Dagmar Nick, a multiple literary prize-winner in her native Germany, has turned her considerable talents to researching her fascinating Jewish ancestry. She brings to life her family history through the letters, diaries and documents that they left behind, and shows how—despite being excluded from society, forced to earn their livelihoods in ‘unchristian’ trades, and victimized over the centuries—they rose through hard work and commitment to family to become not only wealthy, but also indispensable to the nobility as suppliers of luxury wares and as financiers and as advisers.
Author Nick uses the Goldschmidt archives in Denmark and Glueckel von Hameln’s diary to describe their lives on a personal level. She explains the difficulties they faced in business, especially against a background of ostracism, and harsh taxation. The final chapters show how under more liberal Prussian rule, they were allowed to become doctors, scientists, and even famous philanthropists such as Lina Morgenstern and Sigismund Asch. Nick describes not only her own complicated family history, but also shows us that many families have similar shadows that can be captured.
