Memoriał Józefa Gedalii z Krymu czyli z jednego tysiąc. Czy Karaimi mieszkali w Księstwie Warszawskim?
Memorial by Józef Gedalia of Crimea , or, From One – a Thousand. Did the Karaites Live in the Duchy of Warsaw?

Summary/Abstract: The article looks at the 1812 case of Józef Gedalia, a Karaite from the Crimea, a tobacco merchant, who lived at Senatorska Street in Warsaw, where he also had his shop. Due to the fact that he was ruled to be a Jew, he was ordered to vacate the premises leased by him, which the followers of the Judaic faith were required to do by a decree issued by Frederic Augustus, the Saxon king and Duke of Warsaw. The Karaite filed a protest against the ruling to the police minister and the latter, in turn, referred the matter to the minister of internal and religious affairs. The issue was ultimately resolved by the king in favor of the merchant. It was discovered that documents attached to office correspondence contained interesting additions, such as the “Karaimi” entry in Samuel Bogumił Linde’s Polish dictionary or a list of Karaite people then living in the Duchy of Warsaw, with the names of towns and villages inhabited by them specified. The statistical data concerning the Karaites have been criticized and deemed to be inconsistent with previous knowledge in this respect.

• Details
• Contents