August Ludwig Frankl was born in Chrást, Bohemia, in 1810 and was one of the first Jews to attend a Bohemian secondary school. He studied medicine at Vienna and Padua but devoted himself mainly to literature. In 1838 he was appointed secretary and archivist of the Vienna Jewish community. This post allowed him to publish widely on Jewish topics, integrating source material from the Haggada, Midrash, and Megilla. Beyond his work as an author of Jewish interest, he became prominent as the writer of historical ballads and other poems that attracted bo…