The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln are one the first written accounts from a jewish woman in history (to be more precise they are second account we have) that survived the rages of time to come down to us. They are not very well known outside the students of early modern European history and European jewish history: they have however been picked up by major anti-Semitic authors in the past. As they contain much useful information for anti-Semites I have summarized her assertions - from the translation of Marvin Lowenthal that was published in 1932 - (1) and provided necessary commentary to explain and elucidate the text.
What makes Glückel so invaluable a source is that her ‘Memoirs’ were only ever meant to be read by her children - of which she has many notable direct descendants including the famous jewish poet Heinrich Heine - and as such give a largely unvarnished account of jewish life from a jewess who was at its very epicentre. That gives it a unique authority among accounts of the time and indeed has meant that is regarded as a key source by scholars of European jewish history as it gives insight into jewish activities and their conflict between the jews and gentiles in Europe.
Glückel begins her 'Memoirs' with an exhortation to her children to be honest in money matters when dealing with both jews and non-jews. (2)
What is even more noteworthy is what she says next:
'If you have in hand money or goods belonging to other people, give more care to them than if they were you own, so that, please God, you do no one a wrong.' (3)
The point of this exhortation and that which follows it (to not become rich dishonestly) (4) is not immediately clear and can - if read simply - be taken as a suggestion of a highly religious woman given that we know that Glückel was somewhat versed in jewish rabbinic thought and mystical speculation. (5) This may well be the case, but it is only part of the probable truth given Glückel's own experiences.
What we can suggest she is actually saying is two fold:
The first is the simple religious piety of wanting her children to be honest in their dealings with all individuals so that they can find ease in the Olam Haba ('the world to come' i.e., Gan Eden as opposed to Gehenna) without any moral stain to answer for.
The second is the more subtle point that dishonestly was rampant - or at least common 0 among jews in relation to mercantile and financial transactions in order to get rich quickly as well as that perverse pride was taken in wealth acquired so dishonestly among her fellow jews. (6) This obviously worried Glückel and she may have blamed this greedy pride and dishonesty for endangering the jews in her own city. Since as when such dealings were discovered - as her grandfather Nathan Melrich was found doing - (7) jews were often expelled from the territory in which they resided after having their goods and other wealth confiscated.
The wealth of the jews in the city of Hamburg - where she was born - is also revealed by Glückel when she lists it as follows:
'Chaim Fürst was the richest among us, with a fortune of 10,000 Reichsthalers, then came my father, of blessed memory, with 8,000, others followed with 6,000, and a few more with 2,000.' (8)
Without context however this means little: Glückel however fortunately provides it for us when she tells us that when a man was worth 500 Reichsthalers then he was considered to be rather well off. (9) She also helpfully tells us that this massive amount of wealth was split around only 40 jewish families in Hamburg, (10) which would necessarily mean that over a quarter and probably around a third to a half of the jewish families in Hamburg were extremely wealthy by the standards of the city.
We get a sense of just how rich Glückel's family was when she relates that after her very rich - as according to her he 'had coffers all filled with gold chains and jewelry, and whole bags of pearls' - (11) merchant-banker grandfather was driven out of Detmold by the angry locals: he settled in Altona, which had just opened its doors to ten jewish families (excluding Glückel's) (12) who had just been expelled from Detmold among other places. This was all due to the good offices of a wealthy jew (and quite possibly a hefty bribe given to the authorities) called Nathan Spanier. (13)
This wealthy jewish merchant had married his daughter to one Loeb of Hildesheim: who while poor was quite a piece of work according to Glückel as he managed to marry into a wealthy jewish family and then arrange marriages for his children into the crème-de-la-crème of jewish financier and mercantile families (giving dowries of 300-400 Reichsthalers each: one to a jew named Elijah Ballin who was worth 30,000 Reichsthalers). (14)
His wife Esther Spanier was evidently as accomplished as her father had been as a merchant given that Glückel describes her as a 'fine, pious, upright person' (15) only to them go to describe (and take pride in) Esther's con-artistry given that she apparently had the gift of the gab and sold a large amount of wares to the noble ladies at the annual Kiel fair at a significant profit while making the noble ladies 'delight in her'. (16)
Meanwhile Glückel's grandmother Mata had after the death of her husband Nathan to provide for Glückel's mother Bela and her sister (Glückel's aunt) Ulk (another daughter named Glück was already married). She did this by marrying Ulk to a wealthy and up-and-coming jewish merchant named Elias Cohen who was the son of the state rabbi of Friesland: Reb Hanau. (17)
Apparently Cohen was so good a merchant that animal dung become wealth in his hands! (18)
Jacob Ree - Glück's wealthy jewish husband from Hamburg - used his (obviously significant) influence among jewish and gentile merchants in Hamburg to cause them to purchase silver and gold lace from Glückel's grandmother and mother and set her in business having engaged (gentile) girls to do the actual work for them. (19)
Meanwhile Bela caught the eye of Glückel's father (another wealthy jewish merchant of Hamburg) and married her. At about this time the jews from Vilna (Wilno) in Poland had been expelled and they arrived in Hamburg: swelling the jewish community of Hamburg significantly and also bringing a host of diseases with them (not being the cleanest of individuals). (20)
This expulsion of the jews occurred in 1648 and was part of the Chmielnicki uprising of Cossacks and peasants against the Polish aristocracy and more specifically against the jews who were the principle agents of economic repression used by the aristocracy against the peasants. (21) These 'poor jews' were then hardly either poor or set upon as they had largely brought their expulsion on themselves.
In essence they had only washed up on Hamburg's doorstep, because the north-west coast of Germany; as well as the Low Countries, was a notorious bolt-hole for jews seeking asylum for their activities elsewhere. This can seen most graphically in that over half of the 4,000 members of the Stock Exchange at Amsterdam at this time were jewish! (22)
The jews were hardly a little powerless set upon minority then!
References
(1) Marvin Lowenthal (Ed. and Trans.), 1932, ‘The Memoirs of Glückel of Hameln’, 1st Edition, Harper & Brothers: New York
(2) Ibid, pp. 3-4
(3) Ibid.
(4) Ibid, p. 4
(5) Ibid, p. xxxi
(6) Ibid, p. 4
(7) Ibid, p. 15
(8) Ibid, p. 7
(9) Ibid.
(10) Ibid.
(11) Ibid, pp. 13; 15
(12) Ibid.
(13) Ibid, p. 14
(14) Ibid.
(15) Ibid.
(16) Ibid.
(17) Ibid, p. 16
(18) Ibid.
(19) Ibid, p. 18
(20) Ibid, p. 19
(21) For a summary of these events see Oscar Halecki, Anthony Polonsky, 1983, 'A History of Poland', 3rd Edition, Roy: New York, pp. 155-157
(22) Alberto Guenzi, 2006, 'European Expansion in the Seventeeth Century', pp. 73-74 in Antonio Di Vittorio (Ed.), 2006, 'An Economic History of Europe: From Expansion to Development', 1st Edition, Routledge: New York