Central College’s Timothy Olin, associate professor of history, published an article in Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies. Olin’s article, “Precarious Tolerance: Jews on the Early Modern Habsburg Frontier” examines the perceived status of Jews in the Habsburg area of eastern Europe in the 18th century.
Olin’s abstract states: “As the Habsburgs expanded their territories throughout the eighteenth century, they gained control over a wide variety of ethno-religious groups. To secure the frontier, administrators favored some groups, like German-speaking colonists, while only ‘tolerating’ others, like the Jews. The government had a dilemma when dealing with the Jews …. While Jews gained more rights and recognition of their important place on the frontier, they nevertheless remained tolerated rather than accepted into that society.”
The article is available online and in Geisler Library at Central.
