The texts presented here are excerpts from the pinkas of the Jewish community in Frankfurt/Oder from between 1766 and 1782. The record book (covering the years between the late 1750s and 1793) is one of at least two that were kept during this time. It primarily contains entries on communal elections, hiring of communal rabbis, communal finances, tax collection, esp. the meat tax, marriage licenses, and the appointment of guardians. Despite the relative wealth of a small number of community members, mostly merchants who profited from the important role of Frankfurt/Oder and its fair for the trade between Western and Eastern Europe, the community suffered from increasing taxes imposed by the Prussian government in the second half of the eighteenth century. The situation was further aggravated by the decline of the local fair and the city’s role in international trade toward the end of the eighteenth century.

The texts are concerned with the raising of additional money to cover community expenses, primarily taxes, via loans from Jews and non-Jews alike. They show the mechanisms of raising loans from members of the community as well as from relatives of local communal leaders. These practices shed light on the usage of bills of exchange for these loans and the connections between commercial and communal networks. Moreover, these texts allow us to examine the relationship between economic position and social power within the Jewish community in Frankfurt/Oder, especially under the limited degree of communal autonomy of Prussian Jewish communities. Although the lay leaders of the community held considerable power based on their economic position and their ability to provide or arrange communal loans, it remains questionable how much this power was worth considering their considerable financial obligations as well as the limited legal autonomy of the community. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, it became increasingly difficult for the community and its lay leaders to raise capital.

↑ Back to top