KULTURKAMPF, koortoor-kimpf, a German term denoting the contest for political and legal rights waged between the authorities of Germany on the one hand and the authorities of the Catholic Church on the other. The con flict was begun by Bismarck in 1872 and had for its main point of dispute the control by the state of educational and ecclesiastical appoint ments. He urged•that the declaration of Papal infallibility by the Vatican council in 1870 was an arrogation of rights dangerous to the state and that the Catholic Church had assumed an attitude of aggression dangerous to the laws of the state. The ill feeling arising from the ques tions at issue led the Reichstag to pass a law in 1872 expelling the Jesuits from the German Em pire. The outbreak of the Kulturkampf, how ever, dated from the enactment of the May Laws (1873) aiming at state control of the clergy. The Catholic bishops, clergy and people refused to recognize the validity of the new laws. This opposition was met by still more drastic government measures and in 1875 all recusant priests were deprived of their salaries and all religious orders were abolished. The
accession of Pope Leo XIII prepared the way, however, for a resumption of friendly relations between the Imperial government and the Catholic Church, and negotiations began in 1878 resulting in a nullification of the laws of 1873. The only remnants of the repressive legislation still in force are theproscription of the Jesuits and compulsory civil marriage.
KUM, koom, Persia, capital of the former province Irak Adjmi, southwest of Teheran. It is in an arid section on the trade route from Shiraz, via Ispahan, to Teheran, and is noted for the number of graves of Mohammedan saints, many thousands of pilgrims visiting yearly the supposed grave of Fatima, sister of Iman Riza. The town was destroyed by the Afghans early in the 18th century. Pop. about 28.000.