Decree, issued by the Mayor and Council of the City of Frankfurt [present-day Germany]: “The Jewish Recorder’s Office and Treasury are instructed to submit to the Municipal Tax Commission, within 14 days, an accurate directory of local Jews and Jewesses, whereupon nothing less than the entire Jewry – including owners, administrators, executors and guardians of any amount of wealth – shall, for the purpose of an accurate accounting of their net worth, perform an actual oath, with special consideration of the solemnities required for it by their religion.” [Researcher’s note: In 1799, Frankfurt was under French occupation as a result of the Revolutionary Wars, and enormous tributes had to be paid to the occupiers. Only Jews would perjure themselves if making false statements about their wealth, since no other group was required to affirm the accuracy of their ledgers with an oath.]
“Wir Burgermeister und Rath dieser des heiligen Reichs Stadt Frankfurt fügen hiermit zu wissen… (We, Mayor and Council of this city of the holy empire, Frankfurt, make it known herewith…),” 8/2/1799; Decrees Collection; AR 379; Box 1; Folder 144; Leo Baeck Institute. Researched by Dominik Jacobs 12/31/2019