Revised general privilege

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The "Decree of a Revised General Privilege and Regulations before the Jews ... from April 17th, 1750" was a sovereign Jewish order of King Friedrich II. It continued the absolutist Jewish policy of the Prussian kings. The decree in the Prussian monarchy was a revision of the Jewish order of 1730, with the exception of the later acquisitions of Silesia and East Frisia until it was replaced in 1812 by the edict on the civil conditions of Jews in the Prussian state .

Jewish legislation under Friedrich I and Friedrich Wilhelm I.

King Friedrich I (1701–1713) and Friedrich Wilhelm I (1713–1740) aimed in their policy towards the Jews to limit numbers while at the same time exploiting economic power and increasing tax payments. The Jewish regulations of 1700 forbade Jews to buy houses and confirmed the trade restrictions, also under pressure from Christian merchants. From 1714 house buying was allowed again, even keeping the shutters open, but the letter of protection could only be bequeathed to the eldest son; two other sons could obtain it for large sums. The other sons had to remain unmarried and therefore childless or emigrate.

In addition, the Prussian communities had dissipate 15,000 dollars a year, the tariff barriers of degrading, usual for cattle were body tax payable. It was only abolished after Frederick II's death.

The General Jewry Regulations of 1730 limited the number of Jewish families in Berlin to 100, in 1737 again to 120 plus 250 servants. Immigrants often disguised themselves as such. Non-guild crafts were banned, as was peddling. After all, it was legally the step from the puttable privilege to general state law, as absolutism created it.

The Revised General Privilege of 1750

The decree divided the Prussian Jews into six classes with different settlement rights.

I. The first class included the wealthiest, who were provided with a personal privilege ( letter of protection ) that effectively put them on an equal footing with Christian citizens. All of the legitimate children of these few "general privileges", called "housefathers" in the Jewish community, were entitled to settle, as were their numerous Jewish "servants". The Jewish elite of the Berlin Haskala grew out of them during the Enlightenment.

II. The Protective Jews of the second class were only allowed to stay in the place assigned to them; this right of residence could be inherited by a child, two more could be "set" on proof of 1000 thalers.

III. The rights of the “extraordinary” protective Jews were not inheritable, but could be transferred to just one child for 1000 Taler. This third class included the liberal professions - doctors, lawyers, artists - as well as selected craftsmen such as glasses makers.

IV. The fourth class was made up of rabbis and community employees whose right of residence was linked to their employment.

V. The fifth grade included the "tolerated" Jews who, as children of Jews in the second, third and fourth grade, had not obtained their own residence permit. They had no rights, they were forbidden to marry if they did not marry in the two upper classes.

VI. The servants and commercial clerks of the Schutzjude Jews, who made up the sixth grade, were also prohibited from marrying.

The number of “protective Jews” was set at 203 ordinary and 63 extraordinary. The three upper classes were jointly liable for the payment of taxes by the Jewish community in a province. This collective liability was later extended to bankruptcies and bill fraud.

The general privilege meant that only a few wealthy families were allowed to live in larger cities that supported the mercantilist policies of the Prussian king. Most of the Jews lived in the country or in small towns. After the edict of the Jews of 1812 granted them freedom of movement, they poured into the big cities like Berlin and Breslau .

On the number of Jews in Brandenburg / Prussia

Despite the restrictions, the number of Jewish families living in the Mark Brandenburg continued to grow. When the general privilege was granted in 1750, 4,716 Jews lived in Brandenburg, 2,188 of them in Berlin alone, corresponding to 1.93 percent of the city's population. Of these, it is estimated that half were "undocumented" (without a cover letter or tolerance). Up to 1800 there were 7637 Jews in Brandenburg. Almost half of them lived in Berlin. In all of Prussia, the number of Jews grew to around 220,000 at the end of the 18th century, of which 180,000 were in the territories annexed in 1772, 1792 and 1795 when Poland was partitioned .

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  1. ↑ See wording (web links): The sovereign "Friederich, by God's grace, King in Prussia, Marggraf zu Brandenburg, of the Holy Roman Empire Ertz-Cämmerer and Elector, Sovereign and Supreme Duke of Silesia etc. etc." names in the title of the decree the territories: Kingdom of Prussia, Mark Brandenburg, duchies and principalities of Magdeburg, Cleve, Hinter-Pommern, Crossen, Halberstadt, Minden, Camin, and Mörs, the counties and lordships, Marck, Ravensberg, Hohenstein, Tecklenburg, Lingen, Lauenburg, and Butau.