Page 102

At that time the phrase "expulsion of the Jews" was almost in the mind of everyone in the kingdom. Here is an appeal issued on 8 March 1848 concerning the Jews:

"Children of the nation, with the bitterest pain we have observed--and everyone who hopes for this nation's welfare and seeks freedom for it has observed with us--that destructive hands are working to postpone the day on which the people will escape the captivity of usurers and creditors and the burdens under which they have labored for the last ten years, by weakening the people's resolve. We are certain that when we call upon you, we act for you and speak in your name. It is a sacred duty, the duty of every honorable patriot, everyone who does not trifle with the name of freedom, every friend of the people and champion of freedom, to free himself and cast off this heavy yoke. Whoever extends a helping hand to those persecuted Jews is a traitor, an advocate of disorder, and a destroyer of the nation and its glory. The nation is shackled in oppression and is not free."

Signatures followed.

As an example of alleged Jewish influence upon a German, consider Georg Herwegh, who married the beautiful Jewish woman Emma Siegmund in 1848 and went with her to Paris, where he volunteered to fight the movement in Germany. He lived in France. When death approached him in 1875, he summoned his youngest son and told him: "If Prussia disappears after my death, place on my grave the following inscription: 'Rejoice, father, and rest