Simon Veit (25 May 1754,

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 sq ...

? - 1 October 1819,

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?) was a German merchant and banker of Jewish ancestry.

Life and work

His father, Juda Veit (1716-1786), was a wool merchant and founder of a bank. He was descended from one of the fifty Jewish families that had been expelled from Vienna and settled in

, at the invitation of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm. They were from the upper classes and possessed a "letter of protection" (), allowing them and their descendants the right of residence. He is best known as the first husband of Brendel Mendelssohn, who is better known as

Dorothea von Schlegel Dorothea Friederike von Schlegel (; 24 October 1764 – 3 August 1839) was a German novelist and translator. Life She was born as Brendel Mendelssohn in 1764 in Berlin.In older literature and on her gravestone one finds the date 1763, but this i ...

, and as father of the artists,

Jonas Jonas may refer to: Geography * Jonas, Netherlands, Netherlands * Jonas, Pennsylvania, United States * Jonas Ridge, North Carolina, United States People with the name * Jonas (name), people with the given name or surname Jonas * Jonas, one o ...

and

Philipp Veit Philipp Veit (13 February 179318 December 1877) was a German Romantic painter and one of the main exponents of the Nazarene movement. It is to Veit that the credit of having been the first to revive the nearly forgotten technique of fresco ...

Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the ''Haskalah'', or ' ...

had chosen Veit from among his acquaintances to be his daughter's husband, because Veit's letter of protection offered her a degree of security that could not otherwise be obtained. They were betrothed in 1778, married in 1783, and had four children, but only Jonas and Philipp survived infancy. Both converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, as did their mother, and later became members of the art movement known as the Nazarenes. After sixteen unhappy years, they were divorced, in 1799. Jonas remained at home, while Philipp left with his mother. She later married the philosopher,

Friedrich Schlegel Karl Wilhelm Friedrich (after 1814: von) Schlegel (; ; 10 March 1772 – 12 January 1829) was a German poet, literary critic, philosopher, philologist, and Indologist. With his older brother, August Wilhelm Schlegel, he was one of the main figure ...

. He never converted; providing financial support for his ex-wife and sons for as long as it was needed. He was a member of the Stock Exchange Corporation, favored the reorganization of Jewish worship, according to plans proposed by

David Friedländer David Friedländer (sometimes spelled Friedlander; 16 December 1750, Königsberg – 25 December 1834, Berlin) was a German banker, writer and communal leader. Life Friedländer settled in Berlin in 1771. As the son-in-law of the rich banker D ...

, and contributed to charitable societies for both the Jewish and

gentile Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym fo ...

poor. After Moses Mendelssohn's death, he served as an advisor to his widow, Fromet.

Sources

* Sebastian Hensel (Ed.): ''Die Familie Mendelssohn 1729–1847''. Adamant 1995, * Carola Stern: ''"Ich möchte mir Flügel wünschen". Das Leben der Dorothea Schlegel''. Reinbek 1993, * Thomas Lackmann: ''Das Glück der Mendelssohns, Geschichte einer deutschen Familie''. Nicolai 2007, * Hazel Rosenstrauch: ''Simon Veit. Der missachtete Mann einer berühmten Frau''. Persona 2019,

External links

"Simon Veit"
@

Deutsche Biographie ''Deutsche Biographie'' ( en, German Biography) is a German-language online biographical dictionary A biographical dictionary is a type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information. Many attempt to cover the major personali ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Veit, Simon 1754 births 1819 deaths Jewish-German families German bankers German philanthropists People from Brandenburg