Fromet Mendelssohn

Fromet Gugenheim was born in Altona on October 6, 1737, the eldest daughter of the merchant Abraham Gugenheim and Glückche Mirjam, née Kleve.  Since her mother died very early, she grew up with her siblings "Recha, Brendel and Blümchen, [...] Joseph and Nathan" with her stepmother Vogel Gugenheim. Fromet Gugenheim came from a family rich in tradition, with ancestors such as the famous Viennese court banker Samuel Oppenheimer (1630-1703).  She herself was considered "shy but witty, modest but self-confident, and interested in literature," according to Mendelssohn Society chairman Thomas Lackmann. In 1761, Fromet Gugenheim met the famous Jewish Enlightenment philosopher Moses Mendelssohn during his visit to Hamburg. In a letter correspondence between Moses Mendelssohn and the writer Gotthold Ephraim Lessing informed that Fromet Gugenheim had no fortune and was "neither beautiful nor learned". Nevertheless, the "enamored dude" sent letters to her twice a week from Berlin to Hamburg. In High German and Yiddish in Hebrew script, they discuss various topics. Moses Mendelssohn "would like to be informed of every little thing that concerns you" and asked in a letter on June 5, 1961: "Did you have Rousseau get his letters from Herr den Castro? Have you read them? And how do you like them?" Inspired by this, Gugenheim learned the French language.

Moses Mendelssohn was enchanted by his "Liebste[n] Fromet" and wrote on May 29, 1761 "I have no one in the world more to say than to you, and all the same I am somewhat embarrassed at any time when I am to write to you," and of letters "so full of tenderness and true love that they are inimitable to art, and nit can flow otherwise than from the heart," at the same time emphasizing her "gentle nature." Gugenheim dared to challenge Moses Mendelssohn. And he replied: "Your excessive sincerity, dearest Mamsell, often seems to turn into a little obstinacy, which tends to give rise to many misunderstandings. Fromet and Moses Mendelssohn were married in Berlin on June 22, 1762. Contrary to the will of the bride's father, they did so without drawing up a marriage contract, unlike was customary in Jewish weddings at that time. It was not a marriage arranged by parents, but one of true love. According to linguist Michael Studemund-Halévy of the Institute for the History of German Jews, Fromet Mendelssohn's "talents made her a perfect fit for the Mendelssohn family of intellectuals." 

Between 1763 and 1782 Fromet Mendelssohn gave birth to a total of ten children, of whom Brendel (1764-1839), Recha (1767-1831) and Henriette (1775-1831), as well as Joseph (1770-1848), Abraham (1776-1835) and Nathan (1781-1852) reached adulthood. Some descendants of the Mendelssohns became famous personalities in their turn, for example the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847), son of Abraham Mendelssohn. Fromet Mendelssohn managed, on the one hand, to cope with household chores and child rearing and, on the other hand, to keep her husband's back by taking care of business for him when he was not around. She also described to him in letters from a distance that all the children were "lively and healthy." As a theater lover and acquaintance of well-known personalities, she was able to influence the cultural life of Berlin during this period. The few letters that have survived from her from 1773-1775 also reflect what a strong personality Fromet Mendelssohn was. She stood up to her husband and met him at eye level. Thus she wrote to him on July 22, 1774: "You still had a large full letter from me, but that it seems empty to you is not my fault, my child! From 1762, the Mendelssohn family lived in a house at Spandauer Strasse 68, always well visited by Jewish and Christian friends and scholars of the family. For these visits, Fromet Mendelssohn always allocated both the budget and the food. 

In early 1786 Moses Mendelssohn died "as the most famous representative of the Jewish Enlightenment and pioneer of modern Judaism". Most likely without the thought of his death, Fromet Mendelssohn wrote more than ten years earlier in a letter in July 1773: "Leb wol mein bester Mausche leben lang, wie du siehst es mir nit fehlt an Gesellschaft aber ich versicher Dir wann du nit da bist, ist mir das all's leer! If you find it only half as difficult to be with me as it is for me to be with you, then I will certainly not leave you for an hour in our lives. As a 48-year-old widow, Fromet Mendelssohn was able to buy up the house they shared, and her son Joseph succeeded in founding the Mendelssohn banking house in this house in 1795. This remained in existence until 1938, when it was incorporated into Deutsche Bank by the National Socialists. From then on, Fromet Mendelssohn lived with her daughter Recha Meyer in the Meyers' estate in Neustrelitz. After Meyer's divorce from Mendel Nathan Meyer, Recha and her mother Fromet Mendelssohn went back to the latter's native Altona. They took with them a gate curtain that Fromet and Moses Mendelssohn had commissioned between 1774/75 and that was possibly made from her wedding dress. In 1805 it was donated to the large Altona synagogue. Via Brussels to New York and back to Berlin: in the Jewish Museum Berlin it is now secured as an important source from decay.

On March 5, 1812, Fromet Mendelssohn died. Three days later she was buried in the Jewish Cemetery in Altona. In 2009, her tombstone was restored and now, according to Irina von Jagow of the Stiftung Denkmalpflege Hamburg, "the gravesite [...] of the progenitor mother of one of the great German families, can be visited at the Altona Jewish Cemetery." Eva Lezzi, a literary and cultural scholar, noted that there has been no independent biography of Fromet Mendelssohn to date. According to this, information about her can be reconstructed almost exclusively through her husband's surviving "bridal letters" to her. They can also be found bundled in information about the history of the Mendelssohn family. Fromet Mendelssohn and her husband founded one of the most famous Jewish-German families, which produced important personalities over many generations. There are 28 descendants of the Mendelssohns buried in the cemetery at Hallesches Tor, who helped shape the cultural life of Berlin, especially between 1770 and 1933.  Thus, Fromet Mendelssohn can truly be called the "progenitor of the great German family."