Iz života dubrovačkih Jevreja u XIX vijeku

Abstract

Padom Republike nastale su bitne promjene u životu dubrovačkih Jevreja. Oni su se, među poslednjim u Evropi, za uvijek oslobodili internacije u getu, žutih vrpca, raznih propisa i izuzetnih zakona kojima su bili žigosani kao prezreni narod. Od tog vremena, oni više ne predstavljaju strano tijelo (corpus estraneum) nego postaju sastavni dio društva u kome žive.

Prava koja su stekli pod francuskom upravom respektovala je i austrijska vlast, iako ih je neko vrijeme, pod uticajem rimokatoličke crkve, pokušavala ograničavati i sprečavati.

Emancipaoija i prisnije druženje sa ostalim građanima izvršili su i na dubrovačke Jevreje, kao i na njihove sunarodnike po čitavom svijetu, dubok psihološki uticaj. Postepeno, gubili su oni svoju zatvorenost, ali, isto tako, i onu međusobnu solidarnost i, donekle, nacionalna osjećanja kojima su se odlikovali dok su ih progonili crkveni i feudalni gospodari. Ponekad bi se i potpuno asimilovali sa svojim sugrađanima.

In the interval between 1815 and 1918, while Dubrovnik was under the Austrian rule, the Jewish colony in this town lived and worked as a free religious group that had been legally emancipated during the previous French administration. The Jews lived gathered round their religious community and they had the right to keep an elementary school of confessional character. Utilizing the records preserved in the Archives of Dubrovnik, and particularly the registers of birth, marriages, and death, the author of the present paper investigated and set forth demographic relations, cultural conditions and economic activity of the Jews of Dubrovnik during the first six decades of Austrian dominion. According to his results, the majority of the Jews of Dubrovnik were gradually falling into distress. Only a few merchants who performed more important and lucrative business transactions managed to hold on. Others, however, fell into such distress that they had to live on social assistance or were obliged to leave Dubrovnik, settling in other towns of Austria or in Turkey. The possibilities of their educational and cultural life were very reduced so that they became unable to keep their school and the cases of some Jew of Dubrovnik studying abroad and attaining a higher level of education was quite exceptional. The number of Jews inhabiting Dubrovnik was on the constant decrease. They suffered from a high death rate among the children and from frequent epidemics. The conditions of their life were for the most part very miserable, for they usually dwelt in old, almost entirely ruined and unhealthy houses, frequently several families in the same flat…