The conference will take place on 24 and 25 May 2023 in the Konvikt building (Olomouc, Univerzitní 225) in the Auditorium Maximum.
The nearest tram stop is Náměstí Republiky (Nám. Republiky) with lines 2, 3, 4 and 6. All of them go from the main station (Hlavní nádraží).
8:00–9:30 Conference opening
8:00–9:00 Registration
9:00–9:30 Conference opening
9:30–10:30 Chronological Transformations of Jewish Communities (I)
Unofficial Jewish Communities in Vienna and their Leadership before 1848
Mag. Dr. Friederike Ruth Winkler | Kirchliche Pädagogische Hochschule Wien/Krems, Institut Jüdische Religion
This paper will compare the conditions under which the Sefardic and the Ashkenazic community in early 19th century Vienna existed although they were not meant to exist officially. Both were not allowed to form an official community, but of course both had de facto Rabbis and other leading personalities.
Attempts to Manage a Crisis: Bohemian Jewish Community, the Revolution, and the State, 1848-1851
Prof. Jindrich Toman | University of Michigan, USA
The paper addresses activities of Jewish organizations in Bohemia between 1848 and 1851, highlighting the work of the “Committee for the Representation of Jewish Interests” and the role of the so-called Jewish “Notables,” an advisory body that was asked by the state to work out statues of Bohemian Jewish communities.
10:30–11:00 Coffee break
11:00–12:00 Chronological Transformations of Jewish Communities (II)
Limits of Autonomy. Jewish Communities and School Authorities in post 1867 Galicia
Dr. Alicja Maślak-Maciejewska | Jagiellonian University, Kraków
The paper is devoted to the control of the Jewish communities over religious instruction of Jewish Youth in public schools in post 1867 Galicia. Supervising and providing such instruction was one of important prerogratives of communities, in some aspects shared with the school authorities. The paper will analyze this relationship.
Autonomy of Jews in the era of the Second Polish Republic
Dr. Paweł Fiktus | University of Law, Poland
The subject of the paper will be a discussion of the autonomy of Jews in Poland in the Second Republic of Poland. After World War I, Jews constituted one of the largest ethnic groups in Poland. The question then arose as to what scope of freedom they should be entitled to. They had a great deal of freedom in religious matters. It was guaranteed on the basis of the Regulation of the President of the Human Rights Defender (having the force of law) and regulations. Along with religious freedom came administrative freedom.
12:00–13:30 Lunch break
13:30–14:30 Cultural and Ethnic Diversity of Jewish Communities (I)
Jewish Communities through the Lens of a Museum Collection
PhDr. Lenka Uličná, Ph.D. | Palacky University, Kurt and Ursula Schubert Centre for Jewish Studies; Jewish Museum in Prague
The paper will offer a methodological overview and examples of how the museum collection can be used for research of Jewish communities.
Communities of Readership: the New Republic of Letters of Italian Maskilim
Prof. Asher Salah | Bezalel Academy of Arts and Hebrew Univeristy of Jerusalem
This research aims at establishing the real and imagined borders of the community of readership as they emerge in the transcultural transfers of texts and ideas in the works of five Italian Maskilim at the turn of the 18th century.
14:30–15:00 Federations of Jewish Communities
Efforts towards the Creation of Unions of Jewish Religious Communities in Cisleithania and Czechoslovakia
Mgr. Daniel Baránek, Ph.D. | Institute of History, Czech Academy of Sciences
The paper focuses on effort of Jewish communities to create provincial or statewide unions (federations). The Cisleithanian Act from 1890 recognised the autonomy of Jewish religious communities. It also recognised the already existing provincial Jewish organisations (e.g. Moravian Provincial Rabbinate), however it did not allow to create new supra-communal organizations. Hence, the Cisleithanian communities in several provinces created such an union illegaly, which were legalized only after the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy.
15:00–15:30 Coffee break
15:30–16:00 Jewish History Research
History of the Jewish Community of Olomouc in an App and in a Specialized Map.
Linking History with Space and Modern Technologies as a Communication Tool for Contemporary Science
Mgr. Ivana Cahová Ph.D. | Palacký University in Olomouc, Kurt and Ursula Schubert Center for Jewish Studies, Czechia
The paper will focus on the role of advanced modern technologies in the humanities, with an emphasis on research and the subsequent effective communication of the results of scholarly research on the regionally focused history of Jews in Moravia to the general public, both in the field of education and in the public sphere.
