The Respect and Disrespect of Jews: Ashkenazi and Anusim (converted Jews) in Germany

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                   

                                  Hamburg, Germany

July 18, 2024                                                 

          The 30 Years War (1618-1648) led Jews to find work.  Some were employed as factors, military purveyors, financial advisors, etc, and they in turn received privileged position as Court Jews where other Jews were attracted and lived.  Jews of Hamburg received better treatment this way. 

Marranos lived there during the early 17th century.  The Jewish Community in Hamburg, began with the establishment of Sephardim from Spain, as they were expelled from their home country in 1492, they came through stopovers in Portugal, Amsterdam and Antwerp arriving around 1577.

Jews began to enter the main stream of German cultured life and society.  In other words, they became Hellenized.  At the same time, other Jews in Germany continued to suffer from severe discrimination in important cities nd provinces like Nuremberg and Saxony, excluding Jews altogether.  

                        

Rabbi Samson Wertheimer
His uncle was Samuel Oppenheimer

My paternal family has a connection to Rabbi Samson (Shimshon) Wertheimer b: Jan. 17, 1658-d Aug 6, 1724.  This has been found by researchers Andi Ziegelman and Sandy Aaronson.  Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull and Janet Billstein Akaba have also done research.  This is from their study of Wertheimer and Wertheim Dynastics.  I am a 4th cousin to Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull.  and am 4th and 5th cousins to 3 Billsteins; 3rd cousin to Andi Ziegelman and 5th to Sandy D. Aaronson.   In the SPANISH WAR OF SUCCESSION 1701-1714, Rabbi Samson and his Uncle Samuel Oppenheimer put up the money necessary to equip the imperial army and supply provisions as they were chief moneylenders and bankers.  At the time ruled Emperor Joseph I.     

Then there was the French Revolution led by Napoleon.  The French Revolution was a period of political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789, and ended with the coup of 18 Brumaire in November 1799 and the formation of the French Consulate.  It brought on  equality to the Jews of Western lands that were either annexed to or dependent on France.  This example resulted in a small degree of Emancipation in some places.  After the fall of Napoleon, the better laws was even sometimes cancelled about Jews.  There took place a wave of violence against the Jews like the Hep! Hep! riots in 1819.  During the Revolution  (1830-1848), the change for the better for Jews came about slowly.  Universal emancipation in Germany was achieved as a constitutional principle by 1869.

Now these Jews were so Hellenized that they had begun to enter German life in every aspect--literary, cultural, scientific, political, ---all with brilliant success.  This stimulated jealousy in the other Germans who resented their successes.  They organized against them and anti-Semitism was radical with Jews being excluded from political, military and academic appointments.  The downfall of the German Empire in 1918's ending was World War I  and the following establishment of the Republic  led to real equality.  

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution#:~:text=The%20French%20Revolution%20was%20a,formation%20of%20the%20French%20Consulate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Hamburg