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Markus Levin (18th Century)
Markus Levin (1723-1790) was a well-to-do Jewish merchant, jeweler, and banker based in Berlin. Levin’s economic success allowed him to become Hoffaktor [“court Jew”] at the court of Frederick II (“the Great”) (r. 1740-1786). He is perhaps best remembered today as the father of writer, salonière, and early feminist Rahel Varnhagen von Ense (1771-1833). Portrait by Daniel Chodowiecki (1726-1801), eighteenth century.