Short stories, German -- Translations into English
Reviewing in reverie the procession of events in his own life, Kalimann
could see, as in a mirror, the phases through which his co-religionists
in Hungary had passed in their efforts toward liberty. He had lived
during that dark period when the Jew dared claim no rights among his
fellow-countrymen. He had suffered evil, he had endured disgrace, and
the storehouse of his memory held many a tragi-comic picture of the
days that were no more. But he had also lived in times when the spirit
of tolerance took possession of men's minds, and he had been swept
along on that tidal movement inaugurated by Count Szechenyi, the
greatest of Hungarians, through his celebrated book, "Light."
The revolution of 1848 brought about the new Hungarian Constitution,
and put an end to feudal government. Light penetrated into the darksome
streets of the Ghetto, and through the windows opened to receive the
Messiah, a saviour entered proclaiming liberty and equality to the
downtrodden and oppressed.
Crushed and forsaken, as all Israel was, it gratefully responded to
this message of universal brotherhood.
The Hungarian Jew had found a country, and from that moment he had
thrown aside his native timidity, and found the strength to display his
patriotism with an ardor and enthusiasm worthy of the cause. Thousands
quitted the Ghettos, and gathered around the tricolored flag. Among the
warm-hearted soldiers was Simcha Kalimann. He followed Kossuth as a
simple honved (volunteer), and fought at Kapolna, Vaitzen, and Temesvar.
High hopes and golden dreams were succeeded by despondency and
disillusion; then supervened years of impatient waiting,--a standing
with folded arms when so much remained to be done, a time of despair,
of restless suffering. But the Jew had acquired his franchise, and
gratefully he remembered those to whom he owed this priceless blessing.
When the Austro-Hungarian Convention gave Hungary her king and
constitution, the hearts of the people of the Ghetto beat high. This
time, however, liberty did not make her entry with clang of arms and
beat of drum,--peace and reconciliation were her handmaidens, and
progress followed in her footsteps.
It was at this epoch in Hungary's history that Israelites began to
speak the language of the country, and to accept Hungarian names. To
her credit be it said that no such shameful sale was made as disgraced
the time of Joseph II., when surnames were sold, according to their
attractiveness or desirability, to the highest bidder.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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