December 28 1811 – 12 Tevet 5572
Civil rights were extended to Jews in Frankfurt, then under Napoleon’s rule, as a result of the initiative of a number of distinguished Jews including Mayer Amschel Rothschild, founder of the Rothschild dynasty and bank. The New Duchy of Frankfort passed a law granting Jews “Civic rights and privileges equally with other citizens,” but it was only signed into effect after Rothschild and his co-religionists agreed to pay 400,000 florins to the French official, Archduke Dalberg, mayor of the city, who was in charge of making the decision.The sum was twenty times the community’s annual tax bill – but they paid, and became German citizens, as Rothschild happily informed his son.
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