[Pages 247-248]

Events at Vienna on 13th March 1848. The Equal–rights petition. Establishment of the National Committee. The Jews in the delegation and on the Vienna National Council. Jewish delegates to the Galician Sejm. Declarations of brotherhood by the Poles and the Jews. Stadion's proposal to annul the taxation on [Kosher] meat and on candles. The conflict between the Orthodox and the Enlightened. The Anti–Jewish mood. The proclamation to the village residents. Elections to the “Reichstag”. The political factions of Lwów's Jews. The communities' memorandum to the “Reichstag”. The controversy over Rabbi Abraham Kohn and its bleak outcome. The Jewish debate at the “Reichstag”. The riots at Lwów. The onset of the reactionary regime. The legislation of 4th March 1849. Thanksgiving prayer at the Temple of the Enlightened .

The 1848 Spring of European Nations had a significant effect on the lives of Austrian Jews too, and even on the way of life of the Jews of Lwów. The 13^th March 1848 shooting at Vienna (*) and the barricades in the streets alarmed the population throughout the lands of the Austrian Empire, and for its own preservation, the Kaiser's House was forced to make concessions to the people. Those included the dismissal of Prince [von] Metternich who embodied tyranny at the time.

On Sunday 19^th March 1848, Lwów's Jewish congregation first heard of the events at Vienna. Crowds in high spirits gathered in the streets, especially near the governorship.^[1] The Jews too welcomed the events at Vienna, which they considered the harbinger of a new era. They came in droves and were welcomed, with Poles walking arm in arm with “their brethren of the Jewish faith”. Governor Stadion's announcement that the Constitution was approved at Vienna on 15^th March 1848, was met with jubilation.^[2]

Prior to establishing the National Committee during the night of 19^th March 1848, the Polish politicians Franciszek [Franz] Smolka, Robert Hefern and Florian Ziemiałkowski, had prepared a written petition to the Emperor, which the citizens were asked to sign in order to dispatch it to Vienna.

On 19^th March the signing began in front of the publishing house of Dziennik Mód Paryskich [“Journal of Paris Fashions”], on 301 Halytska Square [Plac Halicki] (opposite the “George Hotel”). “Thousands of citizens crowded around the publishing house and waited patiently for their turn to sign, after Smolka had read out from the balcony the wording of the petition. The first to sign was Archbishop Wacławiczek, followed by the mass of the citizens. The Jewish leadership soon appreciated the significance of the petition which included some demands of interest to the Jews, too. Marek Dubs, Rachmiel Mieses and Rabbi Abraham Kohn ordered the Jews to sign the petition, while stressing that “The Poles are liberal and back the Jews”. The Jews followed their advice and the first to sign were Dr. Oswald Menkes, M. Dubs, Joschua Leib Horowitz, Rabbi Abraham Kohn and Meier Rachmiel Mieses.”

Till five in the afternoon the ceremony continued peacefully, when suddenly the municipality's clock sounded and rumours spread that a fire broke out in the Zólkiew suburb. With Governor Stadion fearing a possible mayhem among the crowded masses, military companies were immediately on the scene. The presence of the military caused unrest, but the Hungarian cavalry companies were greeted by cries of “Éljen!” (Hurrah), and the crowd calmed down. Some twenty thousand persons from all walks of life, with many Jews among them, turned toward the Governor's Palace, and the representatives from all strata of the population headed by Prince Leon Sapieha, Smolka and Mieses reached the palace to hand to Governor Stadion the signed petition forms. The delegation's Jewish representatives were Rachmiel Meier Mieses and Rabbi Abraham Kohn.

The Petition required the Kaiser to grant autonomy to Galicia as an independent entity; general amnesty to all political prisoners; establishing a national education system; annulment of the peasants' serfdom (Leibeigenschaft). Clause 9 of the petition demanded that the Kaiser grant equal rights to all strata of society, irrespective of religion, civil, judicial or political stance; revocation of all taxes associated with religion, such as candle tax,

(*). The 15 killed included two Jews: Heinrich Spitzer and Bernhard Hirschmann.

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Kosher meat taxes and any restriction stemming from the affiliation to a religion, and granting equal rights and status to the Catholic, Roman and Greek clergy as well as to the leaders of all other religions.

Rabbi Cwi [Tzvi]–Hirsch Ornstein

Nevertheless, he hesitated to establish an armed “National Guard” as proposed by the population's representatives. His opinion on the matter was guided by the Police–director Leopold [von] Sacher–Masoch who despised the Poles and was keen on their outbursts.

On 20^th March 1848, “Kol Kore Davar Be'Ito”, a small pamphlet addressed to the Jewish citizens of Galicia, (^) was published at Lwów by Izak Jehuda ben Abraham who considered himself someone who loved the Jewish People and was fond of all Nations. The pamphlet which was also published in Polish, German and Yiddish set out to explain the events at Vienna. In simple terms it reported that the Kaiser's “good hearted” advisors did not wish to inform him of his Nation's request, and so conceal from him the population's condition. But under pressure from the students, a memorandum was submitted to the “Landtag”, and before it had reached the Kaiser, the Vienna events broke out. Having described the events up until the Kaiser fled, the author focused on the events at Lwów, after the Vienna events had become known –on Purim– 19^th March 1848. In his description of the petition with 13 Clauses, of which the 9^th Clause focused on granting equal rights to the Jews, the author praised Governor Stadion as “Father of the citizens” who dismissed an officer who hated the Jews. The pamphlet aimed to ascertain that the time was right for the Jews to abide by the saying “Love thy neighbour”, because the Christians refrained from hating the Jews.^[3]

On 21^st March 1848, some forty men – representatives of the Poles, the Ruthenians and the Jews, craftsmen and the clergy –assembled at the Municipality and established a committee to arrange the management. When Governor Stadion became aware of the meeting, he came in person and ordered to clear the hall. Organizing the management was handed to a Polish estate–owning nobleman, Count Agenor Goluchowski [Gołuchowski] who was a governorship–official and was appointed deputy mayor, replacing mayor Festenburg who was hated by the entire population and who resigned from the mayoralty. Part of the disbanded committee continued consulting in a private flat and decided, in face of Governor Stadion's hostile stance, to hand the petition compiled by Franciszek Smolka, to the delegation sent to Vienna rather than rely on the Commissioner to deliver it. They immediately elected a delegation of forty members some of whom were Jews.

Rabbi Abraham Kohn, the first rabbi of “The Temple” synagogue

(^). “What are those interminable events at Vienna and Lemberg.”

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Nirenstein was also part of the delegation; the Polish historian Schnür–Pepłowski mentioned also Klemens Kolischer.^[5]

The delegation which reached Vienna on 31^st March, included delegates also from Kraków, with Rabbi Dov–Berisz Meisels representing the Jews. The preparation and translation of the petition into German was undertaken by the lawyers Dr. Ziemiałkowski, Dr. Aleksander Sękowski [Senkowski] and by Rabbi Abraham Kohn who knew German well; he also drafted clause 9 which dealt with equal rights of Jews and the annulment of their taxes.

The audience with the Kaiser was set for 6^th April. As it was not possible to present the entire delegation to him, a 13 members committee was elected, with Meisels representing the Jews.

Lwów's Jewish representatives at Vienna were ignorant of the Poles' aspirations. Unlike Rabbi Meisels of Kraków who fully supported the Poles, Lwów's Rabbi Kohn overlooked the two clauses and did not concur with all of the Poles' demands for full autonomy. His great attachment to Austria caused the Polish leaders, especially Florian Ziemiałkowski, to distrust him, whereas they considered Rabbi Meisels “a loyal and true Pole”.^[6]

Florian Ziemiałkowski wrote of Rabbi Kohn that he was “a dishonest man, who joined us for fear that we might slaughter the Jews, or with the hope of some benefit. He belittles us and our aspirations to such an extent that despite his cunning he is unable to cover it up”.

