Frumet Wolf

Frumet Wolf was a businesswoman and community leader of Eisenstadt. She was born in Bratislava into a prominent scholarly and wealthy family. She went to Eisenstadt after she married a widower, Chajjim Joachim Wolf of Eisenstadt. In 1793 she wrote a pamphlet titled “Pasquill Zettelech” in which she criticized the community’s oligarchy and their insensitivity to the community’s needs. The pamphlet caused a great stir among the Jews of the city and was soon confiscated and destroyed. When a ban of excommunication was pronounced not only against the anonymous author, but also against anyone involved in the distribution of the pamphlet, Frumet identified herself as the authoress. She was fined and forbidden to attend synagogue but the issue remained a subject of public debate, until it was finally resolved in 1804.

After her husband’s death, she continued to manage his business and even succeeded in strengthening and enlarging it. Frumet was also well known in Eisenstadt and Burgenland as a philanthropist, assisting the poor financially and providing them with counseling in their private lives.