Selections from the Kurant

1686–1687

About This Entry

Amsterdam was home to some of the earliest printed newspapers, among them the first Yiddish newspaper, the Dinstagishe un Freytagishe Kuranten (the Kurant). The earliest issue dates from August 9, 1686, and the last from December 5, 1687 (if not the final issue, it was certainly among the last). Edited and typeset by the proselyte Moses Bar Abraham, from Nikolsburg, the newspaper was first printed by Uri Fayvesh Halevi and later by David de Castro Tartas. Prior to this, Tartas had printed a newspaper for the city’s Sephardic community, the Gazeta, the first Jewish newspaper ever published. The Kurant, which appeared on Tuesdays and Fridays, focused largely on foreign affairs, in particular the war between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs, and also described natural disasters as well as some sensational events. Its content, divided into sections according to geographical location, was based on information collated from Dutch newspapers.

August 23, 1686

Lisbon, July 26. Here three rich Portuguese were detained on suspicion of secretly having practiced their faith. And their lives would have been spared if, God forbid, they would have renounced the Jewish faith. But they said: We were born from Jews, we will die as Jews as well. And the three of them were all burnt. But God is a righteous judge, who will be able to find the innocent bloodshed in due time. Amen Sela.

September 24, 1686

Buda, September 8. [ . . . ] More than three hundred Jews were in the synagogue and the Imperial soldiers wanted to kill them, but the Brandenburg general and his troops let them live. However, they took these Jews captive, together with a few hundred Turks. [ . . . ] The Jewish captives are used for all kinds of work and are obliged to assist in rebuilding the city. [ . . . ]

Vienna, September 12. The Jewish and Turkish captives will be taken from Buda to Vienna.

September 27, 1686

Vienna, September 15. [ . . . ] The whole city of Buda has been cleaned and purged. The Imperial soldiers have thrown the dead bodies of the Turks and the Jews into the Danube. But they buried the dead bodies of members of their own faith.

October 1, 1686

Vienna, September 18. [ . . . ] The Jews who live under the Emperor collected money and sent two Jews to Buda to ransom the Jewish captives. And for each Jew they had to pay one hundred or sometimes two hundred rijksdaalders, and more than four hundred small and great Jews already have been ransomed [ . . . ] The Jews in Buda are said to have indicated a treasure to the Imperials of three times hundred thousand ducats and they want to bring this money to Vienna as a war contribution.

October 29, 1686

Vienna, October 16. [ . . . ] In Buda about twenty-five hundred Turks are still imprisoned and among them are about four hundred Turkish children. But only twenty Turkish women are imprisoned. But the imprisoned Jews have all been ransomed by their brothers.

January 17, 1687

Berlin, January 4. Because Lieutenant General Schöning from Brandenburg let the Jews of Buda live, the Jews from Berlin or Vienna presented him with a splendid gift.

August 26, 1687¹

Amsterdam, August 25. From East India letters have been received that thousands of black and white Jews have been living there for about fourteen hundred years, and they settled there after the destruction of Jerusalem, and great, wise men are among them, and they have the same books of Torah as here in this country.

July 29, 1687

Amsterdam, July 28. [ . . . ] In Hamburg a High German Jew was murdered, almost in the same way as two years ago in Amsterdam. But the murderers are being detained in Altona and they will soon receive their just deserts.

August 1, 1687

Hamburg, July 25. The Jew-murderer with his wife and maid are still detained in Altona. A message was sent to Glückstadt asking whether they can be released. Because they committed the murder in Hamburg, it is considered preferable to punish them in Hamburg as well.

September 12, 1687²

Hamburg, September 5. On Tuesday the citizens in Altona ruled that the Jew-murderer be decapitated and buried. And that the maid be whipped and branded. The father and the mother were found innocent. But it is yet unknown what the supreme court will deem good or will rule.

September 19, 1687

Amsterdam, September 18 [ . . . ] From Hamburg a report arrived that the Jew-murderer is still detained in Altona and his case was sent to several universities to learn in what way he should be put to death.

September 26, 1687

Hamburg, September 20. Finally the Jew-murderer got his legitimate verdict, that he will be broken on the wheel alive.

October 3, 1687

Hamburg, September 26. The Jew-murderer was broken on the wheel alive.

October 10, 1687

Hamburg, October 4. After the Jew-murderer was broken on the wheel alive, recently, the maid who helped him with the murder was also whipped and branded. But in Hamburg in the New Town some boys and sailors ransacked two Jewish houses and beat many other Jews and caused great mischief and things might have turned out badly, but the mounted guards intervened and dispersed the mob. Subsequently an edict was issued that very firm action will be taken against unruly persons of this kind.

Translated by Hilde Pach-Oosterbroek.

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Notes

This translation was revised by the translator after its initial publication.

[Dated incorrectly August 27, 1687.—Trans.]

[Incorrectly dated September 13, 1687.—Trans.]

Credits

Moses Bar Abraham, ed., excerpts from Kurant (Newspaper), trans. Hilde Pach, from Hilde Pach, Arranging Reality. The Editing Mechanisms of the World’s First Yiddish Newspaper, the ‘Kurant’ (Amsterdam, 1686–1687), PhD diss., University of Amsterdam, 2014, pp. 210–15, 227–29, 231–32. Rosenthaliana Library, Amsterdam. Used with permission of the translator.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.