of time so many new buildings could be erected is an indication of the prosperity of the Jewish community, particularly regarding the recession and the famines that followed the Napoleonic Wars. Another indication for this prosperity was the fact that, when a couple wanted to get married, it had to prove a certain amount of wealth before the permission to marry was granted by the local ruler, more Jewish inhabitants of Laupheim were able to get married than their Christian fellow-citizens. The act of 1828 also lifted any restrictions with regards to the prohibition of Jews to choose their professions. From now on, Jews were allowed to choose and work in any profession they wished. Furthermore, the prohibition of Jews to buy and own property was abolished. In the years following this decree, Jews from Laupheim bought several bankrupt agricultural businesses in the surrounding villages as well as within the town of Laupheim itself, split them into smaller entities and sold them off again, thereby making considerable profit. One example of this is the acquisition of Großlaupheim Castle with all its property by the family Steiner in 1843. In 1840, Karl von Welden, the last feudal lord of Laupheim, sold the castle to the state of Württemberg. He was bitterly disappointed with his subjects obstinate behaviour towards him as their former feudal lord (they had taken him to court for 300 different offences) and sold the castles to the Kingdom of Württemberg. Großlaupheim Castle with all accompanying lands was then acquired by the Jewish merchant Viktor Steiner whose family managed to hold on to the possession for five generations, even through the Nazi-period, until 1961. After Viktor Steiner's death in 1865, his son, Daniel Steiner, and his son-in-law, Salomon Klein, became heirs to the business. They, in turn, sold it on to Laupheim-born banker and industrialist Kilian Steiner, who had resided in Stuttgart. The government's policy to encourage young Jews to learn one of the crafts they had been excluded from, only met with partial success. Even though more Jews became apprentices to craftsmen, they usually chose a profession which later enabled them to change it into a craft-related trade. A side effect of the act was that those Jews who had not used a surname as yet were forced to acquire family names. Few of the Laupheim Jews had had surnames. Those that had used them were the families