Language:
English
Year of publication:
2010
Titel der Quelle:
Judaica Bohemiae
Angaben zur Quelle:
45,1 (2010) 5-34
Keywords:
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
Jews
;
Jews Economic conditions
Abstract:
In February-April 1866, following a local conflict between ethnic-Czech stud makers and Jewish hardware merchants in Hostomice, a wave of anti-Jewish riots broke out in many vicinities of the southwestern Czech Lands (Bohemia), the most violent in Hostomice, Hořovice, Beroun, Sušice, and some other places. Army units were sent to restore order in the area, and martial law was introduced. The riots took place in rural vicinities, while the big cities, like Prague or Plzeň (Pilsen), were almost unaffected. Dismisses explanations of the Bohemian pogroms given by some historians, who saw in them a result of the Czech nationalist agitation or a misplaced social protest against poverty, noting that the causes were complex. Discusses several events simultaneous with the pogroms, the main one being the Přibram silver affair that was given publicity a few days before the first pogrom in Hostomice. In nearby Přibram, a large theft of silver from the local state silver mines was discovered, and all the accused were Jewish. The publicity given to the Přibram theft disrupted normal communication and commercial ties between Jews and non-Jews in the area; remarkably, the pogroms of 1866 were accompanied by the rallying cry "Silver!", which played the same role as the cry "Hep-Hep!" in Germany in 1819. Other factors involved were the rise of Czech rural cooperatives at the time, clearly directed against Jewish (and German) middlemen and merchants; the emancipation of Jews in Austria; the military draft in view of the imminent war against Prussia; and the economic crisis of 1865-66.
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