The emancipation efforts of the Jews, which since the 18th century had been directed towards civic and legal equality, led to a counter-movement among the rest of the population, which ultimately culminated in months-long, violent pogroms against the Jews in 1819. The cities of Meiningen, Wuerzburg, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Pressburg/Bratislava, and Breslau/Wroclaw were particularly prominent in this.
The term "Hep-Hep riots" derives from the anti-Jewish cry "Hep Hep" of that time. The origin of this phrase is not conclusively established. According to a plausible view, it is traced back to the medieval "Hep-Hep" -- an abbreviation for "Hierosolyma est perdita" -- Jerusalem is lost. In many parts of the German lands and far beyond, the riots also claimed victims among the Jewish population. The Mecklenburg grand duchies were largely spared these riots, at least in the intensity seen in other parts of Europe. Although, as far as is currently known, no lives were lost in Mecklenburg, there were documented incidents related to the unrest:
- Events in Guestrow on the occasion of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, directed particularly against a Jewish merchant named Baer,
- verbal and written attacks against the Schwerin Jew Ephraim Hollaender
- as well as a physical assault on the Jewish merchant Levin Ladewig from Crivitz in an inn in Schwerin.
The 54-year-old Levin, who was in Schwerin in September 1819 presumably on business, was lured by a Schwerin citizen into the tavern of innkeeper Stern, where insulting remarks were subsequently made against him on account of his Jewish origin. He was ultimately thrown out of the tavern with a blow of a stick on his back. The magistrate records still extant, however, paint a rather moderate picture of the incident. Levin was understandably personally offended and filed a complaint, which resulted in the Grand Duke and the Crivitz magistrate becoming involved in the affair. Ultimately, the matter led to no result, as the participants and witnesses were mostly unable or unwilling to make statements. Even though the incident clearly had a racist background and its causes lay in the then-emerging counter-emancipation, in retrospect it gives the impression of an artificially inflated proceeding, characterized above all by personal sensitivities and disputes over the jurisdictional authority of agencies and officials.
The then-reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Friedrich Franz I, was concerned about security in his land and especially in Schwerin. The situation in Mecklenburg must indeed have been tense, as posters confiscated by patrols in Schwerin, all of them defamatory writings against the Jews, still demonstrate today:
"Appeal to the people of Schwerin.
1.
You people of Schwerin, beat the Jews out -- Hep Hep --
Chase beat them after 10 years yourselves out, Hep Hep --
for all their scheming and all their striving -- is to make you, Christians, miserable
Hep Hep Hep Hep, -- Jew Jew perish! --
2.
The Jews want to cheat the Christians, Hep, Hep! --
for that the Christian will now drum on his back, Hep, Hep!
then he will surely cry oh woe oh woe! -- ! Beat Christians just don't break my neck
Hep, Hep, Hep, Hep! Jew Jew perish!
3.
The Wuerzburgers, the Frankfurters, the Hamburgers too, Hep, Hep. They started it -- You could finish it too, Hep, Hep! So men of Schwerin show yourselves as men as well
And chase the Jews out through the gate
Hep Hep Hep Hep, Jew Jew perish.
(Breitsprechers Edle)"
[Landeshauptarchiv Schwerin: Rep. 2.26-1, Nr. 7927, Kabinett I, Acta die ruecksichtlich der Juden vorgefallenen Unruhen betr.]
Apart from the few incidents, the riots had no further effects in Mecklenburg, but presumably only because the Constitution of 22 February 1813, the quite significant Emancipation Edict for the Mecklenburg Jews, had already been repealed under pressure from the estates two years earlier on 11 September 1817. Thus the retrograde provisions of the Landesgrundgesetzlicher Erbvergleich (LGGEV) of 1755 were already in effect, which effectively reduced the Jews once again to rightless inhabitants of Mecklenburg.