agreement was reached and permission for a permanent Jewish presence was granted so that four Jewish families entered Laupheim: Leopold Jakob, Josef Schlesinger and Leopold Weil from Buchau, and David Obernauer from Grundsheim. The first protection contract between them and the local authorities dates from 1730 which indicates that the final arrival of the four Jewish families occurred in that year. This contract was at first limited to 20 years. The first house for the newly arrived Jews was erected between 1730 and 1731. The Jews had to contribute to the costs of the house with 100 fl each. Various taxes, financial obligations and restrictions were imposed on the Jews: a special death duty as well as compensation for various services the local serfs were obliged to perform and from which the Jews were exempt, had to be paid; an extra tax per capita was also imposed by Austrian officials. Furthermore, Jews had to wear special garment and hats and were allowed to trade in any goods except those that were considered to be of suspicious or dubious origin, such as wet cloth, unthreshed grain and untanned hide, as well as goods that had a particular Christian, liturgical character. Transactions of more than 4 fl had to be registered with the local authorities. The slaughter of animals according to Jewish rites and the selling of the meat itself were allowed. However, the tongue of each slaughtered cow as well as the innards of calves and sheep slaughtered according to Jewish rites had to be handed over to the authorities. Alternatively, 4 kr could be paid for each slaughtered animal. Jews were not allowed to buy and own property and to prevent any of their community from converting to Christianity. On the other hand, they were strictly forbidden to convert any Christians to Judaism. In the years after 1730, more Jewish families came to Laupheim from Fellheim, Fischach, Illeraichheim and other places, where Jews had already been allowed to settle, so that, when, in 1754, the protection contract, which had expired some time before, was renewed for another 30 years, the Jewish community in Laupheim had grown to 27 families. The contract was again renewed in 1784 and with each of these renewals a substantial fee of 800 fl had to be paid. The families arriving after 1750 had to have their houses built at their own expense. The area where