Oldal 469 [469]
OCR
E 466 Eva Krekovicová, Zuzana Panczová Cernoknazník and Images of the Jew During the first period of its existence (1861—1864), Cernoknazník was not markedly anti-Semitic. V. Paulíny-Tóth took an accommodating approach toward Jews, not attacking them but rather attempting to win their cooperation in the struggle for equal rights for all ethnic groups in Hungary.’? Pauliny-Téth set forth Cernokhaznik's approach to nationality issues in Hungary already in the magazine’s first issue: “The chief role of Cernokhaznik will be: to dispel ill will, to quiet wrathful thoughts, and especially to maintain good relations between Magyars and Slovaks, so that the German will not grow fat over their destruction but will rather shrink. Beyond this, we will commiserate with fools and tempt the shameless; we will lament the proud, but the evil we will simply sweep away” (Cernoknaznik 1861, vol. 1, p. 1). Caricatures of Jews appear in this magazine only rarely, and then only in a neutral depiction of the stereotype of the distillery owner (ill. 204). The Jew is here shown, on the basis of a traditional visual stereotype, in a long coat and striped pants and a long double beard, in an obligingly hunched posture before his customer. A notable change in this attitude took place with the renewed publication of Cernoknazntk (1876-1910) under the editorship of Gustav Kazimir Zechenter-Laskomersky and, later, Juraj Cajda.? From the start, the new publication contained caricatures of the Jew as a privileged parasite, profiting at the expense of Christians (ill. 203). This shift in the image of the Jew was related to Slovak national activists’ disappointment with the development of nationality politics in Hungary and, in particular, with the government's failure to grant collective minority rights in the Nationality Law of 1868. In the eyes of Slovak national activists, this contrasted sharply with the liberal government policy of the previous year, which had led to the so-called Emancipation Law of 1867, which granted equal civil and political rights to Jews. The fact that the government had passed the Emancipation Law one year before the Nationality Law was perceived by Slovak elites as a manifestation of the government's favoring of Jews over other non-Magyar ethnic groups (Rybaiova 12 This attitude comes forth especially in Pauliny-Téth’s Letters to the Jews (Listy k Zidom), in which the author proposed cooperation in the struggle for national emancipation. And in Cernoknagntk in 1861 we see, for example, the report that “Mr. Leopold Popper, an Israelite from Hlinnik,” granted an interest-free loan to eight villages for the purchase of church bells and was prepared to contribute to the foundation of Matica slovenskd. “Indeed it is high time that the Israelites in the territory of Slovakia joined us in declaring their nationality and their belonging to the people. We Slovaks, their colleagues in oppression, hold out to them our brotherly right hand” (Cernoknaznik 1861, vol. 15, p. 3). 3 Gustäv Kazimir Zechenter-Laskomersky (1824-1908) was a doctor, writer, and amateur natural scientist. Like V. Pauliny-Töth, he participated as a Slovak volunteer in the 1848-1849 revolution; he was a co-founder of Matica slovenskd and later of the Slovak Museum Society (Muzedlna slovenskd spoloénost). Juraj Cajda (1844-1913) was a Slovak journalist, actor, and director who was expelled from secondary school for Panslavism and later dedicated himself to critical political journalism and satire. He was a friend of the renowned Czech painter Mikol4§ Ale§ (1852-1913), who contributed a number of cartoons to Cernoknaznik.
