Leopold Edler von Herz

Leopold Elder von Herz was an Austrian financier and nobleman. His father, Salomon Lefmann, moved from Vienna to Hamburg in 1770, and was raised to the nobility in 1797 for financial services to the crown. Thanks to Leopold’s talent and ambition he rapidly distinguished himself in financial affairs. His greatest achievement was arranging the subsidy promised by England to Austria after the Battle of Leipzig (1813). In 1815 he was one of the signatories of the petition to Francis I for Jewish rights.