Heinrich Marx
Heinrich Marx (born Herschel HaLevi, Yiddish: הירשל הלוי; 15 April 1777 – 10 May 1838) was a German lawyer who fathered the communist philosopher Karl Marx, as well as seven other children, including Louise Juta.
Heinrich Marx
10 May 1838
German
Lawyer
Father of Karl Marx
- Laura Marx (granddaughter)
- Eleanor Marx (granddaughter)
- Jenny Longuet (granddaughter)
- Henry Juta (grandson)
Life[edit]
Heinrich Marx was born in Saarlouis into an Ashkenazi Jewish family with the name Herschel Levi, the son of Rabbi Marx Levi Mordechai ben Samuel HaLevi of Rödelheim (1743–1804) and Eva Lwow (1753–1823). Heinrich Marx's father was the rabbi of Trier, a role which his older brother, the Rabbi Samuel Marx von Trier would later assume.[2]
Heinrich Marx qualified as a lawyer in 1814, but upon Napoleon's 1815 defeat at Waterloo, the Rhineland came into the conservative control of the Kingdom of Prussia.[2] An 1812 edict, unenforced by the French, asserted that Jews could not occupy legal positions or state offices, and Prussian enforcement of the law led to trouble for Heinrich Marx.[2]
Marx's colleagues, including the President of the Provincial Supreme court, defended him and sought an exception for him.[2] The Prussian Minister of Justice rejected their appeals. In 1817 or 1818, he changed his name to Heinrich Marx and converted to Lutheran Christianity in the state Evangelical Church of Prussia[2] to be allowed to practice law in Prussia.[3] His wife and children were baptized in 1825 and 1824, respectively.[2]