Under his influence, Mises and Horowitz did not side with the Poles either, unlike Rabbi Meisels. The Poles suspected Rabbi Kohn who did not wish to sever relations with the government, unlike Rabbi Meisels who actively opposed the government, which was welcomed by the Poles.

On 6^th April 1848 the delegation was received by the Kaiser, and delivered the petition. The Kaiser promised to study it. The delegation remained at Vienna and awaited a reply from the government, which in turn approached the Governor Stadion and demanded his opinion.

To minimize the delegation's activities at Vienna, on 26^th April 1848 Governor Stadion called a regular session of the Galician State Sejm ([Galicyjski] Sejm Stanowy) in which he implemented a change by increasing the number of urban representatives. Among Lwów's twelve delegates, two were Jews – Rachmiel Mieses [Mizys] and Nathan Sokal – and another two, Majer Kallier of Brody and the physician Dr. Roseneck of Kolomyea [Kolomyja]. In addition, apart from the Catholic and Evangelical legates, the Jewish Rabbinate's envoy, Rabbi Abraham Kohn, was also elected. The Jews were thus represented by five delegates. By means of the Sejm, Governor Stadion hoped also to solve several urgent issues regarding the Jews.

On 25^th April 1848, the Pillersdorf Constitution (Pillersdorfsche Verfassung) was published at Vienna, and formed the basis for the Austrian National Diet [Reichstag].

The Constitution's publication brought joy to the Jews of Lwów, in particular clause 17 which promised “to all the kingdom's citizens, full freedom of religion and conscience as well as personal freedom”, and Clause 27 which determined that a bill would be brought during the first National Diet, regarding the lifting of all civil and political restrictions from the religious denominations.

On 28^th April 1848, the Polish established a National Council (Rada Narodowa) made up of 25 members.^[7] Since it was prohibited to sustain political organizations, the newspaper Rada Narodowa was launched and the National Committee was declared its editorial committee. Dr. Oswald Menkes, Abraham Mises, Meier Münz and Rabbi Kohn were invited to represent the Jews. The Council oversaw the national management which also included a Jewish company of 300 men under the command of Emanuel Gall. Every Polish management member had to sign the declaration “acknowledging the German and Jewish students, as citizens of equal rights”.

On 20^th April 1848, the National Council appealed to the townspeople to consider the Jews as equal citizens, “whose sole ambition is the resurrection of our homeland, where we will live as brothers of one family”, and to expunge any hate and resentment from their hearts. And the Jews were asked to disregard the words of villains whose aim was to drive a wedge between Jews and Poles.

When an Italian named Ricci displayed in his Lwów shop caricatures of Jews from among the administration, Poles smashed his shop–windows and forced him to apologize. Once Governor Stadion was forced to abolish the censorship – brought to an end by the Constitution – Abraham Mohr published the newspaper “Die Zeitung”,^[8] written in Hebrew script.

Concerned that not many Jews joined the Poles, the National Council addressed the Jews in a proclamation on 13^th May 1848, pointing out that during the recent events the Poles reached out to the Jews and that Poland received them with open arms after they had been expelled from Germany and other countries. In the petition submitted to the Kaiser, they demanded to grant the Jews rights equal to the rest of

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the population, therefore the Jews should willingly accept the hand of friendship extended to them.

The union with the Poles also required the establishment of a linguistic union, just as the Jews of France, Italy and Germany speak the national language, so the Jews of Poland should speak Polish. That demand probably appeared in conjunction with Abraham Mohr's new publication of the newspaper Die Zeitung, and the fact that most of the Jewish intelligentsia was predisposed to the German language and culture.

Unlike the Jews of Western Galicia who supported the movement of the Polish Federation, Lwów's Jewish intelligentsia preferred Vienna's centralization of power. The intelligentsia formed included also a group predisposed towards Polonization; the group formed an association which strove to impart to the younger generation the Polish spirit and encourage it to adopt the Polish language as the national language. Committees and societies were formed to spread the Polish language and literature. A few were even fully inclined towards the Poles, such as the physician Dr. Johann Beiser, a [Jewish] administration member who published a poem –in German– in praise of Poland,^[9] which was translated into Polish by Count Leszek [Aleksander] Dunin–Borkowski. The physician Moritz Rappaport, whose renown as a poet rested on his opus Mose: [Episches Gedicht] (1842), and who was brought up on German culture, found himself attracted to the Polish and to the Jewish People, and expressed the emotional rift in the poem Bajazzo (1863),^[10] in which he effusively stressed patriotism to Poland. In an enthusiastic poem he lauded the release of Polish political prisoners from the jails at Spielberg [Špilberk] and Kufstein.

This pervading mood drove the youth of Lwów's Jewish intelligentsia to join the Polish faction, and laid the ground for the future movement of assimilation. The trend towards Polonization affected only limited circles, however, and did not reach the circles of veteran Maskilim, let alone the masses. Supporters of the Hebrew Enlightenment (Haskalah) did not see eye to eye with the circles of the assimilated, and by circulation of leaflets they made every effort to guide the masses in the spirit of Judaism.

Governor Stadion acted against the National Council which in his opinion undermined the authorities' power. When he realised that members invited to the Sejm session on 26^th April 1848 planned to boycott him, he decided to abolish the National Council with the excuse that it was an illegal institution. He failed, however, when news from Vienna announced the granting of the Constitution (25.4.1848) which, in Clause 22, granted to all citizens of the Empire the right to petition and to establish companies and associations. His decisions were thus thwarted and the Council turned into a legal institution.

On 27^th April 1848, Governor Stadion announced he was willing to recognize the National Council with the proviso that he would head it. When his proposal was rejected, the National Council appointed from among its members an advisory committee (Beirat), made up of three Ruthenian priests, a (Polish) Catholic priest, a German townsperson, six estate owners, five Polish government officers (led by Gołuchowski),^[11] and two Jews (Rabbi Kohn and Mejer Rachmiel Mieses).

At every opportunity subject to the amendments, Governor Stadion showed his willingness to fundamentally and comprehensively improve the legal and political status of the Jews. He consulted with Rabbi Kohn on all matters, which the Poles viewed with suspicion.^[12] They feared that he supported the Ruthenians and encouraged them to submit a petition to the Kaiser, on 19.4.1848, with the request that the Ruthenian language be accepted by the State offices and by schools, and that the Uniate clergy be granted equal rights; that he wished to cultivate the Ruthenians and the Jews as counterbalance to the Poles and their aspirations.

The Council also discussed the taxes with which the Jews were burdened. In one of the early sessions Rabbi Kohn proposed the annulment of the restrictions on marriage, and the taxes levied on the Jews. Governor Stadion's plot to use the Council as counter balance to the National Council, failed however, once he was appointed minister of Internal Affairs of the Vienna central government.

On 4^th June 1848, he surreptitiously left the town of Lwów.

Even Lwów's municipality which only a year earlier had refused to grant Jews the rights of urban citizenship, elected eight Jews among its 40 members: Dr. Blumenfeld, Mardochaj Dubs, Meier Mieses, Dr. Barach–Rapopport, Osias Meier Goldbaum Dr. Kolischer, Meier Münz, Elischa Mendrochowicz. Their active involvement on the committees' works included, Dr. Blumenfeld, M. Dubs and Meier Mieses on the Finance committee; Dr. Barach–Rapopport on the Health committee; I. M. Goldbaum, Dr. Kolischer, Meier Münz and E. Mendrochowicz on the committee of Police Affairs. The municipality conferred on new regulations for election. The Jews were represented on the Regulation committee by Herz Bernstein, Dr. Emanuel Blumenfeld and Rachmiel Mieses, who had to sanction 15 Jews among the 100 municipality members, as well as five Jews among its 30 deputies. After the regulations had been confirmed in July 1848, the election took place in October 1848, and only progressive candidates were elected. Candidates from among the Chassidism and the Orthodox, failed.

