Baden's Jewish edict of 1809

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Official costume of the rabbis in Baden, around 1843
Official costume of the prayer leaders in Baden, around 1843

The so-called Baden Jewish edict, officially the 9th constitutional edict, is an edict of the Grand Duke of Baden of January 13, 1809, which came into force on July 1, 1809. The sovereign ordinance elaborated the provisions of the 1st and 6th constitutional edicts and mainly regulated the canonical conditions of the Jews of Baden in the Grand Duchy of Baden .

The ordinances are related to the reorganization of the extended Baden state as a member of the Rhine Confederation . They are also an expression of the French legal principles that strengthened the modernization tendencies in Baden, such as the separation of church and state , the Jewish self-government now made possible within state borders and increased religious tolerance compared to earlier constitutions .

In spite of all the seemingly modern characteristics, it is an "education law" typical of the German states at that time. It made the gradual granting of further rights dependent on evidence of the assimilation of Jews into non-Jewish society. Despite this aim, the law met with great opposition.

Requirements: Constitutional edicts (1807-1809)

The Jewish edict presupposes the constitutional edicts of the previous years.

  • 1. Concerning the ecclesiastical state constitution of the Grand Duchy of Baden (May 14, 1807)
  • 2. Concerning the Constitution of Nasties, Corporations and State Institutions (July 14, 1807)
  • 3. Regarding the Constitution of the Grand Duchy of Baden (July 22, 1807)
  • 4. Concerning the manorial constitution of the Grand Duchy of Baden (July 22, 1807)
  • 5. Concerning the feudal constitution of the Grand Duchy of Baden (July 22, 1807)
  • 6. Concerning the basic constitution of the various estates of the Grand Duchy of Baden
  • 7. Concerning the service constitution of the Grand Duchy of Baden (April 25, 1809)

The 1st constitutional edict (§ 1) of May 14, 1807 improved the legal status of the Jews by stipulating them, without direct mention, as newly admitted citizens of the same sub-activity as all previous ones : Everyone who believes he is, can Enjoy citizenship as long as they do not profess or practice any principles that undermine subservience to rulers, compatibility with other citizens, public education and good morals. Section 7 regulated the position of the Jewish religious community as a "tolerated religion", whose rights, unlike the Christian denominations, could be determined at the Duke's discretion.

With the 6th Edict of the Constitution of June 4, 1808 (§ 19), the Jews became residents and citizens of Baden on application, which freed them from the stigma of “foreigners”. However, as "heir-free citizens" at the community level, they remained protected citizens, not community citizens. The path to legal equality for Jews in Baden had now begun.

The main author of the constitution edicts was the Secret Council Johann Nicolaus Friedrich Brauer , who based the edict of the Jews on the opinion of Hofrat Philipp Heinrich Holzmann from 1801. The untitled decree regulated the self-administration of the Jewish communities and the functioning of the Upper Council of the Israelites Bathing . Judaism was thus recognized in the second state after Westphalia in the German Confederation and, as in France, as a religious community on an equal footing with the Christian denominations. Citizenship equality was still largely missing.

As a result of the enlargement of the area, the number of Jews in Baden grew from 2265 in 1802 to 1808 to 14,200, which also made it necessary to standardize the previous regulations.

Contents of the edict of 1809

In the Grand Duchy of Baden, the Edict of the Constitution of January 13, 1809 put Jews on an equal footing, but also eliminated the traditional Jewish (autonomous) community constitution and created unified communities with the constitution of the religious community ; at the same time the religious community received the status of a public corporation . Unlike in other regions of Germany, the communities (community synagogues, district synagogues) did not remain autonomous, but were subordinate to the upper council; to this day they remain as subdivisions of the Israelite Religious Community of Baden. The state compulsory education now also affected the Jewish children, as was conscription introduced hereditary surnames in contrast to the traditional family names were prescribed.

In addition to equality as a religious community with the Christian denominations and the formation of Jewish communities, the edict lays down the following rules in detail:

- Compulsory schooling: participation in general schools, initially in the existing, later in the Jewish institutions to be founded

- Religious education: "adequate and appropriate" religious education

- Public : public, previously announced church events

- Intercession for the regent in the prayer part of the service

- The minimum age for municipal offices and citizenship and settlement is 21

- Exercising a civil profession as a prerequisite for civil rights is that the Jew “… has enabled himself to be a food branch that also exists for Christians. Of trading shaft to heard the merchant trade, with proper accounting or factory prosecution, or in open shops with a sufficiently clear to food Vorrate in metal, leather, Elle goods , spices, operates exchange transactions and the like, as far as they like Christians properly to enable. (...) On the other hand, that emergency trade is not counted, with which since then the Jewish nation has often given up for lack of the opportunity for a freer commercial diligence, and with which it could only earn an inadequate livelihood, which later make it inclined to unlawful increase in profit had to. (...) To this emergency trade (on which it is carried on by Christians or Jews, the suspicion of usury remains, and if there is legal care) we count the brokerage , since someone only takes care of the mediation and negotiation of the buying and selling opportunities Subcarrier makes; where it is not set up by the authorities in a trading town for the benefit of trade; (...) "

- Marriage license for every citizen

- Conditions for local rabbis for every synagogue: They must "have studied properly, duly examined, appointed by the authority, and confirmed by the provincial government ..., and a local elder who is appointed from among the most educated Jewish citizens and by the officials among whom the synagogue lies, be confirmed ". This is important for religious instruction and church discipline, as well as "for supporting the execution of orders issued by the authorities that affect the Jewish community and for the execution of the legal orders received from the church officials of the provincial synagogue".

