May 13, 1781

Ordinance, issued by Emperor Joseph II, Archduke of Austria [Present-day Austria]: “In order to make the many members of the Jewish nation in my hereditary lands more useful to he state, the first step shall be the relentless abolition of their national language, except for worship, and they shall be made to write all of their contracts, prescriptions, testaments, invoices, accounting books and certificates in the language used by the courts, under penalty of nullity and refusal of judicial assistance.“
Wessely, Naphtali Herz. Worte des Friedens und der Wahrheit (Words of Peace and Truth). Waxmann: New York, 2014. Page 671. Researched by Dominik Jacobs 3/31/2020