É. Apor (ed.): David Kaufmann Memorial Volume: Papers Presented at the David Kaufmann Memorial Conference, November 29, 1999, Budapest.
ORMOS, István: David Kaufmann and his Collection
DAVID KAUFMANN AND HIS COLLECTION The splendid catalogue was prepared and has rendered great service to the scholarly community ever since, but the widow did not live to see its publication: Katalog der hebräischen Handschriften und Bücher in der Bibliothek des Professors Dr. David Kaufmann sfeligenj Afndenkens] beschrieben von Dr. Max Weisz. Frankfurt am Main 1906. 199+80 pp. The catalogue was written in German. However, it also appeared with a Hungarian title-page and foreword with the body of the catalogue in German. This edition bears an imprint indicating Budapest as the place of publication. Incidentally, both editions were printed in Hungary by Adolf Alkalay and Son, Pozsony: 5 8 Néhai Dr. Kaufmann Dávid tanár könyvtárának héber kéziratai és könyvei. Összeállítja és ismerteti Dr. Weisz Miksa. Budapest 1906. 5 9 Following the untimely death of Kaufmann's widow on 19 June 1905, the collection passed to her mother, Mrs. Róza Gomperz. "In accordance with the intentions of the deceased" she donated the priceless collection to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences "in perpetuity" in a donation deed dated 24 December 1905. 60 In its session of 29 January 1906 the Academy "commissioned the Presidency to inform Madame Róza Gomperz of the deep gratitude of the Academy". She was also awarded the golden cross of distinction (arany érdemkereszt ) by Fmperor Franz Joseph I for her generous deed. 6 1 Family tradition has it that the choice fell upon the Academy because they wanted to see the priceless collection in the most prestigious scholarly institution of the country - "in our foremost scholarly institute" as the words of the deed express it. After all, it would have seemed plausible to donate the collection to the Rabbinical Seminary since Kaufmann had been working there and since the Seminary itself was one of the foremost institutions of its kind in the world in those times. According to information supplied by Dr. Béla Bakonyi it was his grandfather, Mr. Ludwig (Lajos) König, who played a key role in the donation process convincing Mrs. Róza Gomperz that the Academy was more prestigious than the Seminary. (König was married to Kaufmann's sister, Mrs. Róza Kaufmann.) Another tradition, related by Alexander Scheiber, has it that the choice was made upon Ignaz Goldziher's advice. 6 2 In any case, maybe it was this choice which saved the collection for future generations: soon after the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944 Adolf Eichmann paid a visit to the 5 8 Pressburg in German; since 1920 Bratislava in Czechoslovakia and the Slovak Republic. 5 9 On the catalogue see now Benjamin RICHLER'S contribution to the present volume on pp. 1726 above. M The donation deed is preserved in the Collection of Manuscripts and Old Books of our Library. RAL No. 533. 1905. (Arrived 28 December 1905). See the note [Anon.,] Kaufmann-könyvtár [The Kaufmann library] = Magyar-Zsidó Szemle 23 (1906) 208. " On this distinction see the entry Arany érdemkereszt. In: Révai nagy lexikona. Budapest 1911-1935. II. 5b. 6 2 Alexander SCHEIBER, The Kaufmann Haggadah. Budapest 1957. 4. 139
