Court Jewess Madame Kaulla

Reputed to be the wealthiest woman in Germany in her time, Chaile Raphael Kaulla served as a treasurer at the Royal Wurttemberg court, while raising a family and supporting a husband who sat and learned Torah all day. Madame Kaulla, as she became known, headed the Kaulla firm which served as the permanent creditor of the Prince of Hohenzollern in Hechingen. She led the trading House Kaulla in Stuttgart and provided generously to the Jewish poor as well as to gentiles. Together with her brother Jakob she established the Royal Wurttemberg Bank which evolved into the renown Deutsche Bank in the 1920s. When she lived in Hechingen and later in Stuttgart she established a shul in each of her respective luxurious homes. No matter how wealthy she became and no matter how frequently she associated with upper nobility, her home served as Hashem’s abode.

Chaile (or Karoline in German) Kaulla (née Raphael), was born in 1739 in Buchau am Federsee, an imperial town in southwest Germany to Yitzchok (ben Binyamin) Raphael and Rifka Wasserman who hailed from Regensburg. Her father Yitzchok was a Parnas and Hofjude (court Jew) and supplied the small courts in Hechingen and Sigmaringen in the district of Hohenzollern with both credit and goods. He had his daughter privately educated, providing her with German lessons.

When Chaile was eight years old the family moved to Hechingen where her father served as president of the Jewish community. Till her eldest brother Jacob was born when she was eleven, she was an only child. One could imagine her parents invested much effort in their daughter and provided her with an outstanding upbringing. It was from them that Chaile learned to be generous to those not as fortunate as she and to appreciate our Jewish heritage and Torah values.

In 1757 When Chaile became 18, she was married off to Akiva Auerbach, a Talmid Chochom and the son of a horse dealer from Hechingen, Chaile worked in her father’s business, while her husband sat and learned. Sadly, Chaile’s father did not live to enjoy raising his youngest two sons, Chaile’s brothers Hirsch and Meir were born within three years of their father’s death in 1760.

Her oldest sibling being ten years old, at the time of her father’s passing, the business passed to Chaile. Fortunately she had experience working with her father and although she was only twenty-one at the time, Chaile proved to be a very capable businesswoman.

Within a few years Chaile was appointed court factor to Friedrich of Furstenberg in the city of Donaaueschingen. She sold horses, silver, jewellery and other expensive items to this court. In 1768 she shifted her operation to Hechingen and served the Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen who loved horses, hunting and living beyond his means. In 1770, she was nominated as Court Agent to the Duke of Württemberg and her business interests expanded. Chaile found that she needed help in her business at this time since she was by this time raising six children. Chaile decided that her oldest sibling Yaakov who had turned 20 would be the perfect partner for her. Chayele not only took him into her business but later became his mother-in-law when her daughter Michelle became old enough to marry him. It was at this time that “Chaile” began to be known as Madame “Kaulla” (a distorted version of Chaile) and all members of the family assumed this name. Chaile or Madame Kaulla was only 31 at this time.

In the 1790s the Kaulla firm took over the supply of rations to the Reichsarmee (imperial army) throughout South Germany. The firm supplied millions of guilders that were spent on grain and horses for military purposes. It also handled and credited vast amounts of war contributions to be paid by the coalition powers. These transactions and her services were highly appreciated and valued by the rulers.

Because Duke Friedrich of Wuerttembers had a salt monopoly which was handled by the Kaula firm in addition to the army rations and credit, Madame Kaulla was granted the right of residence in his capital in Stuttgart in 1797. Jews had not been permitted (barring a few exceptions) to live in this city since the fifteenth century. The following year the representatives of Wuerttemberg forced the duke to revoke this privilege as being contrary to the law. It was only eight years later when the new kingdom of Wuerttemberg was completely restructured that Madame Kaulla, her brother and two other members of her family were permitted to reside in Stuttgart and given equal rights as the Christian subjects.

A large portion of the Kaulla’s economic success can be attributed to the wars against revolutionary France and Napoleon, which she helped finance and supply.

Yaakov or Jakob Kaulla as he was known was named Chief Supplier to the Austrian Army which fought Napoleon. He also carried out secret diplomatic and military missions.