The Constitution gave rise to the question whether

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it was necessary to continue applying the Jewish taxes. The community sent a delegation to Governor Stadion, to relate the affair to him, but he retorted in jest: “He who consumes non–Kosher food pays little, and he who eats Kosher food has to pay more”.^[13]

The response astounded the community's representatives.

Despite the excitement generated by [political] events, the masses remained indifferent. It was left to the Maskilim to explain to the population the meaning and importance of the revolution and its benefit for the Jews.

Nevertheless, Governor Stadion was obliged to send to the Vienna Treasury, with his endorsement, the Jews' demands to annul the taxes and he proposed to annul the Jewish taxes forthwith since the Jews refused to pay them, citing Clause 25 of the Constitution, and “due to the desire to attract the sympathy of the Jewish section of the population”.^[14]

The government accepted his recommendation and debated it during its 24^th May 1848 session. The minister of Finance, the Lwów born Baron Philipp [von] Krauss who was familiar with the situation of Galicia's Jews, maintained that it had to be expected that soon the National Diet would revoke the Jewish taxes. Due to the government's fiscal situation, however, it was difficult to forego the annual 80,000 Florins income. Following his direction, in order for the Treasury to avoid becoming embroiled in legal compensation with the tax lessees, the Cabinet decided to maintain the tax collection till the end of 1848. That did not contravene the 25^th April 1848 Regulation,^[15] which determined that the final decision would rest with the Reichstag which had yet to be convened at Vienna.

Leaflets written in Yiddish explained the significance of the change brought about by the Constitution which had been granted to Austria's Nations. Abraham Mohr and his brother–in–law Iakob Bodek published a pamphlet titled “Good Advice, [followed in Yiddish] Good counsel and advice, what one should do at this time, here at Lemberg [Lwów] as well as at all the smaller communities and towns”, which called the Jews to participate in the freedom proclaimed in the world. They should converge on the parliament rather than deal with minor issues. They strongly attacked the wealthy Orthodox and the tax lessees whose wealth had derived from exploitation of the population. The text of the Constitution was published in Yiddish, in a pamphlet titled [in Yiddish] “The Constitution. The Empirical Licence with all the 50 Clauses of the Constitution. This Constitution brings to an end many offices and taxes which had oppressed the public, including the two damaging taxes, the candle and [Kosher] meat leasing, and the 1000 Gulden coin–tax… and one will have additional freedoms too.”. (Lwów 1848)

One of the pamphlets was the biography of Prince Metternich titled [in Yiddish] “Biography of the swindling Minister Metternich” (1848).

Influenced by events, Jewish cultural clubs were established at Lwów and other towns of Galicia for the advancement and the spread of Enlightenment. Lwów's club was headed by Iakob Bodek, Abraham Mohr and Izaak Aron Rosenstein. It was the venue where all political activities were held, and it also initiated evening classes for craftsmen, apprentices, merchants' assistants and labourers. The Orthodox congregation objected to those activities of the Enlightened. In response they published a pamphlet against Mohr and Bodek titled: “Cancelling the advice of the evil… A call to uncover evidence of ignorant advice.” [then in Yiddish] One should not follow nor listen to the false advice which the wicked wrote in “Good Advice” (in the year of the beard shavers and traitors, consumers of kosher and non–kosher food – together they will perish)” In that pamphlet the Orthodox resumed their attacks on Rabbi Kohn that he was a sinner, a heretic etc, and on the community management, the “Temple” and the Enlightened.^[16] The Maskilim's counter–articles in the Vienna newspapers Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums and [Oesterreichisches] Central–Organ [für Glaubensfreiheit, Geschichte und Literatur der Juden],^[17] denigrated the Orthodox Herz Bernstein and Hirsch Ornstein, and blamed them that together with the tax lessees they had submitted a petition against the revocation of the candle–tax and the tax on Kosher meat. The Orthodox published a denial, stating that they had no hand in the petition, the shameful doing of the candle–tax lessees and their supporters.

The anonymous writer,^[18] however, insisted on his accusations and reproached the lawyers Dr. Landsberg and Mahl who, for money, “had lent their pens” to the Enlightened rebels. The Orthodox who worried that the Enlightened might gain control over the Jewish population, decided to submit a petition to the Kaiser and to the National Diet against Rabbi Kohn as the source of all evil whom they wished to have fired, and for the dispersal of the community management which was controlled by the Enlightened “under whose yoke of arbitrariness, the Jewish citizens sigh”.

Seven members on the community administration had been appointed by the district minister Milbacher around the year 1848. In their struggle against the community–committee, the Orthodox were also supported by the lawyers Dr. Landsberger and Dr. Mahl and Meier Münz who were offended for not being appointed community members.

While one of the Orthodox, Grünfeld, was collecting signatures, the petition of the Orthodox had reached the community officer Bernhardt Pipes.

Pipes ordered to jail him and to ban the

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petition. On 23^rd April 1848, after his return from Vienna, an angry Orthodox crowd burst into Rabbi Kohn's flat at the Bernadine Courtyard, and shattered his windows with stones. As the Jewish Company of the national elite started to disperse the Orthodox, the latter attacked them, and only with the aid of an army company did they succeed in restoring order, detain the rioting protestors and put them behind bars. The incident spurred the moderate Orthodox to meet the community leaders at Natan Sokal's house in order to reach a compromise. The Orthodox were unwilling to relinquish their demand that Rabbi Kohn leave Lwów, and agreed only to pay him compensation. The Enlightened rejected their proposal, however, leaving the matter unconcluded. Relations worsened further, the Orthodox even disrupted funerals in which the “Temple” cantor ([Osias] Abras) officiated, and intensified their fight against Rabbi Kohn. The petition they wished to present to the Kaiser was handed to the commission and was published as a pamphlet.

The attacking Orthodox were supported by the tax lessees who opposed Rabbi Kohn for his refusal to confront the candle–tax and Kosher meat–tax transgressors. A few of the leading Orthodox were themselves tax lessees and they found it easy to incite their followers against the community management and Rabbi Kohn. All their efforts to be rid of Rabbi Kohn were however in vain, and the government refused their petition. The Orthodox representatives then tried to attract the support of the Poles to their demands, and raised the question of Rabbi Kohn with the National Council, contesting that he was not a native Galician, and pleading: “we wish to have a Polish rabbi”. They even asked the Reichstag representative, Count Aleks[ander] Borkowski, to lobby for the rabbi to be elected without government intervention, and that the government should grant rabbis the right to punish any Jew who transgressed Jewish Law.

The Maskilim were angered by what they considered a gross act of denunciation, and the mutual relationship greatly eroded.

Lwów Jewry suffered from lack of political unity and from an internal division. The Orthodox with their spiritual leader Rabbi Hirsch Ornstein –grandson of Lwów's Rabbi, Seb Jakob Ornstein– strongly objected to the demands of the Enlightened.

The leader of the Orthodox was in effect Naftali–Herz Bernstein, great–grandson of Rabbi Arieh Leb Bernstein from Brody, the first Rabbi of the Land of Galicia. He was wealthy and independent and his talents superseded those of Ornstein. He considered that his role was to maintain the interests of the Orthodox; he despised the Maskilim, especially after 1848 when the Maskilim began to wear European outfits – nevertheless, his children's education also included a general education. He considered every “Deutsch” (Maskil) a criminal nonentity. He was known for his saying “A Chassid might be contemptible, but the “Deutsch” is inevitably contemptible”.^[19] He despised Rabbi Kohn personally and considered him the root of all the community's evil, and would have supported any plot against him.

