Hep-Hep riots

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hep-Hep riots were pogroms against Jews in Germany and other Central European countries including Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The antisemitic violence began on August 2, 1819 in Würzburg. It lasted for months and spread to several neighboring countries: Denmark, Poland, Latvia and Bohemia. Many Jews were killed (exact number of casualties is unknown) and much Jewish property was destroyed.

[edit] History

As Jewish Emancipation progressed, German Jews were becoming competitors for Christian guilds in the economy. Antisemitic publications were common in the contemporary German press.

[edit] Name

"Hep-Hep" was the perpetrators' derogatory rallying cry. According to some sources,^[1] it is an acronym for Latin: "Hierosolyma est perdita" (Jerusalem is lost), a rallying cry of the Crusaders. According to others, it is derived from the traditional herding cry of German peasants.

[edit] References