Das Exil der Prager Judenschaft von 1745—1748
The Exile of the Prague Jewish Community from 1745 to 1748

Author(s): Josef Bergl
Subject(s): Micro-Economics, Economic history, 18th Century
Published by: CEEOL Digital Reproductions / Collections
Keywords: Maria Theresia; Habsburg legislation; Jewish creditors; Christian creditors
Summary/Abstract: The author is reconstructing the reasons of the failure of an imperial Edikt issued by Maria Theresia in 1746 that all Jews have to leave Prague within a one-year period. Traditional legislation had not allowed Christian capitalists to deal in credits for interest rates, while the same legeslation had defines a very high interest rate as the minimum Jewish capitalists were obliged to demand when dealing in credits. As a result Christian creditors in Prague had given their capital to Jews and shared with them the difference between high and low interest rates. When the Vienna court issued the Edikt, the mutual financial obligations had become so complex that liquidation of all credits within one year which was the precondition for the ossibility of Jews to pay back to Christians the capital they had given them on a "black credits market" market, was impossible. The Christian creditors jeopardized the anti-Jewish Vienna Edikt in order have a chance to get back their money.

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