Some of the Maskilim, Meier Münz etc., who were truly attached to the Jewish tradition, supported the Orthodox, especially in matters of the local community. The contrasts were accentuated not only due to Rabbi Kohn, but also due to the political struggle for Jewish rights. The two–way split of Lwów's Jews harmed the entire Jewish cause and prevented them from presenting a united front at the elections to Vienna's first National Diet [Reichstag].

But just when Jews and Poles celebrated fraternity, clear signs of an Anti–Jewish movement loomed over Galicia's political horizon.

On 19^th June 1848, a leaflet by an anonymous Ruthenian was disseminated throughout Lwów, demanding that the Jews be granted emancipation only when they were worthy of it. First, however, the government had to treat the morals of the unkempt and neglected Jewish People.^[20] Dr. Leo Grünberg, a founder member of the “Hechal [Temple]”, secretary of the first committee and a prominent Jewish Enlightened, responded to that leaflet with a pamphlet, in German:

“Are the Jews ready and mature for emancipation? Retort to some wishes of a Ruthenian, made public in a leaflet of 19^th June 1848, about some Galician Jews' advancement from an association – July 1848”.

The depth of Anti–Jewish sentiment despite the brotherly demonstrations and enthusiastic affirmations towards the Jews, is evidenced in the following: Galicia's delegates to the Reichstag received petitions from their voters, that when debating urban–law, they should propose transferring a large portion of Galicia's Jews – to Hungary, Dalmatia and Austria, where the population was sparse, and that they be settled in agricultural settlements^[21] specific for them.

On 26^th May 1848, the reactionists who wanted to block the achievements of the revolution, incited on the streets of Lwów the rebells against the Jews, as traders, restaurant owners and tradesmen refused to accept payment in banknotes according to the official rate; the Jews were only saved from riots by the National Guard. News reached Lwów of the peasants' confrontations even with estate owners' officials

[Pages 259-260]

due to incitement by government officials. The Jews in the villages were also affected by the conflicts. During the June 1848 Reichstag elections, government officials incited the peasants against the Szlachta [Polish nobility]. For fear of riots similar to those of 1846, the Jews of Lwów were asked, as in 1848, to instruct the lessees and the owners of taverns in the villages, to explain the true situation to the peasants.^[22] The proclamation “To our Jewish brothers who reside in the villages”,^[23] stressed in elementary Yiddish that thus far only the government officials' opinions had been heard by His Majesty the Kaiser and it was they who discriminated against the peasants and maintained the peasants' subjugation. The forthcoming legislative elections called for unity and peace among all strata of the citizens. “The masters” (Szlachta) abolished the peasants' serfdom and made also peace with the Jewish people, promising to support their demands “to relieve us of the yoke of exile and also permit us alternative livelihoods”. Therefore, “our entire redemption relies on peace”. Let no Jew from the villages believe “the deceit of rioters, but rather, that it is appropriate and necessary to make peace among men. And especially you, villagers, whose words are listened to by the farmers, you must secure peace between the Gentiles and the masters, and explain to the Gentiles that there is no intention against His Majesty the Kaiser but only the desire to make peace. After all, one knows that the Polish landowners have actually proclaimed to the entire world that they would abolish serfdom (Pańszczyzna)”. The proclamation ended by emphasizing that “It is incumbent upon us, fellow Jewish People, to make peace. After all, our livelihoods and subsistence have always depended on the noblemen, and on their peace rests also ours”. The Jews expect favours from the Kaiser, and those would materialize when “the nobles will testify in our favour as they have done thus far, and as they have published in all newspapers that they would support us in the Sejm, but everything rests on peace, and peace will bring us the Redeemer”.

Dr. Kolischer again proposed to the community committee the plan that the Jews should take up agriculture, but due to opposition from the Charedim [the ultra–orthodox] the plan was abolished from the start.

It seems that events of the period drove the Jews to the conclusion that gradually their situation was disintegrating. Between July and September 1848 another calamity hit Eastern Galicia with the outbreak of cholera, to which 843 persons succumbed at Lwów alone, of whom 371 died. The financial condition deteriorated and trade plummeted. The desire increased to leave Galicia, for America. On 3^rd June 1848, the Vienna publication Central–Organ carried the Lwów proclamation to support the emigration enterprise. The desire to emigrate was probably also influenced by the Vienna events of May 1848, and the anti–Semitic movement. Notices were put up on the streets of Vienna, inciting to attack Jews.

Debates within circles of the Jewish intelligentsia questioned whether in face of the anti–Semitic manifestations, at Vienna and the provinces, it was not advisable to abandon that ungrateful homeland and immigrate to America.

On 6^th May 1848, the author Leopold Kompert published a proclamation in Central–Organ (Issues 6; 7) to assist in the immigration of Jews to America, for although “The sun of freedom shone over the homeland, over us Jews, however, it only appeared as the blood–stained northern Venus”. According to the statement by the Jewish author [Simon] Szánto, an emigration committee was also established at Pest.

At Vienna, the 14^th May 1848 saw the publication of the programme of “The Association of Jewish Emigration to the United States” by Dr. Max Engel and Dr. Ludwig August Frankl.

In the strongly worded article: “Remain in the Country”,^[24] David Mendl and Rabbi Dr. Schmiedl from Moravia objected strongly to the emigration movement. At Lwów too, the Enlightened circles discussed the schemes and an emigration committee was established which requested detailed information from the Vienna editorial board of the Central–Organ. At the beginning of 1848, Dr. I Polak of Vienna was interested to establish a Jewish settlement in America, and even submitted suggestions to the Galicia authorities for the training of Jewish candidates The project failed, however. The question of emigration to America, which was initiated by the Vienna committee, was debated at Lwów in a meeting where doubts arose and counter proposals were put forward of settling in villages rather than emigrating to America. The Lwów committee expressed the view that it was preferable to consider Jewish agricultural settlements within Galicia itself, where Jews were permitted to purchase land. The emigration cost per family would suffice to settle it on the land in Galicia.^[25]

As said, the agricultural settlement was also debated by the community committee, but it was rejected due to opposition from the Charedim.

The Jewish leaders were so embroiled in dispute that they had taken no measures to secure a Reichstag delegate for Lwów's Jews. Subject to the electoral areas, Lwów's Jews were assured one mandate. The Jewish arbitrators wished to hand the mandate to Meier Münz, but the Enlightened who opposed him since he supported the Orthodox,^[26] passed a municipal ruling that the town be split into three electoral areas, thus annulling the possibility of electing a Jewish delegate.

On 2^nd July 1848 elections were held at Lwów: the progressives preferred to support the candidacy of the Polish

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“supporters of the Jewish People”, Dr. Marian Dylewski, Dr. Florian Ziemiałkowski and the baron Leszek Borkowski.^[27]

Although the leaders of the Enlightened and the Maskilim, such as Mohr and his newspaper sided with the concentration of power, they supported the Poles and took part in all their national demonstrations. On 4^th May 1848, crowds of Jews joined the funeral of the Polish émigré Edward Morgenbesser, who came from France to Kraków where he fought at the barricades and was wounded on 26^th April 1848. From Kraków he was taken to Lwów where he died. On 31^st July 1848, the anniversary of the execution of Teofil Wiśniowski and Józef Kapuściński, the Enlightened held a memorial in the “Temple” at which Rabbi Kohn gave an address.^[28]

The Jewish leaders were certain that the Polish Reichstag delegates would protect Jewish affairs and would support their demands for full equal rights and the abolition of Jewish taxes which had not been annulled despite the Constitution.

The issue of taxes exacerbated the relationship between the community leadership and the Orthodox, since wealthy Orthodox Jews were among the tax–lessees who influenced their friends and submitted to the Vienna authorities a memorandum against the annulment of the taxes: according to the Constitution the Reichstag set for 3^rd July 1848 was scheduled to discuss the matter, but meanwhile the Jews had to pay the taxes.

