolated from their neighbourhood

Accusation of host dessecration

• IV th Lateran Council– An unleavened bread

will be replaced by a host and laics will not receive wine during the communion

– New dogma: Christ´s blood and body are present in the host

• 1243 – first accusation of Jews in Germany (Belitz by Berlin) of host dessecration

• False trials and pogroms (14th c. Brussels, Deggendorf, Knoblauch, Pulkau, Kouřim)

Accusation of ritual murder

(the blood libel)

– Norwich – 1144 – accusation of crucifying a Christian boy before Eastern

– Jews murder innocent children and virgins and need their blood as a remedy

– Led to numerous pogroms – e.g. Prague, 1336 several tens of Jews were burnt for „using Christian blood“ – „Jews need blood to prepare matza.“

• Expulsion from Frankfurt, 1614– „1380 persons old and young were counted at

the exit of the gate and herded onto ships on the river Main.“

Expulsions– 1290 from England – untill

1650– France – Jews expulsed from

1306/ 1394 untill 1789– Italy – 1350-1450– Russia – Jews not allowed

since the 14th c- untill 1722– 1492 – 97 - Jews expulsed

from Spain and Portugal – about 100 thousand victims

– 1541 expulsed from the Bohemian kingdom

– 1744 Maria Theresa expulsed Jews from the Bohemian Lands

Poland as a Refuge

• Boleslaus III, 12th c– Jews= backbone of the

Polish economy

• Boleslaus the Pious, 13th c.– Charter of Jewish

Liberties

Poland as a Refuge

• Casimir the Great, 14th c.– Amplified Jewish

liberties – prohibited kidnapping of Jewish children

• Black death – blood libel and pogroms

• 15th c. – POLICY OF TOLERANCE – accepting Jews from W Europe

Poland as a Refuge

• 16th c. – Vaad = Jewish Parliament (Diet)

• 1648 – Jews 500 000 = 5% of the population– The richest merchants also

financiers– Mediators between town

and country– Large group of poor people

• Chmielnicki – massacres of Jews –

emigration to Central Poland and to W Europe

– Over 200 000 victims

Poland as a Refuge

• 18th c. – church renewed medieval discrimination – protection of kings and nobles less efficient

• Withdrawal to STETLEKHS – great poverty