In 1801 Jakob Kaulla who conducted all the negotiations in Vienna, London and Paris was entitled “Imperial Counselor” and both he and his sister Chaile were called “Privy Counsellors to the Royal Household.”

In 1802 Madame Kaulla and her brother Jacob signed a contract with Duke Fredrich II of Wurttenburg to establish a bank with the initial capital of 200,000 Florins known as the Royal Bank of Wurttemberg. It became the most important financial establishment in south Germany, Its management eventually passed to Jakob’s son Nathan Wolf Kaulla (d.1838), and other sons – Rudolph Kaulla (d.1872), and Solomon Kaulla (d.1881).

Chaile lived in a beautiful mansion and owned a horse drawn carriage in a Jewish community that numbered 300 and was quite poor. The community was the recipient of Madame Kaulla’s largesse. In 1803 Madame Kaulla and her brother established a Beis Medrash in Hechingen together with a library. They supported three Maggidei Shiur and their students. The Beis Medrash was in existence until 1853. The Kaulla family also established a hostel for poor Jews who immigrated to Hechingen.

By a decree dated June 27, 1806, Duke Frederick II who was now King of Württemberg declared “in view of the various services that the Kaulla family has rendered to the country in critical periods,” he confers upon Jacob and a number of his immediate relatives and their descendants of both sexes all rights of citizenship in Württemberg.

In 1807 the Kaullas moved from Hechingen to live in the building of the Stuttgart Court Bank which they had founded five years earlier . In the building of the bank they again set up their own private shul.

It had been recorded in that year, the Kaulla family’s investment in the bank amounted to 1.25 million guilders. Dr. Monika Richarz, a former history professor at Hamburg writes that not even the Rothschilds could easily have invested this sum at that time.

Madame Kaulla was bestowed with great honors, one of which was the Civil-Verdienst-Medaille with golden chain presented to her by Emperor Franz I. The golden chain is on display at Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

On March 18, 1809 Chaile returned her soul to her Maker. She was buried in the Hechingen Jewish cemetery where it is written on her gravestone: “Here lies a woman who was outstanding among her people and her fatherland.”

Her gravestone is not the only place in Germany one is reminded of her.

Madame Kaulla is now featured in a colorful and wonderful  game that can be played at the Jewish Museum of Berlin, one of the largest Jewish museums in Europe. The game which can also be played on the museum’s website is entitled:”The Life of a Court Jew.”

The introduction to the game reads: “After their banishment from the large towns in the 15th and 16th centuries, Jews found refuge in the rural areas of Southern and Western Germany and became traders and  so mediators between the town and the countryside. Some rose to become “court Jews” and funded the financial requirements of the extravagant rulers. As their position was always envied, their livelihood was under constant threat.

“Test Your Skills as a Court Jew!

“Do you have the intelligence, savvy and luck to make a fortune? Choose a character by touching one of the two portraits:”

One of the portraits is the court Jew of Berlin, Veitel Heine Ephraim. He was a mintmaster and also established a Beis Medrash in Berlin. The other portrait, is a copy of a well known painting of Madame Kaulla dressed tzniusidgly with long sleeves and a high collar. Her hair is completely covered with a magnificent hat which seems to be made up of two hats of different colors, one placed above the other. The lower one  serves more as the hair covering and is framed with fringes while the upper hat is decorated with beautiful possibly silk flowersl. She is wearing hanging earrings and is the picture of aristocracy.

 When clicking on her or the other court Jew, Veitel Heine Ephraim, the player is asked various multiple choice questions through which the player learns about the lives of these outstanding court Jews depicted in the game.

The Israel Museum in Jerusalem has a beautifully painted porcelain coffee set that used to belong to Madame Kaulla. Each piece of the set is inscribed in Hebrew letters, The inscriptions include “For a good life, Madame Kaulla from Hechingen,” and ” A gift, Madame Kaulla from Hechingen, Akiva”. This set seems to be a gift from her husband Akiva Auerbach.

Another inscription on a cup  reads “It is sweet for the soul and cures the body if you will drink from me at times”

 On the sugar bowl is the Hebrew aphorism. “If you are unable to drink from the bitter waters, leave them and drink from sweet ones.”