Selma Stern

Preface, Introduction, The period of absolutism. The new concept of the State. The idea of Staatsraison. The change in the form of the State. The change in European economy. Mercantilism. The change in the conception of the Jew. The change in his legal, political and economic position. The Jew as a political problem. Germany after the Thirty Years' War. The German princes and their attitude toward the Jew. The German merchant. The alliance between the princes and the Jewish entrepreneurs. The rise of the Court Jew. His functions. The Court Jew as an indispensable innovation of Absolutism., CHAPTER I, The Commissary, The period of Louis XIV. The European wars. Emperor Leopold I of Austria. The tasks of his administration. The Austrian State. The War of Devolution. Samuel Oppenheimer's appointment as War Commissary. His activity in the war of the Empire against France. Disillusionment. His contribution in the war against the Turks and in the War of the Palatine Succession. Difficulties. The attitude of the Emperor, the generals, the officials. Oppenheimer's indispensability. His credit. Cardinal Kollonitsch's attempt to overthrow him. His contribution in the War of the Spanish Succession. The reasons for his success. His personality. His business system. Contractors and agents. Oppenheimer's death. The catastrophe of the Austrian State. Oppenheimer's successors. The war commissaries of the German princes. Israel Aron and Elias Gumperts in Prussia. Abraham Maendle and Anschel Levy in Bavaria. Jud Suess in Wuerttemberg. The hazardous position of the contractors. The importance of the Jewish war commissioners., CHAPTER II, The Court Contractor, The German princes at the end of the Thirty Years' War. The Court as the political and cultural center of the country. The tolerance of some of the rulers. The craving for luxuries. The international connections of the Court Jews. The Jewish private banker. Luxury goods and banking as the basis of the Court Jews' activity. The