Family laws

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Family laws were provisions to limit the number of Jews in Bohemia , Moravia and Silesia who were allowed to start families. They were in 1726 by Emperor Karl VI. and were officially in force until 1859.

Content and story

The purpose of introducing the Family Laws was to keep the number of Jews in the crown lands of the Habsburg Monarchy as low as possible. The specified number of families was 8,451 in Bohemia, 5,106 in Moravia and 119 in Silesia . The laws were expressly confirmed in Joseph II's tolerance patent of 1791, the number being increased slightly: in Bohemia to 8,600 and in Moravia to 5,400.

The regulations stated that a Jew could only marry and have a family if he had a family number . This number could only be passed on to the eldest son after the death of the family member , after he had reached the age of 24. Younger sons - but not daughters - could only inherit the number after the death of an older brother. The family numbers were carefully recorded in the family book by the district authorities , with a special book of competence provided for candidates who wished to receive a number . If a familiant only had daughters, his familial position expired , i. H. the relevant number. In addition, Jews were only allowed to live in the places where they had the right to live before 1726, and here too the right of residence was limited to certain quarters, streets or even “Jewish houses”. Failure to comply with this provision could be punished with flogging and expulsion.

Certain easements were introduced as part of the Josephine reforms . Second or third sons were now allowed to marry in exchange for large sums of money. Anyone wishing to marry had to prove that they owned 300 guilders ( 500 in Prague ). From 1786 a certificate was required which attested to attending a German or Jewish-German school, and from 1812 candidates wishing to marry had to take an examination in the catechism of Bene Zion ("Sons of Zion"), which was compiled by the teacher Herz Homberg (1749–1841) had been. A law of Emperor Franz I from 1797 also made marriage permits possible for men who had done military service or worked in agriculture. Community employees were generally allowed to marry surplus , but could not bequeath this permit to their sons.

The family laws forced numerous Jews to enter into secret marriages ( Yiddish Bodenchassenes , i.e. Chassene (wedding) in the attic ; Czech pod pokličkou ). Children from such marriages were considered illegitimate by the authorities and had to bear the mother's surname. In addition, due to these regulations, it was not possible for many Jews to settle permanently, so that they had to resort to begging. The system created tensions within the Jewish community and the entire Jewish community, which before the introduction of these laws had been relatively homogeneous despite social differences. There were trials before non-Jewish authorities, denunciations and cases of bribery . In many cases, expired family numbers were not passed on to official candidates from their own community, but rather sold on to external providers. Many younger sons from Moravian families decided to emigrate. See History of the Jews in Slovakia .

In the course of the Jewish Enlightenment , the family laws were occasionally referred to as " pharaonic laws", but without a protest movement against the provisions having developed. Although the family laws became ineffective with the March Revolution of 1848/49, they were not officially abolished until 1859.

In the literature, the family laws have found their way into, among other things, the short story Without permission by Leopold Kompert .

Web links

literature

  • Encyclopaedia Judaica , Vol. 6, Vol. 1162-1164
  • Hermann: History of the Jews in Bohemia , Vienna and Prague 1819, p. 86 ff.
  • Scari: Systematic presentation of the laws and ordinances issued in relation to the Jews in Moravia and in the KK Part of Silesia , Brno 1835, p. 3 ff.
  • Frankl-Grün: History of the Jews in Kremsier , I 171, II 22, Breslau 1896, Frankfurt am Main 1898.