Chaim Drescher, Grandmaster of the Maccabeans
The air was crisp as Gefreiter Chaim Drescher stood at his post outside of the synagogue in the small town of Tarnów. The Dreyfuss affair unfolding in France had sparked a wave of antisemitic agitation throughout the HRE, and it had been decreed by Kaiser Franz Josef that all synagogues were to receive military protection during any holy days until the danger had passed. It was Purim—a day of joy, feasting, and remembering miracles. Though himself Jewish, and honored to be officially protecting the temple during such an important day, Chaim could not prevent himself from peering through the windows instead of keeping watch. As twilight deepened, Chaim felt the weight of his duty as a soldier clash with the pull of his faith. Disobeying orders could mean imprisonment or worse, but he couldn’t bear to let Purim pass unnoticed. Witnessing the celebrations inside and feeling more and more dejected in his lonely vigil, the young soldier abandoned his post to join the festivities inside, justifying to himself that he could just as easily protect the temple from inside as out.
Just as the evening reached its jubilant height, the doors swung open. A hush fell over the room as a figure in a dark cloak entered. Chaim froze. It was Kaiser Franz Joseph himself, flanked by guards. The Emperor’s piercing gaze swept the room and landed on Chaim, still in his military boots.
“Gefreiter” the Emperor said, his tone unreadable. Chaim stepped forward, trembling.
“Sire,” he began, “I have no excuse. But on this holy day, I had to be here. To honor my faith. To remember who I am.”
Franz Joseph’s expression softened. He looked around at the joyful faces of the congregation. “Your loyalty to your people is admirable, Gefreiter. I, too, have come to honor this community.” He paused, his voice carrying warmth. “You are forgiven. Report to the train station tomorrow morning. For tonight, celebrate.” The following morning, the starstruck young Gefreiter boarded the Kaiser’s own train for Vienna. He was brought to the Kaiser's personal rail car, where he spent several hours in conversation with Franz Josef. He professed his deepest apologies at having abandoned his post, and praised the Kaiser’s magnanimity and spoke at great length about the great debt he and his family owed to the Empire and Kaiser. When they arrived in Vienna, the Kaiser had made up his mind, this dedicated soldier was to be promoted, and assigned as a personal attache of the Kaiser, and from that moment forward, Jewish soldiers in service to the Empire were to be granted leave on all high holy days.
Throughout the following decades, Chaim was afforded every opportunity as a personal attendant of the Kaiser. Much of his time was spent in training sessions in the Hofburg courtyard, where he was provided with the best equipment, including some of the first prototype “Knecht” armor. As the elderly Kaiser sought to entrench and strengthen the position of the Empire’s Jewish minority in the final years of his life, he opted for a drastic step. Since the foundation of The Holy Roman Empire, membership in chivalric orders had been limited solely to Christians. In recognition of their unswerving loyalty to the Empire, and as an affirmation of their legitimate claim to Imperial identity, Franz Josef oversaw the establishment of the first ever Jewish chivalric order in 1917.
In an elaborate ceremony performed at the Vienna Stadttempel, Chaim Drescher was sworn in as the first Grandmaster of the Order of the Maccabeans. While the Kaiser would succumb to his very old age the following year, the order persisted and prospered under Chaim’s leadership, with its current membership numbering in the hundreds and operating from the safety of its fortress-headquarters in the eastern Imperial city of Przemyśl. The order continues to be a prominent symbol of Imperial cosmopolitanism and is known for its bold and drastic operations, often operating as zeppelin-deployed shock troops in frontline engagements. The order has already earned several commendations for outstanding valor in the great war, serving primarily on the Western front against the French, and in Hochhimmel, where the order has a significant presence. Cut off from Imperial support, order members on Hochhimmel represent the heaviest armed and highest trained soldiers available for the defence of the isolated Imperial colony.
HRE
Children
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