Minna of Zürich

In history there is great number of women who ran successful businesses. Concerning Jewish women’s history a prominent place belongs to Minna of Zürich, one of the successful businesswomen in fourteenth century Europe.

Minna was married to Manahem of Zürich, with whom she had two sons. She must have been running moneylending business with him because financial documents concerning her as a widow show her in partnership with her two sons in the fourteenth century. Most likely she just continued what she had done together with her husband, but after his death her name appeared in the records instead of his.

They belonged to one of the richest families in Zürich and Minna owned a house with a grand salon that had a sensational mural from 1330 with words in Middle High German written in Hebrew script that shows us that she and her family as Jews participated actively in Swiss court culture side by side with Christians. Culture of 14th century Zürich clearly testifies to the increasing wealth and pride of Zürich citizens in this period.

Minna of Zürich was also known to have raised substantial sums of money, and one of her loans had the value of eight to ten large town houses.