Jews and politics in Hungary in the Dualist era, 1867–1914

Abstract

To what extent can one speak of “Jewish politics” in Hungary in the Dualist era? With emancipation in 1867, Hungarian Jewry officially ceased to exist as a legally and politically separate body. Naturally, at least one specific political interest still bound together Hungary's Jews; they all shared the common desire not to suffer on account of their being Jewish. Beyond that, however, Hungarian Jewry was not a politically undivided group. In terms of its relationship to Jewish tradition, levels of acculturation and socioeconomic status, the Jewish population, which had already been far from homogeneous before 1867, underwent a far‐reaching polarisation in subsequent decades. Furthermore, since Judaism was officially defined on a purely denominational basis, Jews were theoretically non‐existent on any level other than the strictly religious. Consequently, they could not fight for any specific political, social or economic interest. Nevertheless, from Orthodox Jewry to upper and middle‐class Jews, each group in its own way fought for specific interests, according to its own well‐understood needs. This paper examines how the different sub‐groups of Hungarian Jewry strove – rather successfully – for the defence of their particular group interests.