- All provincial synagogues with all local synagogues attached to them "are under a Jewish superior council to be set up in the seat of the state government . (...)"

Further development

In 1815 the protection money was abolished with the protection of the bourgeoisie , in 1825 the set fee due to the freedom of establishment , and in 1828 all previous Jewish taxes were abolished . The loss of the dues to noblemen and landowners must be compensated for. The previous taxes of the Jews to the communities are not paid back, but from 1828 they have to pay all community taxes.

A reform of the cult concluded the process of the desired churchization in 1825. The rabbi was given an area of ​​responsibility analogous to the Christian community boards. A sermon in German was prescribed.

The school system was reformed, so that by 1835 all larger parishes had a school. The teachers were trained in the Protestant teachers' seminar in Karlsruhe. In 1820, school supervision was placed under the control of the Catholic or Protestant Church, and the Israelite Council, elected in 1809, was eliminated from the supervision of the schools.

A large part of the Jews took up civil trades, especially in the larger cities, while the conditions for this in the countryside were lacking.

Constitution of 1818

After the end of the Confederation of the Rhine and with the restoration of the Congress of Vienna, the constitution of 1818 reversed many of the achievements of 1809. It again made considerable restrictions on employment in the civil service and on the right to stand as a candidate and also repealed equality with the Christian denominations.

§ 9. All citizens of the three Christian confessions have equal claims to all civil and military posts and church offices.

§ 19. The political rights (of the three Christian branches of religion) are equal.

Section 37. Any citizen who is not excluded by Section 35 and who 1. belongs to one of the three Christian confessions can be appointed, regardless of their place of residence, (...)

Reform Parliament 1831

In 1831, based on the memorandum of HEG Paulus , the Reform Parliament demanded a radical religious reform of Judaism as a prerequisite for any further legal concessions, in particular

  • the moving of the Sabbath,
  • renouncing Hebrew,
  • the repeal of the dietary laws and circumcision as "signs of national segregation" as well
  • a "purification" or condemnation of the Talmud.

These demands remained in place until 1846, despite protests from the Jewish upper council, but were not implemented by the government. The Reform Landtag also exempted Jews from revoking protective citizenship. Jews were thus excluded from community life, from the community council and the administration. The right of free choice of residence was also restricted to the 11% of Baden towns with a Jewish population.

Formal equality in community politics until 1862

Despite many individual successes, it was above all the rural Jews, some of whom resisted the pressure to assimilate , that continued to be hostile. The legal emancipation with regard to political participation rights only succeeded after a long discussion in 1849, the almost complete equality as community citizen with a 10-year adjustment period with regard to the " civil rights " (common rights, welfare rights) nationwide only in 1862, one year after Hamburg.

See also

Sources and literature

  • Edict of the Constitution of the Jews of the Grand Duchy of Baden. In: Grand Ducal Baden Government Gazette. No. VI of February 11, 1809.
  • Berthold Rosenthal : Home history of the Baden Jews from their historical appearance to the present. Bühl 1927, pp. 242-248. (Reprint: Magstadt near Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-7644-0092-7 )
  • Heinz Schmitt (Ed.): Jews in Karlsruhe. Contributions to their history up to the Nazi seizure of power . Badenia-Verlag, Karlsruhe 1988, ISBN 3-89735-339-3 , pp. 551-560.
  • Jewish life in Baden 1809 to 2009. 200 years of the Upper Council of the Israelites of Baden. Ostfildern 2009, ISBN 978-3-7995-0827-8 , pp. 265-270.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Baden law and regulation sheet 1809. In: HathiTrust. Pp. 29–44 , accessed on May 28, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Contents: Wolfgang Herterich. Design and content: Jeanette Reusch-Mlynárik, Niketan Pandit, online publisher: Component:… it happened in broad daylight - deportation to the Gurs camp. In: www.lpb-bw.de. Retrieved May 28, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Meinrad Schaab , Hansmartin Schwarzmaier (ed.) U. a .: Handbook of Baden-Württemberg History . Volume 3: From the end of the old empire to the end of the monarchies. Edited on behalf of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-608-91467-6 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  4. ^ Michael Kotulla: German Constitutional Law 1806 - 1918: A collection of documents and introductions . Springer-Verlag, 2006, ISBN 978-3-540-29289-0 ( com.ph [accessed January 1, 2019]).
  5. ↑ Reinhard Rürup: Emancipation and anti-Semitism: Studies on the »Jewish question« in bourgeois society . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975, ISBN 978-3-647-35966-3 ( com.ph [accessed January 1, 2019]).
  6. ↑ Reinhard Rürup: Emancipation and anti-Semitism: Studies on the »Jewish question« in bourgeois society . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975, ISBN 978-3-647-35966-3 ( com.ph [accessed January 1, 2019]).
  7. ↑ a b c Reinhard Rürup: Emancipation and anti-Semitism. Studies on the "Jewish Question" in civil society. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1975, ISBN 3-647-35966-1 , p. 43 ff. ( Books.google.com )
  8. ↑ Renate Penßel: Jewish religious communities as public corporations: 1800-1919 . Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar, 2014, ISBN 978-3-412-22231-4 ( google.com [accessed on May 28, 2016]).
  9. ↑ Observations on the edict of 1809 on the equality of the Jews of Baden - LEO-BW. In: www.leo-bw.de. Retrieved May 28, 2016 .
  10. ^ Judgment of the Administrative Court of Mannheim from June 20, 2008
  11. ^ (GES, P) Abolition of the Jewish taxes, May 14, 1828. In: www.zum.de. Retrieved May 28, 2016 .