Samuel Oppenheimer was an Ashkenazi Jewish banker, imperial court diplomat, factor, and military supplier for the Holy Roman Emperor.
14 Facts About Samuel Oppenheimer
1.
2.
Samuel Oppenheimer enjoyed the special favor of Emperor Leopold I, to whom he advanced considerable sums of money for the Great Turkish War.
3.
Samuel Oppenheimer even received the privilege of building a mansion in the heart of Vienna.
4.
Samuel Oppenheimer was appointed "Oberfaktor" and court Jew at the recommendation of Margrave Ludwig of Baden, the imperial general in Hungary, to whom he had advanced 100,000 gulden for war expenses.
5.
Samuel Oppenheimer enabled Prince Eugene to provide medical attendance for the army during the Turkish war.
6.
About the year 1700, a riot broke out, possibly sanctioned by the royal court, to persuade Samuel Oppenheimer to relieve the court's debt.
7.
Samuel Oppenheimer took steps to suppress the anti-Semitic Entdecktes Judenthum treatise by spending large sums of money to win the court and the Jesuits to the side of the Jews.
8.
Samuel Oppenheimer was employed by the emperor in political missions which were often of a delicate nature.
9.
When Samuel Oppenheimer died, the state refused to honor its debts to his heir Emanuel and had his firm declared bankrupt.
10.
Samuel Oppenheimer's death brought deep financial crisis to the state; it experienced great difficulty in securing the credit necessary to meet its needs.
11.
Emanuel died in 1721 and the Samuel Oppenheimer estate was auctioned in 1763.
12.
Samuel Oppenheimer paid ransom for the return of Jews captured during the Turkish wars and supported as well R Judah he-Hasid's voyage to Erez Israel in 1700.
13.
Samuel Oppenheimer was buried in the Rossauer Cemetery, the oldest Jewish cemetery in Vienna.
14.
Simon Wolff's son, Jakob Wolf Samuel Oppenheimer continued the family banking house.