Presenter: Roger Lustig
Format: Download MP3 Audio

Before emancipation in the 19th century, there were few vital registers for Jews. In Prussia and elsewhere, such information was reported in ?Tabellen,? periodic reports on the Jewish population, useful for taxation, etc. This is a talk about Tabellen and their pitfalls, based on a uniquely rich collection of them. How do you hide 200 people in a town of 2,000? For 20 years the Jews of Flatow did just that. Not until 8 years after Frederick the Great had conquered West Prussia could his government convince him not to expel the Jews. The compromise: a new underclass, the ?Emigranten,? to be expatriated when possible. In Flatow their numbers seemed small and stable?until the city government questioned 100 Jews. They and their families, mostly born in Flatow, were not in the thousands of pages of Tabellen! By then there was nowhere to expel them, either.