Pulitzer_ A Life in Politics, Print, and Power - James McGrath Morris [270]
By the time: Moravia is now located in the eastern third of the modern Czech Republic. When I visited the Jewish cemetery in Makó in 2006, I found graves for Pulitzers with all three spellings: “Politzer,” “Puliczer,” and “Pulitzer.” András Csillag, “The Hungarian Origins of Joseph Pulitzer,” Hungarian Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1–2 (1987), 193; Peter I. Hidas, “A Brief Outline of the History of Jews of Hungary,” delivered December 13, 1992 at the Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, Westmount, Canada (unpublished, in author’s possession); Lupovitch, Jews at the Crossroads, xviii–xix; András Csillag, Pulitzer József makói származásáról (Makó: Makó Múseum, 1985), 13–14.
In Makó, the Pulitzers: Csillag, “Hungarian Origins,” 194–196.
When Joseph’s father: Ibid., 198; APM, 16; Csillag, Pulitzer József makói származásáról, 13.
Following Jewish custom: Birth Recorders Book, Makó, Israelitic Religious Birth Registrar’s Office, Vol. 36.16, JPII-LC. The copy is accompanied by a translation, which, however, fails to translate the Hungarian word körülmetélö (circumcision.) The translation was done for the Pulitzer family in 1937 (possibly later). The birth of Pulitzer is also noted in the listing of Jewish births in Makó on microfilm #0642780 of the Family History Center for the Mormon Church.
Nonetheless, as Jews: The percentage was determined using estimated population figures but it matched that provided by Marton Eacsedi, caretaker of the Jewish Cemeteries in Makó, in an interview with the author, January 21, 2006. A city plan of 1815 described the crooked streets of the Jewish settlement: Toth, “History,” 4.
Despite the revolution’s: The strength of Hungarian nationalism among Jews is described in Alexander Maxwell, “From Wild Carpathians to the Puszta: The Evolution of Hungarian National Landscapes,” in Ruth Buettner and Judith Peltz, eds., Mythical Landscapes Then and Now (Yerevan, Macmillan, 2006); Gyorgyi Haraszti, of the Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, interview with author, January 24, 2006; APM, 4.
The end of: Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. 8 (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1901), 273. Pulitzer attended the Hebrew school in Makó, according to his childhood friend Adolph Reiner, The Journal of Temesvar, June 21, 1913 (translation in JPII-LC.); Patai, The Jews of Hungary, 284–285; Lopovitch, Jews at the Crossroads, 240–243.
There was nothing modern: APM, 12.
In the spring: Csillag, Pulitzer József makói származásáról, 19; McCagg, Habsburg Jews, 135.
Unlike Buda, which: The descriptions of Pest and Buda are drawn from prints in the Hungarian National Museum and from Beattie, The Danube; and Parsons, The City of Magyar.
The Pulitzers’ wagon: Komoróczy, ed., Jewish Budapest; Csillag, “Hungarian Origins,” #199. Fülöp was no stranger to the Jewish quarter. On his business journeys he had lodged in the enormous Orczy House, which was so immense it was regarded as a kind of shtetl, or little Jewish town, in and of itself.
The move to Pest: Csillag, “Hungarian Origins,” 199–201; Victor Karady, professor in the Department of History and Nationalism Studies Program at Central European University, interview with author, January 17, 2006.
Because of the family’s: APM, 11–12. This tale has all the markings of a family legend and may be only an exaggeration. Years later, though, one of Joseph’s childhood friends cryptically reported that he “did beat his teacher.”
If Joseph didn’t: APM, 20, 46; Less than six years later, Joseph Pulitzer would meet the American philosopher Denton J. Snider. Upon learning that Snider was teaching a course in philosophy, Pulitzer said, “What good can you get from that?” (Denton J. Snider, The St. Louis Movement, 163.)
For Joseph, Pest: Kósa, The Old Jewish Quarter of Budapest, 14.
Leaving the market: APM, 16.
Any exploration of: Beattie, The Danube, 181–182. See also Paget, Hungary and Transylvania; and Parsons, The City of Magyar.
The wealth, success: Today Temple Emanu-El in New York City is larger than this synagogue but does not seat more people;