Letter of Protection and Safe Conduct for the Jew Hertz Meyer,

(GERMANY)

(Bückeburg, principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, today Lower Saxony)

1730/31

residing in the village of Frille (today part of Petershagen / Bückeburg, North Rhine-Westphalia). January 1, 1730. * And: Letter concerning renewal of the Letter of Protection for Hertz Meier/Meyer. Bückeburg, June 22, 1731. German calligraphic hand on paper, signed. Each: Two leaves with attached embossed stamps.

This Letter of Protection for one Hertz Meyer was issued for the duration of half a year, upon payment of a fee to the Duke of the tiny principality of Schaumburg-Lippe located in Northern Germany. The ensuing letter written by ducal civil servants, leaves the renewal of this Letter of Protection to the discretion of the Duke. It is estimated that some 200 Jews lived in the principality of Schaumburg-Lippe during the 17th- and 18th centuries. About a dozen Jewish families lived in Petershagen and associated villages around 1730. The principality of Schaumburg-Lippe was notable for its dynasty of Court Jews founded by Isaak Heine, who received a Letter of Protection in 1682 and who was an ancestor of the poet Heinrich Heine. See Hans-Heinrich Hasselmeier, Die Stellung der Juden in Schaumburg-Lippe von 1648 bis zur Emanzipation (Bückeburg, 1967).