16:00–18:00 Guided City Walk
18:30 Joint dinner
9:00–10:30 Jewish Communal Institutions
Rabbi Baruch Placzek and his Community – the History of an Alienation
Dr. Monika Halbinger | Freelance historian, Germany
The lecture will examine the relationship between Baruch Placzek, the last Moravian Chief Rabbi, and the Brno Jewish community, which he headed from 1960. Although the sources are thin, certain statements can be made regarding the dynamic between rabbi and community, with reference to the year 1866 in particular.
Kosher on Wheels. Aspects of “Mobile Kashrut” in the Habsburg Monarchy
Dr. Christoph Lind | Institute for Jewish History in Austria
The technical progress of the 19th century made not only people, but also kosher food mobile. Everything that could be packed and transported was put on its way. This „mobile kashrut“ connected Jewish communities throughout the monarchy, but also individuals – for example, in relation to ritual purity and observance.
The „Office“ Keeping Jewish Records in Galicia – between the State and the Jewish Community
dr. Małgorzata Śliż-Marciniec | Poland
The speech aims to present the situation of officials keeping vital records for Jews in Galicia, based on the provisions of the regulation of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Education of March 15, 1875. The tasks, requirements and rights of this particular group of Jewish functionaries will be discussed.
10:30–11:00 Coffee break
11:00–12:00 Territorial Diversity of Jewish Communities
Kehila, Jewish Self-Government in the Pale of Settlement
Mgr. Kristina Mikhalek | Charles University, Prague
Kehila, in the broader sense a community, in the more common sense a form of self-government in 16th-18th century Poland and later in the Russia between 1772-1844. The term refers to the rule of the Jewish community, which was the mediator between it and the authorities.
Jewish Communities in the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia from the Croatian-Hungarian Settlement to the End of Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy
Dr.sc. Ljiljana Dobrovšak | Institute of the social sciences Ivo Pilar, Zagreb, Croatia
The lecture will discuss the activities of Jewish communities in Croatia in the period 1868 – 1918, their cooperation with Croatian institutions, internal conflicts, and the attempt to establish the Union of Jewish Communities in Croatia and Slavonia, which until 1918, due to disagreements among the Jewish community leadership in Zagreb, was not established. Until 1918, more than thirty Jewish communities (Jewish religious communities) were established on the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia’s (without Dalmatia) territory.
12:00–13:30 Lunch break
13:30–15:00 Cultural and Ethnic Diversity of Jewish Communities (II)
Tombstones, Stonemasons, and Mental Maps: Jewish Graveyard Networks in Croatia and Beyond
Dr. Vladimir Levin | Center for Jewish Art, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The paper proposes a methodology for understanding the business networks and mental maps of Jewish and non-Jewish communities in central and eastern Europe from the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries. The methodology is based on scrupulous documentation of Jewish tombstones, especially the signatures of stonemasons.
Out of the Country and into the City. Reform Rabbis and the Jewish Emancipation in Bamberg and Basel
Moritz Bauerfeind | University of Basel, Switzerland
Focal points of my studies are on the Rabbi of Hégenheim, Moïse Nordmann (1809-1884) and on Samson Wolf Rosenfeld (~1780-1862), Rabbi of Bamberg, particularly on their written works and public appearances. I argue that these two proponents of Jewish reform are overlooked but nonetheless important figures who gained notoriety far beyond their own communities. In a comparative study I am aiming to show how vibrant and fruitful the discourse about Emancipation and Civil rights was fought at the peripheries and in the countryside.
Leading Elites in the City or Mocked Victims of Bullying in the Countryside? Moravian Jewry prior to World War I
Mgr. Ivan Puš, Ph.D. | Palacký University Olomouc
Social and cultural differences between Moravian Jews impacted the external image of them. The thinking and actions of the most population was then influenced by politicians and nationalist activists. Through the analysis of the Moravian Diet’s sources and others, images of Moravian Jews will be analyzed and compared.
15:00–15:30 Coffee break
15:30–16:30 Cultural and Ethnic Diversity of Jewish Communities (III)
Max Pleschner (1870-1932): „I Would Like the Czech Nation to be Proud of its Jews“
Mgr. Maeva Berghmans | Palacký University Olomouc, Czechia
Max Pleschner (1870-1932) founded the economic daily newspaper Tribuna and co-edited it until 1928. Through published and manuscript sources, his life and work from 1900 until his death can be summarized through the following perspective: how did he contribute to the Czech-Jewish community in the Czech lands and in Czechoslovakia?
Kehilla and Zionism in Hungary in the 1930s
Dr. Attila Novak | National University for Public Service, Hungary
The lecture deals with the relationship between the Hungarian religious communities (especially the Budapest Neologue) and the Zionist movement in the 1930s, which was not without conflict.
16:30–17:00 Conference closing