Nur eine »Geld-Emancipation«?

This book is primarily concerned with the role of the loyalties and lifestyles of the Jewish bourgeoisie in Prague in the years 1800 to 1867. Their enormous economic prosperity provided the Jewish population in Bohemia with a special status. Martina Niedhammer bases her study on five exemplary families from Prague to show that the social ambitions of the Jewish bourgeoisie were not limited to social climbing at any cost. This is proven by the multitude of links that existed between the Jewish upper class and many localities within Prague which were characterized by their diverse approaches to national politics as well as by their ethnic and religious background. These were the places where we can observe the economic upwardness, religious life, social and political engagement as well as familial concepts of the era.