Junius Frey

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Sigmund Gottlob Junius Brutus Frey , born as Moses Dobruški ; converted and ennobled as Franz Thomas Edler von Schönfeld (* July 12, 1753 in Brno ; † April 5, 1794 in Paris ) was a Jewish Christian alchemist and nephew of Jakob Joseph Frank , who was considered the future leader of Frankism until his death in 1791 . He mutated into a German-speaking poet , Freemason and KuK army supplier in Vienna, and then as a Jacobin into an agitator in the French Revolution , as a result of which he was convicted and executed at the age of forty as a victim of denunciation in the trial of Georges Danton in 1794.

Life

Jakob Joseph Frank's cousin, Schöndl (Katharina) Dobruška , lived in Brno and supported Sabbatians with an open heart . She gave birth to her son Moses Dobruški in Brno in 1753, who would later succeed his uncle Jakob Joseph Frank as the religious leader of Frankism . Moses' father Salomon Dobruški was a wealthy Jew and the main tenant of the KuK Tobacco Gradient. He wanted his son Moses to become a learned rabbi and accordingly instructed him in the Talmud ; at the same time, the father was concerned that everything in his upbringing would be eliminated that might thwart his son's future as a rabbi.

But it happened to Moses that he came into contact with a Jew who was studying Hebrew poetry and rhetoric or the oriental languages , and he learned everything from him. He was no longer interested in studying the Talmud, but in humanism, and he fought hard against his father, who finally gave his consent. Moses studied the old classics and German poets with zeal. Among the latter, he was initially captivated by Salomon Gessner , who he found so fond of that he now wanted to get to know the other German poets. He succeeded in persuading his father to grant him a sum of 1,500 guilders for the purchase of books. In addition to studying the German language, in which he tried his hand at poetry, Moses now pursued with great zeal also that of the other living languages, namely English, French and Italian, and on December 17, 1773, he publicly confessed to Prague to Catholicism and was baptized in the name of Franz Thomas Schönfeld . As an attempt at his own work, he published: “Several poems for rehearsal” (Vienna 1773).

Since there has been no major Jewish settlement in Brno since the expulsion of the Jews in 1454, no strong traditional opposition had to be expected there, and Moses' uncle Jakob (Frank) had made the decision after his liberation by the Russians on January 21, 1773 to set up his new, militarily organized company here in the city of Brno.

A series of publications from Junius Frey's pen followed: “Shepherd Games” (Prague 1774); - “Theory of Fine Sciences” (Prague 1774); - “On the poetry of the ancient Hebrews” under the title: “Seferhascha-hua” (Prague 1774); - “A shepherd poem in this very language”; - “A Hebrew poetic translation of Pythagoras golden proverbs” (Prague 1775) and “Prayer or Christian ode in psalms” (Vienna 1775).

On July 25, 1778, Moses Dobruški alias Franz Thomas Schönfeld was raised to the hereditary nobility in Vienna together with his siblings Karl Schönfeld , kk subordinate and Joseph Schönfeld , ensign, who were employed in the military , and together with his other siblings Maximilian, Leopold and Emanuel Schönfeld , and from the nobility diploma we learn that Moses Dobruški alias Franz Thomas Edler von Schönfeld was co-head of the famous Garelli library, which was headed by Michael Denis at the time .

Together with Ephraim Joseph Hirschfeld , who did not convert, Moses Dobruški alias Franz Thomas Edler von Schönfeld joined the Order of the Knights and Brothers St. Johannis the Evangelist from Asia in Europe (also called Asian Brothers ), a society of Freemasons through which between Much was spoken in Central Europe in 1783 and 1790. It was one of the first Masonic lodges on German soil to accept Jews. He also joined the Illuminati Order .

As the nephew of Jakob Joseph Frank, he was offered the leadership of Frankism after the death of the religious leader in 1791 , but he refused.

Fascinated by the French Revolution and the radical democratic, egalitarian system of Jacobin France , Moses Dobruški, alias Franz Thomas Edler von Schönfeld, traveled via Strasbourg to Paris in 1792 , where he became a Jacobin under the name of Sigmund Gottlob Junius Brutus Frey .

In 1793 Junius Frey had published a groundbreaking work: Philosophy sociale . It is no coincidence that his work, written in German, turns out to be a cornerstone of earlier sociological thought. As emphasized by Helmut Plessner, “... Sociology was originally a doctrine of salvation, a means of reorganizing society, disorganized by the French Revolution, in a progressive and not in a restorative sense”. The philosophy sociale shows Junius Frey, as a complex Jewish Biography flows into the theorization of a new social order. As a victim of denunciation in the trial against Danton , he was arrested in 1794, convicted and guillotined together with Danton .

Aftermath

Junius Frey went from being a heretic to being a Jacobin. And Andreas Lehnardt, Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Mainz , says: “If there is an avatar of the sociology of Judaism, then it is Junius Frey”. A characteristic of Junius Frey was the high level of social mobility. At home in various religious and cultural circles, he effortlessly changed from the Jewish culture to the rulership and social order of enlightened absolutism and finally, under the name of Junius Frey, to the radical democratic, egalitarian system of Jacobin France, where he was convicted and executed as a denunciation victim in the trial against Danton has been.

Works

  • Junius Frey: Philosophy sociale , Paris 1793 (written in German)

literature

  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Schönfeld, Franz Thomas . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 31st part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1876, p. 150 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Lucien-Junius Frey: Philosophy sociale . Dédiée au peuple françois, Paris: Froullé 1793
  • Egon Erwin Kisch: Collected Works Volume VI - Stories from Seven Ghettos - Entry prohibited - Review , Aufbau-Verlag Berlin and Weimar, 3rd edition 1985, pp. 59–76.
  • Andreas Lehnardt: Jewish Studies in Transition . Half a century of research and teaching ..., Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin / Boston, 2017, p. 148
  • Helmut Plessner: This side of utopia . Selected contributions to the sociology of culture, Frankfurt / M., Diederichs 1966, p. 14
  • Gershom Scholem , Le tre vite di Moses Dobrushka , ed. by Saverio Campanini, Adelphi, Milan, 2014
  • Susanne Wölfle-Fischer, Junius Frey (1753–1794) . Jew, aristocrat and revolutionary, Frankfurt am Main et al., 1997, ISBN 3-631-31166-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Second degree nephew of Jakob Joseph Frank
  2. ↑ S. Krauss: Schöndl Dobruschka. Festschrift for Armand Kaminka, Vienna 1937, pp. 143–148
  3. ↑ Cf. Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem), p. 69 and Duker, p. 308, notes 121 and 122. Paul Arnsberg speaks of the fact that Dobruschki could not prevail in the Diadoch fights (cf. p. 30)
  4. ^ Andreas Lehnardt: Judaistik im Wandel, Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin / Boston, 1st edition 2017, p. 148
personal data
SURNAME Frey, Junius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dobruška, Moses (maiden name); Schönfeld, Franz Thomas Edler from
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian army supplier, alchemist, Freemason, Jacobin and Frankist
DATE OF BIRTH July 12, 1753
PLACE OF BIRTH Brno
DATE OF DEATH April 5, 1794
Place of death Paris