Samuel (Shmuel Stuckert) Goldschmidt

Samuel Goldschmidt is better known by his Yiddish name Shmuel Stuckert. His holy name (shem kodesh) in Hebrew, Baruch Daniel Shmuel, has caused confusion with his nephew Benedict, whose holy name is Moshe Baruch. Dr. Rüdiger Kröger appears to have been the first to have found his German name, which is Samuel and not Benedict Goldschmidt. Most of the contemporary documents mentioned below were kindly supplied by him.

According to Simeon von Geldern, his ancestor Shmuel Stuckert lived in Witzenhausen (Kaufmann 1896, p. 297). A document from 1624 mentions the late Schmuel Goldschmidt in Witzenhausen and two of his heirs, Jost and Abraham Goldschmidt. The document concerns a court case between Schmuel Goldschmidt and a nobleman called Bernd Sittich von Uslar auf Appenrode (1574-1626), which had started in 1619 as a result of disagreements about the return of a loan of 900 Taler from 1596. After the death of the two litigants, the case dragged on between their descendants. Unfortunately, the document does not mention Schmuel’s place of residence in 1596 (StA Marburg, Best. 17 d von Uslar).

Another document from February 24, 1625 mentions the late father of Abraham Goldschmidt, who had been parnas of the Jews in Hesse. The same document also mentions his successor as parnas (after a short interruption when Heyem served as parnas), Benedict Goldschmidt, who was living in Kassel (StA Marburg, AR II Witzenhausen 10, Jg. 1625).

Identifying Shmuel Stuckert in earlier German documents is not easy, because more often than not these do not mention a family name. A document from 1606 mentions “Schmuell undt Liebmann Juden” in Hebenshausen near Witzenhausen (StA Marburg, Best. 17 I Nr. 1032). In 1618, we find “Schmull Jude” in Witzenhausen on the list of Jews paying protection money. Schmull is the only Samuel on the list (StA Marburg, AR II Witzenhausen 10, Jg. 1618). In 1622, “Schmuell Jude” and “Libmann Jude” appear on the list of Jews in Witzenhausen. They are listed one immediately after the other. Again Schmuell is the only Samuel on the list (StA Marburg, Best. 40a XVI Gen. Nr. 1). We know that Shmuel Stuckert died in Witzenhausen a few years later. Thus, this Schmull is probably to be identified with him. The last time Shmuel is mentioned alive is on March 6, 1623 when Heyum in Kassel filed a complaint against the Jews Schmoll and Liebmann in Witzenhausen (StA Marburg, Best. 17 Nr. 1040).

We do not know where Shmuel Stuckert lived before 1606. There is no evidence for him ever having lived in Frankfurt am Main. The Yiddish surname of Stuckert suggests that he or an ancestor once lived in Stuttgart. Jews had been expelled from Stuttgart in 1498. However, in 1598 a few Jews were allowed to return for three months (Tänzer 1983, pp. 5-6). Perhaps, Shmuel Stuckert was one of these Jews.

According to von Maydel (1960, p. 230), Shmuel Stuckert was married to Zippora. However, there is no evidence that he was married to a woman called Zippora. Von Maydel may have confused the unknown mother of Jobst with his mother-in-law Zippora, the wife of Nathan Spanier (Linnemeier 2002, p. 111). Thus, the name(s) of the mother(s) of Shmuel Stuckert’s children remain(s) unknown. According to an eighteenth-century family tree by Simeon von Geldern, Shmuel Stuckert had three sons and two daughters (Kaufmann 1896b, p. 297)

References: David Kaufmann, Aus Heinrich Heine’s Ahnensaal (Breslau: Schottlaender, 1896). Bernd-Wilhelm Linnemeier, Jüdisches Leben im Alten Reich: Stadt und Fürstentum Minden in der Frühen Neuzeit (Bielefeld: Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, 2002). A. Tänzer, Die Geschichte der Juden in Württemberg (Frankfurt/Main: Weidlich Reprints, 1983). Bodo von Maydel, “Nachtrag zu: Die Stieglitz aus Arolsen, ihre Vorfahren und Nachkommen,” Deutsches Familienarchiv 15 (1960): 228-241.