HIRSCH, JACOB VON:

German banker; grandfather of Maurice de Hirsch; born in 1764 at Königshofen, near Würzburg; died March 23, 1841, at Munich. Although in his youth he had received an exclusively Talmudic education, he later in life achieved the position of "Hofbankier" (court-banker) at Munich. He was the first Jew in Bavaria permitted to engage in agricultural enterprises. Hirsch took an active interest in Jewish matters, and contributed large sums toward the founding of many charitable and religious institutions. During the German War of Liberation (1813-1815) he organized, equipped, and supported a regiment of soldiers at his own expense.

Bibliography:
  • Kayserling, Gedenkblätter, pp. 31-32, Leipsic, 1892.
S. I. G. D.
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