OESTERREICHISCHES CENTRAL ORGAN FUER GLAUBENSFREIHEIT, CULTUR, GESCHICHTE UND LITERATUR DER JUDEN

OESTERREICHISCHES CENTRAL ORGAN FUER GLAUBENSFREIHEIT, CULTUR, GESCHICHTE UND LITERATUR DER JUDEN , German-language Jewish weekly published in Vienna immediately after freedom of the press was granted at the beginning of the 1848 revolution. Its 49 issues appeared from April 4, 1848 to Oct. 25, 1848. The publisher and editor was Isidor *Busch, and Max (Meir) *Letteris also contributed to the first four issues. A Hebrew supplement, Meged Geresh Yeraḥim, edited by Isaac Samuel *Reggio, appeared once (Nisan 5408/1848). Leopold Kompert and Simon Szanto were among its contributors and Busch had many correspondents throughout the Hapsburg monarchy. At first the Central-Organ enthusiastically supported the revolution, taking it for granted that Jewish rights would be secured within the framework of general civic rights. Dealing at length with the legal status of the Jews in various countries, the paper was also sensitive to the social discrepancies within Jewish society and attacked leading Jewish capitalists, Rothschild in particular. The outbreak of the anti-Jewish riots in Hungary, Bohemia, Posen, and Alsace brought about a sharp change in its position. After Kompert had published his article Aufnach Amerika! (May 6, 1848, No. 6), the Central-Organ energetically campaigned for Jewish immigration to the United States, where the Jews were assured of civic equality. Emigration, organization of groups of emigrants, and information for families who intended to emigrate became one of the central themes of the newspaper. The last issue of the newspaper appeared on Oct. 25, 1848, and it probably came to an end as the result of the capture of the city six days later, following the failure of the revolution. Busch himself emigrated to the U.S.

bibliography:

J.A. Helfert, Die Wiener Journalistik im Jahre 1848 (1877), index; G. Kisch, in: Historia Judaica 2 (1940), 65–84; idem, in: pajhs 38 (1948/49), 185–235. add. bibliography: D. Weiss, "Der publizistische Kampf der Wiener Juden um ihre Emanzipation in den Flugschriften und Zeitungen des Jahres 1848" (Ph. D. diss., Vienna University, 1971); J. Toury, Die Juedische Presse im Oesterreichischen Kaiserreich (1983), 12–16, index; B.F. Abrams, in: Bohemia, 31 (1990), 1–20; E. Friesel, in: lbiyb, 47 (2002), 117–149; E. Campagner, Judentum, Nationalitätenprinzip und Identität… (2004), 12, 55–61, 381.

[Avyatar Friesel]