Trier had originally been annexed by revolutionary France which lifted all the restrictions on Jews and gave them full and equal citizenship. With Napoleon’s fall in 1815, Prussia expanded to absorb the Rhineland, but demoted its Jews. This policy meant that they could no longer serve as lawyers, judges, teachers, civil servants or university lecturers – unless they became Christians.
Herschel Marx (1777–1838) was the first in the family to receive a secular education, even though his father had been a Trier rabbi. In 1815 Herschel worked as a lawyer with a comfortable income; and in addition, the family owned some Moselle vineyards. ![]()
Largely non-observant, Herschel was an Enlightenment thinker, reading philosophers Immanuel Kant and Voltaire. A classical liberal, he took part in agitation for a constitution and reforms in Prussia, at that time an absolute monarchy.
Herschel Marx was one of several thousand affected by Prussia’s discriminatory measures. He worked in a period of great alienation and subsequent radicalisation of the Jewish intelligentsia in the Rhineland. He fought discrimination for several years, distancing himself from Jewishness, but eventually he gave into the Prussian state. NB he didn’t convert to the predominant Catholic faith, but to Lutheran Protestantism because he equated Protestantism with intellectual freedom. Yet he still continued to be the legal representative of Trier's Jewish community and his brother was its Chief Rabbi. Imagine what family dinners were like!
Karl Marx (1818-83) was born in Trier, in the Lower Rhine. His father was the above mentioned Herschel-Heinrich Marx & his mother was Henriette Pressburg (1788–1863), also the child of a rabbi. Henriette was a Dutch woman from a prosperous business family that later founded the Philips Electronics Co. Her sister Sophie Pressburg married Lion Philips, a wealthy Dutch tobacco manufacturer, on whom Karl later relied for loans when living in London
Heinrich and Henriette’s home in Brückengasse eventually had 9 children, occupying 2 rooms on the ground floor and 3 on the first floor. Bought by state government in 1928, the building now houses a Marx Museum. Of the 9 children, Karl and his surviving 6 siblings were baptised into the Lutheran Church in Aug 1824. But his mother waited until 1825, after her own father died. Although as a youth Karl was influenced less by religion than by the radical social policies of the Enlightenment, his Jewish background exposed him to prejudice. That led him to question the role of religion in society and contributed to his desire for social change.
Karl was privately educated at home by his father when he entered the Jesuit Friedrich-Wilhelm Gymnasium in Trier for 5 years, 1830-5. The school principal, a friend of Karl’s father, was a liberal and a Kantian, and was respected by the city’s citizens but not by the Education Dept authorities. The school was raided in 1832.
The Gymnasium's programme was classical: history, mathematics, literature, French and classical languages. Later Karl taught himself to speak Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Swedish and Russian fluently. As his published articles showed, he spoke and wrote English very well, although he never lost his heavy German accent when speaking.
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Karl received his doctorate from Jena Uni in 1841, but his radical politics prevented him from getting a lectureship. Instead he began to work as a journalist, and in 1842 he became the editor of the liberal Rheinische Zeitung newspaper in Cologne.. until the government ordered the newspaper’s suppression in April 1843. 3 months later Karl finally married Jenny, and they moved to Paris in Oct.
On the Jewish Question (1843) was Karl’s infamous essay in which he disparaged Jews for forging a connection with capitalism. A year later Karl wrote essays to The Holy Family (1844), where he reverted to a positive attitude towards Jews. But was the change an emotional reaction to his father’s treatment? Was it the influence of his friend, Moses Hess, the future father of socialist Zionism? Hard to tell since Karl Marx was, to some extent, reinvented by those who came after him.
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Karl and Jenny moved to London in mid-1849 and remained there for life. He spent most of his hours in the British Museum, doing research for his hundreds of articles and brochures, and his few books.
Herschel Marx (1777–1838) was the first in the family to receive a secular education, even though his father had been a Trier rabbi. In 1815 Herschel worked as a lawyer with a comfortable income; and in addition, the family owned some Moselle vineyards.
Karl Marx was born here in 1818
Today the building is the Marx Museum, Trier
Largely non-observant, Herschel was an Enlightenment thinker, reading philosophers Immanuel Kant and Voltaire. A classical liberal, he took part in agitation for a constitution and reforms in Prussia, at that time an absolute monarchy.
