of Einstein, Obernauer and Weil. Suddenly new families seemed to emerge even though they had been living in Laupheim for quite some time. There were several options: one, to Germanise the first name, which led, amongst others, to Levi, Löw, Löffler and Levinger, instead of Levi, or to Heumann instead of Hayum. A second option was to use the name of the place from where the family had once moved to Laupheim. This resulted in family names such as Nördlinger, Öttinger, Hofheimer and Thannhauser. Furthermore, not only surnames were suddenly Germanised but first names were adapted to the German speaking environment too. Hayum became, for example, Heinrich, Baruch was changed to Berthold or Bernhard, so that at the end of the 19th century, it was almost impossible to distinguish the Jewish citizens of Laupheim from their Christian fellow-citizens simply because of their names. The Jews' Act of 1828 forced the rabbis to keep vital records of all members of their community, something Christian priests had been obliged to do so for a long time. Rabbis now had to keep records of all birth certificates, marriage licenses, and death certificates. This turned the office of rabbi from being a purely spiritual leader into a semi-official function, the tasks of which also included administration for which he was accountable to the officials of the Kingdom of Württemberg. The economic equality granted to the Jews in 1828 caused an increase in building works in Laupheim which, in turn, caused an increase in the economic fortunes of the small market town. This is demonstrated by the fact that the number of building-related craftsmen doubled within ten years between 1845 and 1856. The weekly market, which had been discontinued at the beginning of the century, was reintroduced in 1842. Although it had to compete with the larger markets in Ulm and Biberach, it still managed to hold its own as many horse and cattle traders as well as pedlars and hawkers, quite a few of whom were Jewish, visited the market in Laupheim, further contributing to its prosperity. Also, a great number of the founders of the local trade bank, an early form of the Credit Union, in 1868, were Jewish entrepreneurs from Laupheim. Until 1933 they were to partake in its development in prominent positions. In 1864, Jews living in the Kingdom of Württemberg, were finally granted complete political equality. This meant that after