Jews in Altona / Hamburg, 1746

"It is a common Maxim amongst Merchants,that no Town can enjoy a flourishing Trade, except its Inhabitants permit the Jews to settle amongst them. This Maxim, as it should seem, has prevailed in Hamburg; since there arc above thirty-five Thousand Jews in that City. Many of these inhabit Part of the New Town, towards Altena. The Streets occupied by the Jews are pretty large, but consist of very poor Houses. They have here, as in other Places, several Marks of Distinction, by which they are easily known."

The estimated Jewish population, which would have been Ashkenazi as well as Sephardi, may be exaggerated in this report.

Source: Edward Harley Oxford (Earl of).The Harleian miscellany. 1746.

The Spanish and Portuguese Jews in Germany, 1825

The Portuguese and Spanish Jews, but especially the former, have long held a high rank among their nation. Persecution drove numbers of them, from time to time, to Germany, whither they carried with them considerable treasures, These they invested in the public funds of England, France and Holland; and hence they soon became distinguished for that ambiguous sort of speculation in the stocks, which is more allied to the practices of gambling than of honest trade. They have kept themselves in a great measure distinct from the German Jews, whom they look upon as an inferior race; and they form a separate congregation, with religious rites and ceremonies peculiar to themselves.

The Monthly Review article by M. Paul Van Hemert, translated from Dutch by Lewis Jackson. State of the Jews in the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century. London, 1825.