Herschel Marx was one of several thousand affected by Prussia’s discriminatory measures. He worked in a period of great alienation and subsequent radicalisation of the Jewish intelligentsia in the Rhineland. He fought discrimination for several years, distancing himself from Jewishness, but eventually he gave into the Prussian state. NB he didn’t convert to the predominant Catholic faith, but to Lutheran Protestantism because he equated Protestantism with intellectual freedom. Yet he still continued to be the legal representative of Trier's Jewish community and his brother was its Chief Rabbi. Imagine what family dinners were like!
Karl Marx (1818-83) was born in Trier, in the Lower Rhine. His father was the above mentioned Herschel-Heinrich Marx & his mother was Henriette Pressburg (1788–1863), also the child of a rabbi. Henriette was a Dutch woman from a prosperous business family that later founded the Philips Electronics Co. Her sister Sophie Pressburg married Lion Philips, a wealthy Dutch tobacco manufacturer, on whom Karl later relied for loans when living in London
Heinrich and Henriette’s home in Brückengasse eventually had 9 children, occupying 2 rooms on the ground floor and 3 on the first floor. Bought by state government in 1928, the building now houses a Marx Museum. Of the 9 children, Karl and his surviving 6 siblings were baptised into the Lutheran Church in Aug 1824. But his mother waited until 1825, after her own father died. Although as a youth Karl was influenced less by religion than by the radical social policies of the Enlightenment, his Jewish background exposed him to prejudice. That led him to question the role of religion in society and contributed to his desire for social change.
Karl was privately educated at home by his father when he entered the Jesuit Friedrich-Wilhelm Gymnasium in Trier for 5 years, 1830-5. The school principal, a friend of Karl’s father, was a liberal and a Kantian, and was respected by the city’s citizens but not by the Education Dept authorities. The school was raided in 1832.
The Gymnasium's programme was classical: history, mathematics, literature, French and classical languages. Later Karl taught himself to speak Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Swedish and Russian fluently. As his published articles showed, he spoke and wrote English very well, although he never lost his heavy German accent when speaking.
Karl and Jenny married in 1843
Wikimedia Commons
In Oct 1835 at 17, Karl travelled to Bonn Uni to study philosophy and literature, but his father insisted on law as a more practical field. Bonn had a lively and rebellious culture, and Karl eagerly took part in student life. He joined the Poets' Club (political radicals monitored by the police), and during that time he was gaoled for drunkenness, disturbing the peace, debts and duelling.
Karl was excused from military duty at 18, on health grounds, and his father insisted he enrol in the serious Berlin Uni. In Berlin a circle of brilliant thinkers was challenging existing institutions: religion, philosophy, ethics and politics. Karl wholeheartedly joined this group of radical thinkers.
In Berlin, he studied law and philosophy. Karl was not initially enamoured with Hegel, but he soon became involved with the Young Hegelians, a radical group of students who criticised the political and religious establishments. Karl also joined the Trier Tavern Club drinking society. And was involved in some serious disputes eg in Aug 1836 he duelled with a member of the university’s German Student Corps . Nonetheless he spent four happy years in Berlin.
In Berlin, he studied law and philosophy. Karl was not initially enamoured with Hegel, but he soon became involved with the Young Hegelians, a radical group of students who criticised the political and religious establishments. Karl also joined the Trier Tavern Club drinking society. And was involved in some serious disputes eg in Aug 1836 he duelled with a member of the university’s German Student Corps . Nonetheless he spent four happy years in Berlin.
In 1836, as he was becoming more committed to politics, Marx was engaged to Jenny von Westphalen, a lovely older woman from an upper class family in Trier. This, along with his increasing radicalism, caused his father angst. In letters, father Heinrich admonished his son for not taking marital responsibilities seriously enough.
Karl received his doctorate from Jena Uni in 1841, but his radical politics prevented him from getting a lectureship. Instead he began to work as a journalist, and in 1842 he became the editor of the liberal Rheinische Zeitung newspaper in Cologne.. until the government ordered the newspaper’s suppression in April 1843. 3 months later Karl finally married Jenny, and they moved to Paris in Oct.
On the Jewish Question (1843) was Karl’s infamous essay in which he disparaged Jews for forging a connection with capitalism. A year later Karl wrote essays to The Holy Family (1844), where he reverted to a positive attitude towards Jews. But was the change an emotional reaction to his father’s treatment? Was it the influence of his friend, Moses Hess, the future father of socialist Zionism? Hard to tell since Karl Marx was, to some extent, reinvented by those who came after him.
Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels, Wiki
and the 3 Marx daughters: Caroline, Eleanor and Laura, c1865.
Karl and Jenny moved to London in mid-1849 and remained there for life. He spent most of his hours in the British Museum, doing research for his hundreds of articles and brochures, and his few books.