The community sent to the Governor representatives, who explained to him that according to Clause 25 of the Constitution there was no ground for the collection of taxes. The masses had stopped paying the candle–tax and buying meat.^[29] That angered the lessees who stood to lose much and hoped to convince the government in their favour. Brazenly, the lessees stated in their memorandum that the Jews themselves were asking for the tax to be maintained. To substantiate their claim they supplemented signed pages which they had appended at the time to the petition in the Rabbi Kohn's affair. The lessees asserted to the masses that by paying the special taxes one could count on the authorities' patronage. They further justified their position with the claim that by annulling the taxes thousands of Jews would lose their income as clerks, sub–lessees, supervisors and assistants.

The Polish representatives, Archbishop Wierzchleyski, Dr. Smolka and Dr. Ziemiałkowski opposed the petition.

Not satisfied, however, the Lwów community summoned the representatives of all Galicia's communities to a meeting at Lwów, where it was decided to send a memorandum^[30] to the Vienna Reichstag set for 26^th July – 7^th September 1848.

The memorandum opened with: Galicia's Jews hope that the National Diet will not only decide on the future and the direction of the Kingdom, but also on the civil existence of the Jews and their future. Under the Polish rule, prior to the Austrian occupation, Galicia's Jews enjoyed privileges that granted them full freedom in their economic lives, and they were entitled to purchase houses and even estates. They enjoyed the right to purchase land even under Joseph II. Here the memorandum entered in detail the restrictions and levies imposed on them, with which the Emperors had been confronted on several occasions during the Austrian Rule. Although the Constitution of 25^th April 1848 proclaimed the granting of civil and political equal rights, the Jews were subject to certain restrictions and they had to pay special taxes which were collected with full legal backing, and which led to the impoverishment of the masses. Galician Jews' hope rested wholly in the Reichstag's effort to bring to an end the injustice done to the Jews. Is it not time to grant them equal rights and complete freedom? For tens of years the press and the national diets have spoken of the Jews' emancipation, which was also their demand. In the petition of 18^th March and 6^th April 1848, Galicia's residents demanded equal rights for all Nations and faiths and the National Diet need comply with the demand.

The Orthodox were quite unable to face the reality that Abraham Kohn was acceptable to the Jewish and to the non–Jewish population.

Bernstein, the leader of the Orthodox, was unable to forgive him for heading the delegation to Vienna, in autumn 1847, which submitted the community's memorandum on the annulment of taxation on candles and on [kosher] meat. Bernstein even offered him compensation if he were to leave his position in Lwów, but Rabbi Kohn rejected that offer.^[31]

Having run out of options they started to adopt immoral means to harass him. In January 1848, on his return home with a group of teachers, the Orthodox waited for him at the school gate, attacked him and wounded his hand.^[32] They also bribed the Jewish pauper, Joel Schorr, to testify that Rabbi Kohn falsified the residents' register, ate non–kosher food and desecrated the faith. The investigation disproved Joel Schorr's testimony, for which the authorities jailed him, and he was only released on Rabbi Kohn's personal request. His situation worsened daily. His wife urged him to leave Lwów and he almost agreed, but the Maskilim asked him to stay, for they realised that his departure would result in the destruction of the “Temple” and of all the community's undertakings attained with great effort, with his assistance.

His foes continued searching for stratagems to be rid of him. And then they happened upon the thug Berl Pilpel, who was

[Pages 263-264]

willing to execute their scheme. On 6^th September 1848, the Orthodox spread the rumours along the Wide Street (Breite Gass) that Rabbi Kohn and his family had contracted Cholera. The Rabbi and his children went for a walk to the Wysoki Zamek [High Castle] hill, and his wife went to the market. On her return, the doctor arrived to see Theresa, their young daughter. There was no one in the kitchen when Pilpel entered and put poison in their soup pot.

Oblivious of that, the entire family had their midday–meal and soon fell ill. The doctors were alerted but all their efforts were in vain. The Rabbi and his daughter Theresa died.

The news that the Rabbi was poisoned stunned the entire town,^[33] Jews and non–Jews. Governor Zaleski sent a report to the Vienna authorities and ordered the police immediately to investigate the matter thoroughly. A number of Orthodox men were arrested, with Hirsch Ornstein and Herz Bernstein among them. Pilpel concealed himself, but on the day of the funeral he went to a barber and requested to have his beard and hair shaven off. His request raised suspicion, and the barber called the leaders who arrested him. The Rabbi's daughter and the maids recognized him as the man who had entered the Rabbi's house and kitchen.

The tombstone of Rabbi Abraham Kohn

During the funeral and after it several other suspects of Rabbi Kohn's poisoning were arrested by the police, including: Joel Schorr, Isaac Schramek, Gabriel Suchestoff, Abraham Weinreb, Motel Urich, Aron Mimlys, Meschulem Feibusch Schorr, Chaja Karpel, Mojzesz Chiger, Jossel Bubriki, Simche Piper and Abraham Atlas.

The Reformers established a special committee to protect the rights of Rabbi Kohn's family, headed by Dr. Blumenfeld and Dr. Menkes, who brought from Vienna the renowned defence lawyer Dr. Weissenstein, who took up their defence in March. Soon he realized that some behind the scenes had interest in blurring the incident. Under his initiative, the committee submitted a memorandum in German to the Governor, regarding those activities:

“Regarding the activities undertaken by the fanatic Jewish party, in order to thwart the success of the criminal investigation into Rabbi Kohn's murder”.

The Governor sent the memorandum to the chairman of the criminal law–court. The investigation lasted several months, with the prosecutor eventually determining to cancel the trial against the suspects, with the exception of Pilpel, who in the first instance was sentenced to death. With the assistance of interested parties, however, he managed to escape from jail and, according rumours which circulated through Lwów, the Orthodox furnished him with a false passport to escape to Eretz Israel, where he settled at Safed [Tsfat].

After a lengthy negotiation with the authorities who refused to grant the widow and children a fixed pension, the Vienna ministry of the interior allowed the community to pay Kohn's widow an annual pension of 400 Gulden for the rest of her life, and 200 gulden annually for the children's education until 1860.

Thus concluded the ignominious, sad affair of the malicious poisoning brought on Rabbi Abraham Kohn and his family by the Orthodox circles.

On 3^rd June 1848, as previously mentioned, Governor Stadion left Lwów and handed the civil authority to Agenor Gołuchowski, who was appointed head of the governorship, and the military authority to Galicia's military supreme commander, General Baron Hammerstein.

[Pages 265-266]

On his arrival at Vienna, Stadion proposed the partitioning of Galicia into two provinces. The plan was accepted by the government and its execution was set for 1^stAugust 1848. Nevertheless, events in Hungary and Italy forced the government to postpone the undertaking. The Vienna authorities were liberal with the masses, hoping to succeed, in Italy under the command of [Joseph] Radetzki, and in Hungary with the help of the Croatians under General Jellachich [Josip Jelačić], which would enable them to annul the Constitution and subject the kingdom to an authoritarian regime.

On 30^th July 1848, after the partitioning proposal was deferred, the Polish Wacław [Michał] Zaleski was appointed Galicia's Governor, replacing Stadion, and Gołuchowski remained as his deputy.

Prior to his appointment Zaleski set conditions as: no partitioning of Galicia; appointing Galician born Officers; strengthening the autonomous authorities; adopting Polish identity throughout the educational establishment and convening the Galician Sejm, at Lwów. During his two months' stay at Kraków, before arriving at Lwów on 25^th October 1848, he had introduced significant changes to the administration and the educational establishment.

