Leffmann Behrends

Merchant and financier
Leffmann Behrends was a Hanover Court Jew who began his career as small merchant supplying luxuries to the court. He gradually established himself as moneylender, diplomatic mediator, and coin minter. His position was strengthened when he helped to secure the title of elector to Duke Ernest Augustus (1679 – 1698). Stable and favorable position for Behrends continued under the rule of Augustus’ son George, elector of Hanover (1698–1727), the future George I of England. Behrends also established business and marital connections with the most influential financiers of Vienna, the Oppenheimers and Wertheimers, and stationed his agents, usually his relatives, in the main German cities.

Behrends supported talmudic studies and for many years he was head (Vorsteher) of the community of Hanover-Neustadt, the majority of whose members were connected with his household. In 1673 he acquired the right to open a cemetery, and in 1703 built a synagogue for the community.