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2Years of Challenge and Growth The Jewish Minority in Czechoslovakia (1918–38) A national state or a state of nations? This question touches the core and the essence of the First Republic and its fate and as such lends itself to various interpretations. The Czechs constituted but half the population of the new state; however, together with the Slovaks, they made up the decisive majority , the raison d’être of the ‘‘Czechoslovak nation,’’ which in a broader context was embraced by the ‘‘Czechoslovak Jews’’ as well.∞ Aside from Czechs and Slovaks, the new democratic Czechoslovakia established on October 28, 1918, in the wake of the collapse of the multinational Austro-Hungarian monarchy included a number of other ethnic groups: Germans , Hungarians, Ruthenes, Jews, Poles, and Gypsies. It was the thirteenth largest state in Europe, with an area of 54,244 square miles, incorporating the provinces of Bohemia, Moravia, part of Silesia, Slovakia, and Subcarpathian Ruthenia.≤ According to the Declaration of Independence issued by President Masaryk on October 18, 1918, in Washington, the new state was to ‘‘guarantee complete freedom of conscience, religion and science, literature and art, speech and press, and the right of assembly and petition. The Church shall be separated from the State . . . The rights of the minorities shall be safeguarded by proportional representation. National minorities shall enjoy equal rights. The Government shall be parliamentary in form and shall recognize the principles of initiative and referendum.’’≥ The main feature of future foreign policy of the Czechoslovak state was outlined by the president in his first message (December 22, 1918) to the members of the Prague National Assembly: ‘‘The Republic will be a barrier against the German plan of conquest toward the East,’’ and for this purpose a years of challenge and growth | 27 confederation of the small states extending from the Baltic to the Adriatic should be created.∂ On the very day the republic was proclaimed the representatives of the newly created Jewish National Council (Národní rada židovská), led by its chairman Dr. Ludvík Singer and vice-chairmen Dr. Max Brod and Karel Fischl, appeared before the Czech National Committee (Národní výbor).∑ They submitted a memorandum the gist of which was a claim for recognition of a Jewish nationality with minority rights as well as for state recognition of the religious community. The demand for minority rights was taken up at the Paris Peace Conference by the Comité des délégations juives, augmented by the Prague representatives —Ludvík Singer, Hugo Bergmann, and Norbert Adler. In the course of discussions with the Jewish National Council in Paris, Foreign Minister Eduard Beneš clearly rejected including ‘‘any specific clause pertaining to the protection of the Jews,’’ his opposition stemming from the conviction that such a clause would hint at some mistrust on the part of the Allied Powers.∏ (Talking with Nahum Sokolow, Beneš even claimed that signing the Jewish articles of the Polish treaty would constitute a ‘‘yellow badge’’—a stigma that Czechoslovakia would not deserve.) His second argument, perhaps carrying even more weight, implied that inclusion of Jewish minority rights would imply taking sides with one party, namely Zionism, versus assimilationism. Notwithstanding his overt sympathies, even Masaryk could not publicly approve such a motion. (Such an act would have antagonized the Czech-Jewish movement already aggravated over the achievement of national Jews functioning as political representatives.) Although uneasy about the chauvinistic euphoria, the Jewish public at large viewed the new development favorably, pinning its hopes on President Masaryk ’s uprightness and moral rectitude.π But the transition period after the overthrow of the old Austrian regime loosed evil temper and hypernationalistic ill feeling. Anti-Semitic demonstrations and looting took place in Prague and some other localities, occasionally accompanied by bodily attacks.∫ The most severe assault occurred in the Moravian Holešov; the riots in December 1918 were initiated by members of an army unit from Kroměříž, who together with the local mob looted and destroyed Jewish homes and institutions.Ω Among the victims were Hugo Gratzer (aged forty-three) and Heiman Grünbaum (twentyone ); ironically enough, both were assaulted on their return from the front. Police curfew and a special unit brought in from Brno finally put an end to the three-day pogrom. This was not the last of the rioting. May 1919 saw demonstrations against high prices and profiteering, and Jewish shops and businesses were looted again [3.17.162.247] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 12:26 GMT...

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