His efforts failed however. On 12^th November 1848, a few days after the bombardment of Lwów, Zaleski left for Vienna at the behest of Hammerstein and never returned to his seat of Office. At Olmütz [Olomouc], the seat of government at the time, he failed due to the conspiracies of the radical military group, which paved the way for the Austrian reactionary regime with the assistance of Field Marshal [von] Windisch–Grätz.

The constituent assembly of the House of Representatives (“Konstituierender Reichstag”) convened at Vienna; a parliamentary committee which processed the Constitution,^[35] and determined the principle of civil and political equal rights for all faiths, including Jews, freedom of movement and of mixed marriages in the form of civil marriage.

On 26^th September and 5^th October 1848, in his speeches to the general assembly, Noah Mannheimer, the Brody delegate and deputy president of the parliament [Reichstag], demanded the abolition of the Kosher–meat tax and the candle tax, and under his influence it was decided by 243 votes against 20, to revoke the demand for the special Jewish taxes.^[36] That established the principle of full equal rights of Jews and Christians. The 20^th November [a] 1848 Imperial Decree (patent), made the decision legally and fully enforceable from 1^st November 1848.

The Reichstag's decision to abolish the specific taxes was received with joy and great satisfaction by Galicia's Jews. The Jewish newspaper “Tsaitung [Zeitung]” published at Lwów, edited by Mohr, announced: “My dear brothers, 1^st November is coming, remember that the candle and the meat tax was abolished, do not listen to the inciters' sayings trying to convince you that the taxes are still in force, since the Kaiser has not yet signed the decision. Know, that whatever the [Reichstag] has decided, the Kaiser is unable to alter. We know that the Kaiser himself does not wish such contemptible taxes”. The announcement ended with the demand that the Jews should not be taken in by the officers' and lessees' threats, and avoid having the taxes docked.^[37]

In their joy at the abolition of the taxes, and in their hatred for the lessees, Lwów's Jewish masses attacked them and their houses causing much damage. And it was only due to the intervention of the leaders that a serious clash was avoided.

The rest of the issues concerning the Jews' equal rights were not debated by the Reichstag since the following day, 6^th October 1848, riots broke out at Vienna and the following Jews died: Adolph Kalinski, Emanuel Epstein, David Löb. The riots led to Vienna's siege and to a counter uprising, led by Field Marshal Prince Windisch–Grätz. The Reichstag relocated to Kremsier [Kroměříž] where it continued its work, but had no time to decide on the emancipation of the Jews. On 2^nd December 1848, Franz Joseph I (1830–1916) became Emperor and Prince Felix Schwarzenberg was nominated Prime Minister.

Straight away, the government began to deal with the existing situation, and with preparing the new Constitution.

The 11^th February 1849 session of the ministers' council^[38] also dealt with the question of the Jews, and after an extensive deliberation it accepted Clause 1 of the basic law, in which each citizen was guaranteed freedom of faith and the enjoyment of civil and political rights, irrespective of faith.^[39]

On 7^th March 1849, the Kremsier parliament was dissolved and a new Constitution was provided, by force (Oktroyierte Verfassung), signed and approved by the Emperor on 4^th March 1849. The Constitution, penned by the Minister of the Interior, Franz Stadion, was imbued with a liberal spirit and included the principle of equal rights for people of all faiths, with an emphasis that a difference in faith is no ground for discrimination in the enjoyment of political and civil rights.

That was the start of the reactionary regime. Following Windisch–Grätz's orders, Hammerstein was tasked with suppressing the riots which broke out at Lwów on 1^st November 1848. The true reasons for those riots have not been settled, to date. Lwów's masses erected barricades. Two young Jews who took part in the fighting at the barricades, Nachman Sternklar and Seidner, were mentioned in particular in the authorities' report.^[40] The notables' companies tried to quell the unrest

[Pages 267-268]

but were unsuccessful. In the town's outskirts shots were fired, without knowing who started them Commander Hammerstein found a welcome excuse to intervene and surround the town centre with soldiers and cannons. Governor Zaleski and the notables' commander, General Wybranowski, lobbied Hammerstein to remove the soldiers. He agreed, with the proviso that the notables leave the town centre and the barricades be removed from the streets. The condition was met, but as the notables retreated the soldiers attacked them with beatings and shooting.

The events angered the masses and the riots resumed. Natan Hammerstein ordered the artillery companies to bomb the town from the “Wysoki Zamek [High Castle]”. 648 canon shots were fired till noon. The municipality, the university, the technical college, the science high school, the theatre and many private houses were almost wholly destroyed. According to the government report 55 people (13 of whom were women) were killed, and 75 (19 of whom were women) were injured.

Among the Jewish fatalities were Grabscheid Bernhardt, Lipa Goldberg, the teacher Igulnizer and Ludwik Krasnopolski (a merchant from Brody, who had come for a wedding and in his “Angielski” hotel room was hit by bullets fired by grenadiers beyond the Governor's buildings.

A state of emergency was declared at Lwów, the national elite and all the organizations and clubs were dismantled, the newspapers shut down.

Thus ended at Lwów the spring of the Nations – 1848.

On 10^th January 1849, a state of emergency was declared all over Galicia. On the 15^th, Zaleski was called back to Vienna where he died six weeks later. Rumours spread throughout Lwów that he had been invited for a meal at Stadion's, and that while drinking black coffee the latter gave him a poisoned cigar.^[41]

On 24^th January 1849, Agenor Goluchowski became Galicia's Governor which opened a new period in its history.

Despite the population's depressive condition, the Jews were joyful over the new Constitution which granted equal rights to all faiths including the Jews.

On 15^th March 1849, the community held a festive prayer in the “Temple” and the preacher Dr. Moritz Löwenthal, Rabbi Abraham Kohn's successor, delivered a patriotic sermon which appeared in print.^[42] But there was yet a long way from the promised emancipation to its implementation.

[Page 372]

Notes – CHAPTER 16
All notes in square brackets [ ] were made by the translator.

1. Articles from Lwów in: Orient 1848, p. 118, 23/3; 24/3; Allg. Ztg. d. Jt. 1848, 24/3, No.16, p.241. Return
2. Even before the Constitution was passed, changes in the conditions of the Jews had been considered among the conservative circles. Graf Kasimir Stadnicki, member of the old Sejm–committee and advisor to the government, prepared a bill on the election to the Galician Sejm, and proposed that Lwów's town Rabbi should be the Jewish faith's representative for the forthcoming Sejm. Bronislaw Lozinski: Szkice z Hist. Gal. w. XIX w Lwów, 1913, p. 81. Return
3. From the archive of the late Prof. Dr. Majer Balaban. Also published in: “ Historische Schriften, YIVO, II, pp. 634–638 (Dr. J. Shatzky [Szacki]; Archives). Return
4. In his memoirs, Ziemialkowski recounts that Horowitz liaised between the Polish delegation and Count [von] Pereira, who was influential among Government circles, and the Court–advisor Kleyle, who draughted the Kaiser's reply to the Polish petition. (Ziemialkowski vol. II, p. 146). Return
5. Dr. Ph[ilip] Friedmann: Die galizischen Juden im Kampfe um ihre Gleichberechtigung (1848–1868). Frankfurt a/M. 1929, p. 55.
   In his opinion, Dr. Oswald Menkes was also part of the delegation, as related in the

