Salzburg emigration patent
The Salzburger emigration Patent Archbishop Leopold Anton von Firmian ordered the expulsion in 1731 of about 20,000 Salzburg Protestants ( Salzburg exiles on). The author was probably his court chancellor Christani di Rallo .
Since the Reformation there had been several waves of persecution and deportation of Protestants in the Archbishopric of Salzburg , which were suppressed more strictly or less rigorously depending on the economic situation and political goal. The emigration patent was dated October 31, 1731 and was announced to the subjects on November 11, 1731. Initially, 4,000 landless maids and servants were caught and deported. From May 1732, mainly craftsmen and farmers families were expelled from the country. Almost a quarter of those deported did not survive the arduous marches in the course of the expulsion. All Protestants older than twelve years had to leave the country within eight days. The farmers were given twelve weeks to sell their property. It is estimated that 17,000 Salzburg residents emigrated. Until 1837 "convicted" Protestants were expelled from the country.
King Friedrich Wilhelm I in Prussia agreed to settle the expellees in his depopulated eastern provinces. It was not until 1740, and at the instigation of the Prussian king, that the surviving emigrants were partially compensated for the loss of the farms. The expulsion largely corresponded to the “valid” imperial law, the “ cuius regio, eius religio ” (the sovereign determines the religion of the subjects), but the circumstances of the expulsion (including without observing the deadlines) aroused reluctance across Europe. The emigrants had it comparatively better when they arrived in East Prussia . Poor peasants were given a piece of land here by the Prussian king, craftsmen were able to pursue their trade in the cities without hindrance. Goethe's Hermann and Dorothea goes back to an episode of the Salzburg emigration. Contrary to earlier assumptions, the economic consequences for the archbishopric of Salzburg due to the high population loss resulting from displacement were limited. In 1966, the Archbishop of Salzburg, Andreas Rohracher, regretted the expulsion at a ceremony.
literature
- Gerhard Florey: History of the Salzburg Protestants and their emigration 1731/1732 . Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Graz 1977, ISBN 3-205-08188-9 .
- Mack Walker: The Salzburg trade: expulsion and salvation of the Salzburg Protestants in the 18th century. Göttingen 1997, ISBN 978-3-525-35446-9 .
- Friederike Zaisberger : History of Salzburg . Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, Vienna 1998. ISBN 3-7028-0354-8 .