Isaak Marcus Jost Collection

Isaak Marcus (Markus) Jost was a German-Jewish historian born on February 22nd, 1793, in Bernburg and died on November 22nd, 1860, in Frankfurt am Main. Born to a fairly poor family, he became a pupil at the Samsonschule in Wolfenbuettel. This school was founded as a talmudische Lehranstalt (a Talmud-School) by Philipp Samson and developed into an educational institution for poor German-Jewish children. It was here that he met Samuel Meyer Ehrenburg, who became the school's headmaster in 1807. Jost and Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg maintained a life-long friendship. In 1809, Jost left the Samsonschule and pursued his education in Braunschweig. From 1813 onwards, Jost studied at Universities in Goettingen and Berlin. In 1835 he was appointed as a teacher at the Philanthropin School in Frankfurt am Main. Jost was one of the most important German-Jewish historians. His most famous work is his opus magnum Geschichte der Israeliten seit der Zeit der Maccabaer (The History of the Israelites since Maccabean times), which was published in 9 volumes between 1820 and 1829.

Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg, born on October 16th, 1773, in Braunschweig to Rabbi Levi Meyer and Hale (née Landau) Meyer, was a German-Jewish reform teacher (Reformpaedagoge). He died on October 21st, 1853. From 1789 to 1794, Ehrenberg went to the Samsonschule in Wolfenbuettel. After some teaching positions in Brandenburg, Berlin and Peine, he became Inspector (headmaster) of the Samsonschule on April 1st, 1807. He remained at the school until his death in 1853. Educationally, he was guided by the principles of Enlightenment and Reform Judaism and in strong support of Reformpaedagogik (progressive education). Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg was married to Henriette (Jette) Maas (1781-1845).

Samuel Meyer Ehrenberg's second son, Philipp Ehrenberg, was born in 1811. He succeeded his father as headmaster of the Samsonschule in Wolfenbuettel. Philipp married Julie Fischel, who was born to a renowned rabbinical family in Prague. Like his father, Philipp was a close friend of Isaak Markus Jost.