pamphlet published under the pseudonym “Malisz Karol”. Dr. Friedmann was however mistaken in his assumption, since the name “Malisz” was not a pseudonym of Dr. Menkes, but rather the name of another member of the Polish delegation, Dr. Karol Malisz, a Lwów lawyer. Stanislaw Schnur–Peplowski: Z. przeszlosci Galicyi (1772–1862) Lwów 1895, p; 497. Stefan Kieniewicz: Galicia w latach 1846–1848 Wiosna ludów (1848) na zemliach polskich. Warszawa, 1948, p.292. Julius Starkel Rok 1848. Lwów 1899, p.35. Return
6. Florjan Ziemianlkowski: Pamiętniki. Kraków 1904, vol. II, pp. 48, 68, 73. Return
7. Seven representatives of the Polish intelligentsia (Piotr Gross, Albin Ruebenbauer, Franciszek Smolka, Robert Hefern, Jan Dobrzanński, Dr. Aleksander Senkowski [Sękowski], Maurycy Srozinski [Sroczyński]), nine representatives of estate–owners, three townspeople, three Ruthenian priests, two Jews and one Polish priest. Return
8. See my article “On the Hebrew and Jewish press of Lwów” in volume II of this book. Before censorship was abolished, only two newspapers were published at Lwów “Gazeta Lwowska”, and “Dziennik Mód Paryskich”. Seven months after censorship was abolished, 13 newspapers and weeklies were published. 1. Dzienik narodowy; 2. Postep (democratic in the extreme); 3. Gazeta powszechna (Magazine of the National Council), once the Council was recognized as a political body, the magazine was renamed: 4. Rada Narodowa; 5. Polska Gazeta Narodowa (magazine of the estate–owners, established by Gilbert Pawlikowski, in opposition to the National Council; 6. Zoria Halycka (the Ruthanians' magazine); 7, Tygodnik polski (a political. literary weekly edited by the renown historian Karol Szajnocha); 8. Urzednik prywatny (Magazine of the organization of private clerks, founded by the National Council); 9. Kurjer lwowski (an independent popular newspaper); 10. Przyjaciel dzieci; 11. Przyjaciel ludu. Five newspapers were published at Kraków, two at Tarnow, one at Stanislawow [Stanisławów], as well as a government paper Gazeta lwowska. Return
9. After a short while, when Anti–Semitic ideas pervaded the Polish public and fraudulent writings were published against the Jews, and “Anti–Semitism awoke” also among the notables, Johann Beiser published the poem: “Der Jude an die Christlieben Freiheits–kämpfer” [“From a Jew to the Christ–loving Freedom fighter”], in which he addressed them with:
   “Extend the hand Christian brother
   Extend it to the Jew
   Let the sunny songs of Freedom
   Fire up the Jew's heart too
   Don't let him stand alone Return
10. Take it kindly I am a Pole
    A Pole and a Jew
    That is the double garland of adversity” Return
11. Busch [Oesterreichisches] Central–Organ [für Glaubensfreiheit, Geschichte und Literatur der Juden] 1848, p. 141. Return
12. Following the proposal of the (Polish) commission official and member of the Council, Count Agenor Gołuchowski, a programme was prepared to establish a “Ruthenian Council” (Rada świętojurska) headed by the Uniate Bishop Gregor Jachimowicz [Hryhorij Jachymowycz] (from 1859, a Lwów metropolitan). The Ruthenian Council members sided with the Russians and advocated the partition of Galicia into two provinces: West and East, a programme already proposed by Metternich in 1846. The Ruthenian intelligentsia led by Fugine, Anton Dubkiewicz and Julian Horoszkiewicz, objected to the Coucil's actions, especially to the submission of the 19^th April 1848 memorandum. They advocated a Ruthenian–Polish national–political merger, and countered the “świętojurska” Council by establishing the “Ruthenian” association (Sbod Ruski). On 15^th June 1848, during the first session's programme–speech, Horoszkiewicz suggested that the role of “The Association” was to maintain the peace among Galicia's Nations: the Ruthenians, Poles, Armenians and Jews, and to fuse them into a single body that would face and support the demands of the government and of the Kaiser. “The Association” joined the National Council and sent four representatives. “The Association” published the newspaper “Dnewnyk ruski” countering the Council's magazine “Zoria halytska”. Return
13. Busch. Central–Organ, 1848, No. 5. Return
14. Wiener Haus Hof und Staatsarchiv: Ministerratsprotokolle, 1848, Z 6281 ddo 5/5 1848. Return
15. Ministerratsprotokolle, 1848, Z, ddo 22/v; Z 959 ddo 24/v, 1848. Return
16. An anonymous (member of the grandees) pupil of Rabbi Kohn published an open letter against that pamphlet. Open Letter to the petitioners and the so–called supporters of Orthodox Judaism against the Regional Rabbi Mr. Abraham Kohn at Lemberg (1848). A second leaflet was also published:
    A few words to the petition's signatories regarding the removal of the Regional Rabbi Abraham Kohn. Return
17. Busch. [Oesterreichisches] Central–Organ [für Glaubensfreiheit, Geschichte und Literatur der Juden], 1848, No. 21. Return
18. Busch. Central–Organ, 1848, No. 22. Return
19. Dr. Majer Balaban: Dzieje Zydów w Galicji p. 133. Return
20. Dr. Ph. Friedmann: Die galizischen Juden im Kampfe um ihre Gleichberechtigung 1929, p. 65. Return
21. Allg. ztg. d. J. 1849, No. 3. Return
22. Ever since the early forties the authorities deliberated on how to resolve peasants' serfdom. The issue was much aggravated after the 1846 massacres in Galicia during which many Polish noblemen were killed by peasants. After the massacres, Rudolph Stadion –the Governor's brother– was sent to Galicia in order to prepare reports and proposals. The committee appointed by the Kaiser and led by Hartig, inspected Stadion's reports which expressed doubt whether it was advisable to give land to the peasants who were burdened with debts, and whose lands were attached to Jewish lenders, and their farms were in danger of falling into the hands of the Jews. Hans Schlitter: Aus Österreich Vormärz 1. Galizien und Krakau, Zürich–Leipzig–Wien 1920, pp. 47; 109. For those reasons the Polish estate–owners also resisted a sudden solution to serfdom. Most Austrian officials considered that the 1846 riots were not triggered by the estate–owners' jurisdictions in the villages, but rather by the Jews, who as lenders exploited the peasants. One of Galicia's foremost officers reported that: “The Jew

