Apr. 8, 1726

Berlin: Edict concerning Jews betraying their customers [Present-day Germany]: “Jews are only allowed to [take] cash to their customers. They are forbidden to exchange their ware against another ware….He bases his edict on the knowledge about Jews abusing the exchange law by taking advantage of the poor and naïve. More precisely, Jews not only anticipate higher costs but also attempt to increase the [exchange] by using various strategies, such as intrigues….If Jews are giving Christians anything else than money as change or forcing them to pay a higher tax than they had to pay at first, the debt will go to houses for the poor. The Jew will be chased from the land with strokes….We therefore command that Jews are only allowed to take money as exchange. Jews are forced to do so by law. If the customer can not afford to pay in money, Jews are forbidden to conduct the exchange….Documental with our signature and with the seal of the king, Berlin, April 8, 1726 Friedrich Wilhelm”