Towards the 1868/69 Jewish congress in Hungary: Minister Eötvös's project of confessional autonomy and the Emancipation Act in 1867.

Comprehending the role played by Baron József Eötvös, Minister of Religion and Education, in connection with the 1868/69 Jewish congress in Hungary is of paramount importance in better understanding the events that led to the schism of the Orthodox and Neolog Jewry. To fill a long-standing gap in the scholarship regarding the contextualisation of the congress, its preparations, and its repercussions in the religious policies of the Hungarian government, my paper presents the first year of Eötvös's alliance with the Neolog party. It shows that the minister's project of confessional autonomy from mid-1867 fundamentally predetermined the outlines of the congress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]