Jevrejska Zajednica

Position of Jews under Ottoman and Habsburg in Belgrade: Strangers, Minorities and Collaborators (XVII–XVIII century)

The Jews resided in Belgrade since the Medieval Ages, but after Belgrade became Ottoman city in XVI century, the Sephardi Jews become dominant. Their community flourished during the XVI century except for the last two decades, when the community was for the first time almost wiped out. In XVIII century two decades of Austrian governance brought many changes – among others, a big migration of Ashkenazi Jews to Belgrade took place. Peace treaties between Austria and Ottoman Empire, like the one in Passarowitz of 1718, enabled further flourishing of Jewish community in Belgrade but also migrations towards the North. Turbulent times of last decades of XVIII and first few years of XIX century did not harm Jewish community except in 1797. Th e Napoleonic Wars in Europe gave new opportunities for trade, smuggling and enrichment to Belgrade Jews. The Belgrade Jewish community was almost completely annihilated in 1807, when Belgrade was taken over by Serbs during the First Serbian Uprising. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to put into context the position of Jews in Belgrade during Austrian and Turkish rule. Sources were carefully selected and this paper is actually an upgrade and theoretical-critical review of literature on this subject available so far. The authors of this paper tried to achieve better insight into Jewish position and criticize discourse on Jewish community as excommunicated from major social circumstances or, even more oft en, observed out of its social context. In the period considered in this paper both Serbs and Jews, in some period even Turks and other nations, were from different perspectives considered „foreigners” in Belgrade. Even authorities, being either Turkish or Austrian, were ethnically mixed, and that made human relations in the city at the border of great empires even more complicated. The authors are of opinion that, on one hand, reviewing dynamic ethnic map of urban Belgrade in its early modern times can help understanding complexity of Jewish status. On the other hand, it is necessary to highlight different cultural values and institutions of that community.