Böhmische Juden als böhmische Juden: Literarische Zeugnisse der 30er-und 40er-Jahre des 19. Jahrhunderts
Bohemian Jews as Bohemian Jews: Literary Documents of the 1830’s and 1840’s

Summary/Abstract: This paper analyzes the ways in which 19th-century Jewish writers from Bohemia negotiated their identity. The main protagonists are two poets of the decades preceding 1848, August Ludwig Frankl (1810–1894) and Siegfried Kapper (1820–1879). Kapper’s poetry collection České listy (1846) is particularly significant. It is analyzed here as a testimony of the changing attitude of Czech Jews to the Habsburg monarchy. Kapper shows a strong interest in Bohemia and the Czechs, while the influence of Bohemian Landespatriotismus (land patriotism) as well as of Reform Judaism is also apparent in his work. The alternative to imperialism that he posits is understood as a prelude to a social and cultural modernization that became increasingly influential in the late 19th century.

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