Jacob Elkan

Jacob Elkan (* 1742 in Schwanfeld ; † 1805 in Weimar ), a Weimar court factor , was one of the few Jews to whom Goethe gave a place in his poetry.

Elkan came to Weimar from Schwanfeld. Anna Amalia von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach had granted him the "settlement favor" as the first Jew and in 1770 appointed him court Jew. The Jewish cemetery in Weimar was set up on his initiative .

Goethe mentions him in his elegy "Auf Miedings Tod" (1782). Johann Martin Mieding was a court carpenter and theater master on the small Weimar stage. Goethe had very much valued his craftsmanship and honest character. In addition to court painter and court tailor, the court factor Elkan appears in the poem, in the line:

The active Elkan runs with much of the rest, and this fermentation points to a festival.

Elkan was probably a used clothes dealer. He also supplied the Weimar theater. It is known, for example, that he supplied the court actress Karoline Jagemann with clothes. He also worked as a banker, rose and became a court factor. His son Israel Julius Elkan (1779–1839) became a court banker, came into contact with the Friedrich Schillers family and became the most important banker in classical Weimar. A letter from Goethe to his wife Christiane von Goethe from 1797 indicates that Jacob Elkan allegedly also tried to sell him old necklaces.

Individual evidence

literature

Eva Schmidt: Jewish families in Weimar of the classical and post-classical periods (Weimarer Schriften des Stadtmuseums, No. 48). Weimar 1993, ISBN 3-910053-24-6

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Elkan, Jacob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Weimar court Jew
DATE OF BIRTH	1742
PLACE OF BIRTH	Swan field
DATE OF DEATH	1805
Place of death	Weimar

[1] Self-productions in classical Weimar: Caroline Jagemann, autobiography, reviews, Göttingen 2004, p. 614.

[2] ttps://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/goethe/br-frau1/chap007.html