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Page 10 The Southern Israelite Ill-Fated Crown Prince Whose Incognito Comments on Early Jew-Baiting in Austria Are Remarkable Documents By LOUIS RITTENBERG Reprinted by courtesy of the American Hebrew. year also witnesses a rather piquant contraversey provoked by President Masaryk of Czechoslovakia. He is reported to have told I)r. Georg Bernhard of Berlin that the Hapsburg family is of Jew ish descent. Something of this curious revelation is chronicled elsewhere on this page. Below we reprint translations of those of Crown Prince Rudolf’s public statements which pertain to the Jewish question of his day. It is no mere presumption to speculate on what might have hap pened—whether or not the World War and the present reactionary spirit in Austria might not have been averted—had Rudolf been spared long enough to succeed his father on the throne. In the harrowing days of the anti-Jewish street riots in Prague, in the spring of 1883, there appeared a letter in the Neues Wiener Tagblatt (dated March 18, 1883), captioned “Noble Fensterein- werfer” (Aristocratic Window Smashers). The letter, addressed to the publisher of the leading Austrian oppositionist journal, car ried the legend “Special Despatch from Prague”. It read as follows: “I jot down these thoughts in haste in order to apprise you of an episode which, to my mind, demands public attention. Several days ago, toward evening, a number of blue-blooded social snobs of this city went on a window-smashing rampage through the Ghetto, in order to give vent in an aristocratic manner to their political convictions. “At the head of this hand of ruffians was the son of the hypo critical Count Richard C., heir of the childless Count H. Only one of these hoodlums, Count S., managed to escape. The others were rounded up by the police. They were obliged to spend the night at the police station. Next morning our friend Stejskal had them brought before him and reprimanded them at length. The whole inci- ♦ _♦ Anent the Jewish Descent of the Hapshurgs Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary, victim of a love-feud, whose absorption in the social and cultural affairs of his country are here revealed for the first time. Just now, when Austria seems hopefully to be emerging from its battle with reac tionary tendencies, it is timely to recall that nearly half a century ago the ill-fated Crown Prince Rudolf, of the Austro-IIungary mon archy, sounded perhaps the first vigorous warning against the ravages of anti-Semit ism, which he foresaw. That his fellow- citizens never knew about his solicitude is duo to the fact that, being a member of royalty, he was not permitted to voice his opinions publicly. A man of unusual cultural attainments, and an ardent opponent of militarism, he took a deep interest in the affairs of his country; in deed, recently discovered doc uments reveal him as being now and then in disagree ment with the generally fair- minded policies of his sover eign father. It is revealed in these new records, unearthed in the ar chives of Vienna, that Crown Prince Rudolf felt very keen Iv on the subject of racial antagonism. His whole atti tude, as disclosed in these im portant documents, breathe a spirit of vision, liberality, and understanding quite extraor dinary in those days, espe cially among royalty. The timeliness of reproduc ing the sentiments of Crown Prince Rudolf is enhanced by two other factors. This hap pens to be the year during which numerous celebrations throughout the former empire commemorated the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Emperor Franz Josef. This President Thomas G. Masaryk of Czechoslovakia, in a recent conversation with Professor Georg Bernhard of the German Reichstag, made allusion to the fact that the Austrian royal family, when it was still in power, caused the greatest portion of an edition of Meyer’s “Konversationslexikon” to he destroyed because it contained an assertion to the effect that” the Hapshurgs were of Jewish descent”. Certain Viennese families still have iti their possession copies of the fourth edition of Meyer’s “Konversationslexikon”, which appeared in 1887, and in the seventh volume of which (on page 987) the statement is made that historiog raphers of the House of Hapsburg in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries traced the origin of the Hapshurgs to the Roman family Pierleoni, from which there also descended a pope, Anacletus II, in the twelfth century. The Pierleonis were of Jewish descent. Concerning the history of the Pierleoni family the following information is given : “Under Pope Leo IX a Jew was the first finan cial adviser and creditor of the Vatican. At the urgent instance of his papal protector, the ambi tious man became a Christian, and was given the name of Bendictus Christianus. His son was bap tized by the pope himself, receiving the name of his baptismal godfather, Leo. Leo’s daughters mar ried into the most select noble families of Rome. Leo had a magnificent castle near the Marcellus Theater. His son Petrus Leonis, called also Pier leoni (a name which (Continued on page 47) hmperor Frans Josef of Austria-Hungry, zuho leas often at odds until his son, Rudolf, in mat ters of governmental policy and zvas unazvare of his writings. Princess Stephanie, zvife of Rudolf and J m //■' of the Belgian monarch, zvlio had no kn. ieled , of the things that agitated her royal consort mind. dent is highly amusing and, in my opinion, ought to be of interest to readers of the Tagblatt. “If some hapless wood-chopper sma.dit- the window of a Jew, the authorities usu ally make much ado about it. But then 1 feudal fellow’s .... seem to he unhindered in their rowdyism!” Crown Prince Rudolf cherished an inti mate friendship for Dr. Moritz Szeps, hri: liant journalist and publisher of the Neues Wiener Tag blatt. This friendship en dured from 1882 until the tragic death of the Austrian heir to the throne. Doctor Szeps also left some diary entries on several eon versations he had with the Crown Prince. Perhaps the most interesting among the-' jottings is the record ot a discussion during the ehaotie days surrounding the ritual libel of Tisza eszlar. Crown Prince is quoted a* follows: “Such is our nobility! It has not the slightest notion where a casually thrown inav stop. Really, it > s 11 difficult to foresee t anti-Semitic movemen'. " n " it has perpetrated it' l 1 : pose will turn upon the hie landlords. Assuming that tri- Jews are to be complete!/' plundered, what will the dun defers find? Furnitur. ami household objects. A m 1,1 hand dealer will pa: little for these, In ad they are likely to find cash and quantities ot (Continued on pag*