The Austro-Hungarian Beginnings of the Research on the ‘European Genizah’

Research on Hebrew manuscript fragments retrieved from bookbindings started in the second half of the 19th century, some earlier forays into this field notwithstanding. Austria-Hungary played an important role in this field of research for its first hundred years – a fact that deserves attention. This pioneering research in Austria-Hungary was made possible by a recognition and appreciation of the importance of minor source materials (‘small finds’) by local scholars, and was characterized by a historical – rather than a literary-historical – interest in this source material. This article explores the particular historical and cultural factors which contributed to this regional development.