Zacharias Oppenheimer (manufacturer)

Zacharias Oppenheimer ( 1. October 1773 in Michelfeld - 21st February 1827 ibid) was the founder of a woolen cloth factory in Michelfeld, a district of the municipality of Angelbachtal in the Rhein-Neckar district in northern Baden-Württemberg .

family

Zacharias Oppenheimer comes from the Michelfelder branch of the Jewish Oppenheimer family , which has been attested there since the 18th century. He was the son of Hayum Oppenheimer (* around 1745 in Hoffenheim ; † March 27, 1809 in Michelfeld), owner of a manufactured goods store , and Brendel nee. Oppenheimer (1743-1819). Zacharias Oppenheimer married his cousin Fradel geb. Oppenheimer (1771-1841). The sons come from this marriage:

• Simon Oppenheimer (born January 29, 1797 in Michelfeld; † April 4, 1871 in New York ) married to Rebecca Herzog (born July 18, 1800 in Michelfeld; † September 17, 1881 in New York)
• Marx Oppenheimer (born March 1, 1799 in Michelfeld; † May 11, 1873), his first marriage to Sarah Wolf (* July 1, 1803; † March 22, 1874) and his second marriage to Henriette Mayer (* 29 September 1825).

Life

In 1803 Zacharias Oppenheimer began to produce cloth that his father needed for his business. In 1808, the woolen cloth factory Zacharias Oppenheimer and Herz Michel (the co-owner Michael Herz-Herzog left the company before 1816) already employed 25 to 30 workers. It was described as one of the important cloth factories in Baden . On December 21, 1809, the community of Michelfeld granted him local citizenship in recognition and appreciation of his services and his status. He was one of the first Jews to be granted local citizenship in Baden, although he still had to pay the protection money of the Jewish community members until 1813 .

In the first few years, the yarns spun in the Baden breeding and work houses were processed on hand looms . In 1814 a mechanical spinning and fulling mill , initially driven by water wheels , was built. The number of employees rose at times to 80, some of them working from home . Until 1816, cloths for uniforms were mainly produced.

Before his death, Zacharias Oppenheimer handed over management of the company to his sons. The company was renamed Zacharias Oppenheimer Sons in the 1830s . Like his wife, Zacharias Oppenheimer was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Waibstadt (see grave directory, p. 24 and image 44 of the online edition under Isachar Oppenheimer, grave 1406).

See also

• Jewish community Michelfeld

swell

• Leo Baeck Institute New York: AR 7044 [not evaluated]
• Israelitischer Verbands-Friedhof Waibstadt - Graves directory . Publishing house of the Israelitisches Verbandsfriedhofes, (Buchdruckerei Hermann Stein, Rappenau), Waibstadt 1914 / Main State Archives Stuttgart: inventory J 386 / Waibstadt

literature

• Jacob Toury : Jewish textile entrepreneurs in Baden-Württemberg 1683-1938 , JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen 1984, ISBN 3-16-744824-5 , pp. 36-40.

Web links

• Zacharias Oppenheimer at Alemannia Judaica