is the peasants' prime cruel leech”. “His deception and cunning confuse and stupefy him”. That officer stressed however that the grim condition – the tax burden imposed on the Jews – as the cause for their action, and that consequently it was hard to determine that it was the Jew who caused the depletion, the immorality and the degeneration of Galicia's peasant. In towns, the Jews contributed adversely by holding back the development of the middle class. According to the report there was only one solution, “To eliminate the Jew and turn him into a Christian, or to forbid him from living in a Christian country”. (Bronislaw Lozinski: Szkice z historji Galicji w XIX wielku, pp. 317–319). Return
23. Published in “Historische Schriften, I. pp. 744–748 (Dr. Majer Balaban “from my archive”). Return
24. [Oesterreichisches] Central–Organ [für Glaubensfreiheit, Geschichte und Literatur der Juden]. 1848, pp. 138; 147. Return
25. Central–Organ. 1848, No. 12, 12/vI; p. 170; No. 29, 22/VII, p.230. Return
26. Against Münz a leaflet was also published by an anonymous, titled:
    Wie gelangt man in den Himmel Deutscher Grammatik. Glossen zu der Scdhrift: Ein Wort zur Zeit von M…r M…tz Lemberg 1848. Gesamtertrag für die Nationalgarde. The leaflet accuses him of being the author of the memorandums and the petitions which the Orthodox had submitted to the authorities, and it advised him to avoid striving to become the people's representative. “Our sacred affairs will be represented with greater prestige and relevant understanding, by the renowned freedom fighters and supporters of Liberalism, Sanguszko, Lubomirski and Borkowski”. Return
27. Of the 383 National Diet delegates, 108 were from Galicia (including Bukowina) of whom 4 were Jews: the preacher Isaac Noah Mannheimer from Brody, Abraham Halpern from Stanislawow, Karmin from Ternopil and Rabbi Dov–Berisz Meisels from Kraków. Return
28. On 4.8.1848, Tsaitung [Zeitung], sheet 14 writes: “We Jews did not wish to say Jizkor [prayer in memory of the dead] in the Temple, because it was Rosh Chodesh [Start of the Month] but since the Rada Narodowa [National Council] demanded it, we assembled at the Temple, in the evening. There were many academics, a few companies of the National Guard, many Jews, more women. The reader at the synagogue, together with the choir, amended the afternoon prayer followed by three readings of El Maleh Rachamim [prayer in memory of the dead]; one for Wiśniowski, one for Kapuściński and one for Spitzer, a Jewish student who fell during the Vienna Revolution, on 13^th March, blessed by the Almighty. And to finish, a German prayer was delivered”. Return
29. Central–Organ, 1848, p.104. Return
30. The full text was published by Dr. Majer Balaban: “From my archive, in Historische Schriften, YIVO, vol. 1, Berlin 1909, pp. 741–765. Return
31. Gothilf Kohn: Abraham Kohn Lemberg 1898, p.174. On 15^th August 1848, Rabbi Abraham Kohn's wife informed her brother–in–law, Bernhard Kohn, of his condition as follows:
    “My dear Abraham has probably not informed you what those villains Bernstein, Ornstein, Münz and some others did; how they incited the commonality against him; promised money and gave it out, and wreaked total confusion within the community; how they even asked men of the most disreputable character to attack and manhandle him, which has happened once as he walked home from school. They even manhandled the children too, to spoil our life here”. (Gothilf Kohn op. cit. p. 206) And Rabbi Kohn himself wrote to his brother on 14th August 1848:
    “Finally I have also to report that our Orthodox villains have again raised their head during Cholhamoed [period within some Jewish holidays], provoked the mob against me and spread endless complaints and denunciations. The executive committee is long since demolished, devoid of esteem and meaning, yet the young who had only recently removed their traditional Jewish clothes, did and do hold themselves bravely and the community will be completely reorganized”. Gothilf Kohn: Abraham Kohn im Lichte der Geschichtsforschung. Lemberg 1848, p. 196. Return
32. Gothilf Kohn: op. cit. p. 174. Return
33. Mohr's Tsaitung [Zeitung] wrote on 9.8.1848 (p. 147):
    “Sad News I bring you now, my dear readers. A great calamity has now befallen us. Our regional rabbi, the wise Rabbi Abraham Kohn has died. But do not think that he died a natural death. No, he was poisoned. You might think him alone. But no, he with his wife, five children and two servants. Have you ever heard anything like that !” And the Newspaper warns: “Now see my dear friends what division leads to, and how dangerous it is”. Return
34. Dr. Majer Balaban: Historja Lwowskiej Synagogi postępowej Lwów 1937, pp. 58–59. The eulogies by Dr. Blumenfeld, Wolf and Frankl appeared in print:
    –1. Dr. E. Blumentfeld: Words at the body of the blessed Rabbi Abraham Kohn, delivered at the Jewish Temple on 8^th September of the year (1848) printed by Michael Poremba, Lemberg. Published also in: Historja Lwowskiej Synagogi pp. 59–60.
    –2. Words of condolence at the grave of Abraham Kohn, the pious Rabbi of Lwów, in blessed memory of a righteous man, delivered by Michael Wolf. Teacher at the secondary school. Published in: Gothilf Kohn: [op. cit.] pp. 280–287.
    –3. Commemorative address Lemberg, 8^th Sept. 1848. Bernhard Frankl, Teacher at the Jewish secondary school. Dr. Majer Balaban: Historja Lwowskiej Synagogi p. 279.
    Apart from the eulogies, a poem in German by the notary Josef Blumentfeld was also published:
    “A tear on the grave of the deceased Rabbi Abraham Kohn”. Published in Historische schriften [in Yiddish] I, pp. 748–751; and in Dr. Majer Balaban: Historja Lwowskiej Synagogi pp. 280–281.
    Abraham Kohn was made into the subject of a stage play in Polish:
    Emil Roniecki: Wielki Rabbi Abraham Tragedja w 5 aktach. Lwów, 1875. Return

35. “Entwurf der Grundrechte des Österreichischen Volkes” [Clauses] 1–29. On the freedom of faith, and the civil and political equal rights debated under the proposal of the Parliament [Reichstag] [Clauses] 13–16. Return
36. The Galician delegates who spoke in favour of the abolition of the Jewish taxes were: Fedorowicz, Sierakowski, Dr. Dylewski, Count Borkowski, Popiel, and from among the other delegates– [von] Szábel, lecturer finance committee Lasser, Brauner (and he demanded to ask forgiveness of the Jews for the wrong done to them by those taxes). The Catholic priest Füster from Vienna, Schuselka, Umlauft, Borrosch, and the finance minister Philipp Freiherr von Krauss (born at Lwów) also recommended the abolition of the taxes. Already at the session of 6^th September 1848, when direct and indirect taxation was proposed for 1849, von Krauss suggested to revoke the Jewish taxes from 1^st November 1848, since the Jewish taxes were contrary to the equal rights principle stated in the Constitution. Stenographische Berichte über die Verhandlungen des österreichischen konstituierenden Reichstages Band II, pp. 559, 615–618, 795, 806. [a] Seems to be a misspelling in original. Should read October. Return
37. Tsaitung [Zeitung] sheet 26; 27.10.1848. Return
38. Haus–Hof und Staatarchiv; Wien. Ministerratsprotokolle 1849; Ministerratsprotokil vom Februar p. 527, e.a. [year] 1849. Return
39. During this session a debate took place on the basic–laws proposed by the Constitution committee of the Kremsier Parliament. In the discussion over Clause 17 of the 25^th April 1848 legislation, and Clause 16 of the Constitution committee of the Kremsier Parliament, which determines that every Austrian citizen enjoys freedom of religion and conscience, and that the enjoyment of civil and political rights is independent of religion, inevitably extends equal rights to Jews. Thinnfeld, the minister of agriculture [however], expressed his concern that applying that clause would lead to riots in the provinces where till then Jews had been barred from living. He proposed to leave the decision to the National councils and the municipalities. The rest of the ministers expressed their opinion that it was inadvisable to restrict the Jews' rights in the constitution. The debate resumed again during the 20^th February 1848 session (Protocol No. 533), when [von] Kübeck proposed an ambiguous version which was backed by Ministers Kolmer and Thinnfeld. The ministers Baron Krauss (who had been Lwów governorship's Officer) and Dr. Bach, on the other hand, recommended to grant the Jews full equal rights. Bach argued that were the Jews to be treated as “pariahs” (low rank) a dangerous situation would arise. “They have influence in the press, at public meetings and have large sums of money at their disposal”. One has to grant them equal rights, but with the proviso: [“]To forbid them the purchase of real–estate and the right of residency in the provinces where no Jews are resident.[“] This version was accepted after a debate. Return
40. Staatsarchiv Wien J.B. 8013, e. a. 1851. Report of Lemberg's head of the Empirical Criminal Court and the General Procurator of the province of Galicia (Pohlbaum) to the Minister of Justice von Krauss, about the political machinations as well as about the outbreak of the uprising which took place at Lemberg on 1^st and 2^nd November 1848. Return
41. Jablonowski was member of the Galician Sejm and commander of the National management. Ludwik Jabłonowski: Złote czasy i wywczasy: Pamiętnik Szlachcica. Poznan p. 183. Return
42. Talk held at Lwów's Temple of the Progressive Jews on 15^th March 1849 by Dr. Moritz Löwnthal, the Rabbi and preacher of Lemberg, on the occasion of the thanksgiving celebration for the Constitution conferred by His Majesty. Published by the Board of the Jewish Community as a call to all the country's other Jewish communities to register their joyous participation in the new homeland, through patriotic gifts on the day. Printed by Joseph Schnayder 1849. Return

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