A Hopeful Month
October 2001
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This month's column focuses on three October stamp issues that refer to events in the history of the Jews. Each event has both a dark side and a more hopeful aspect. In this time of national crisis, I'll try to suppress my natural penchant for pessimism and focus on the positive side. As much as I can, anyway.
On October 9, 1960, Israel issued a souvenir sheet (Scott #187a) depicting a parade of Jews in Prague on April 24, 1741. The parade was in celebration of the birth of a son, Joseph, to the reigning monarch, Empress Maria Theresea. This happy occasion was preserved by the leader of the Jewish community, Simon Wolf Frankl, who paid for a copper engraving depicting the parade. He is seen in the lower right hand portion of the souvenir sheet, riding behind the twin trumpeters, who in turn are following a postal courier blowing a horn. It is only the latter that is depicted in the Scoff catalog; it forms the stamp portion of the souvenir sheet as well as being a traditional stamp (that is, a stamp printed in a standard sheet format with tabs).
The souvenir sheet -- which reproduces only a part of the engraving -- depicts another prominent Jew in the community, Simon Neustadtl (he can be seen on horseback behind two other trumpeters, two rows above Frankl). In addition, the sheet depicts various Jewish tradesmen and their guilds (for example, the flags represented butchers and tailors). Others seen on the sheet include furriers, actors, and musicians. But the joy of this event did not last. By the end of 1741, the French occupied the city and they remained in control for the next three years. The Jews were accused of collaboration and their ghetto was attacked in September and November.
On December 18, 1744, Empress Maria Theresea signed a decree expelling the Jews from Prague, to be effective on January 31, 1745. After much pleading, this was extended one month. The decree actually gave the Jews of Prague six months to dispose of their property. They were allowed to stay in the countryside and enter Prague on a day pass, but they had to leave each night. After June they were to leave the province of Bohemia as well (and a similar edict was issued for Moravia in January).
By the end of February, 14,000 Jews had passed through the Prague gates. A contemporary account noted, "it was a terrible sight to see these people, with their children and their sick, depart from the city in the biting cold,
leaving only a few invalids." When the Prague economy suffered as a result of the expulsion of the Jews, the empress consented (in June 1748) to allow the Jews to return for 10 years. But they had to pay a special tax each year, and only the eldest son in each family could begin a new family.
When the Empress died in 1780, she was succeeded by her son, who became Joseph II. Unlike the Empress, who limited the religious and political rights of all non-Catholics, Joseph II was willing to grant what was termed "toleration."
He ordered his advisory council to consider a series of changes in the regulations affecting non-Catholics. But the reforms to alter the status of Jews ran into much opposition that when the Edict of Toleration was issued on October 11, 1781, it was not extended to Jews. The 200th anniversary of that edict was commemorated by Austria with a stamp (#l192) depicting Emperor Joseph II.
But Joseph II was determined to liberalize some of the restrictions on Jews in the Empire. This was accomplished by a decree issued on January 2, 1782. Although it granted increased rights, it was far short of full freedom and equality. For instance, the number of tolerated Jews was not to increase; they could not return to the provinces from which they had been expelled. Other restrictions precluded the use of Hebrew in legal documents, and the provision that although Jews could accept a pledge of real estate as security for a loan, they could not seize the real estate if the loan was in default. Full legal freedom and equality did not come until 1860-61.
Danish Heroism
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