Jewish life in Fin de Siècle

Hungary

Nima Rashedan

Haskalah in Hungary

Initially unlike Germany full confrontation been avoided

Early Clashes occurred over Primary school education for example in Pressburg

Berlin, Hamburg : Prayer Organ. Aharon Chorin(Aarad) ,Mosheh Kunitz(Buda)

NeologJudaism

Hungarian Jewish Congress, December 14, 1868

Urban, Hungarian speaking and more prosperous

Seminaries sponsored by state

In 1920

46.3% of the medical doctors, 41.2% of the veterinarians, 21.4% of the pharmacists of Hungary were Jewish, as well as 34.3% of the journalists, 24.5% of performers of music, 22.7% of the theater actors, 16.8% of the painters and sculptors.

Owners of land of more than 1000 hold, i.e. 570 hectares, 19.6%were Jewish.

Among the 2739 factories in Hungary, 40.5% had a Jewish owner.

The most highly educated group

By 1900 Jews has become the most highly educated group in Hungary.

Secondary schools from 5% in 1853 to 20% in 1903

University from 13% in 1851 to 30% in 1900

Half of the students in Medical faculty

30% of Law faculty were Jewish

Budapest

Jews amounted to about one-third of Theresa and Elizabeth districts.

Elizabeth district was the most crowded of all, with 67.6 inhabitants per house in 1900(city averag 44.2%)

No Ghetto in Budapest but poorer Jews were living in Ghetto-like streets between Carl and Elizabeth(Kiraly street 70% Jewish)

Synagogues – Monuments

1860: Synagogue of Dohány utca

Synagogues – Monuments

1866: Neolog Synagogue in Újpest, 1000 seats

Synagogues – Monuments

Neolog Synagogue in Újpest, 1000 seats

Synagogues – Monuments

Budapest, Kazinczy St - Dob St corner, an orthodox synagogue built by Béla Loefflerand Sándor Loeffler in 1911-13, in Art Nouveau style

• References:

• Hungary: Ratio of persons belonging to the Israelite Church (1900), Scanned and prepared by János Bogárdi / Radix. March 1999.

• The Jews of Hungary: History, Culture, Psychology, By Raphael Patai

• Ágai, Adolf. Az örök zsidó. Régi naplók, életképek (1862-1906) [The Eternal Jew: Old Diaries and Life Sketches (1862-1906)].

• Migration Patterns in Late imperial Austria

• Between Orthodox Judaism and Neology: The Origins of the Status Quo Movement

• Howard Lupovitch