chapter 3 The Next Generation Consolidating Success

3.1 Carel Asser (1780–1836)1

3.1.1 Character and Training With Moses Salomon’s eldest son, Carel, we address a different type of person- ality entirely. Here the pioneer, there the consolidator; here the rebel, there the conciliator; here confrontation, there compromise; here hot temper; there affability; here assertivity, there obligingness. Both, however, were men of strong character, and with their complementary talents they performed won- ders of teamwork. Carel Asser was the first of his family to receive an academic training at the Amsterdam Athenaeum. He attended courses of the classicist Daniel Wyttenbach2 and was moulded in the law by the legendary H.C. Cras.3 Apparently, he also made his mark in student society. He acted as quaestor and ab-actis (and may have been co-founder) of Quid Verum Sit Quaerimus (f. 1795, Q.V.S.Q.), a society of candidate-practitioners.4 On 3 July 1799, aged nineteen, he defended theses at Leiden University on Maritime and Insurance Law, sub- ject matter that was at the heart of the law firm’s expertise.5 That same year he became his father’s associate (Figure 11).

3.1.2 Marriage In 1801 Carel married Rosa Levin (1782–1853). Like Carel’s mother Cheila, Rosa was raised in enlightened circles in . Indeed, she was a younger sister of

1 Bervoets 12–25; NNBW III cols. 42–44; Voskuil 1973, pp. 12–13. 2 Daniel Wyttenbach (1746–1820) was a Swiss classical scholar and professor, first, in Amster- dam (1771–1799), then in Leiden (1799–1820) His editions of Plato were exemplary. 3 The lawyer H.C. Cras (1739–1820) taught for fifty years (1771–1820) at the Athenaeum Illustre in Amsterdam. He was a pioneer of law codification and advocated ‘general principles of law’. See below, Ch. 6.6.2. 4 The Asser family files feature the account books and records of the sodalicium over 1795– 1798. On Quid Verum Sit Quaerimus (‘We Search for the Truth’) see Amstelodanum 62, vol. 49, pp. 193–198. 5 Disputatio juridica inauguralis, de jure, quod est civi gentis in bello mediae, cui pro pecunia tra- jectitia navis est hypothecae obligata, in ipsam navim, quae in itinere, cujus caussa contractus initus est, ab hoste capiatur, Leiden 1799. JHMA D015645.

© koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004397972_005 the next generation 57 the celebrated Rahel Varnhagen von Ense (1771–1833), whose life was put on record by (Figures 16 and 17).6 Rahel was the typical product of Aufklärung and Romantik, a suffragette avant la lettre and the zealous cham- pion of Jewish emancipation. In her she entertained the Humboldts and other lettrés. She kept diaries, as enlightened women would in those days, and left an impressive political and literary correspondence. Family history has it that it was at Rahel’s request that Carel produced his Précis historique sur l’état des Israélites dans le Royaume des Pays-Bas. It was written in 1823, but was never published. The connections with the relatives in Berlin were close. In later chapters we will record the personal impressions the children of Carel’s brother Tobias gained of Rahel and the Levin family from their trips to Berlin.7 Carel’s wife Rosa, if intelligent by all records, was definitely less buoyant and self-willed than her elder sister (Figure 13). The marriage was prearranged, as was customary in those days, and must have been a happy bond. The Asser family files feature fifteen letters in German Rosa exchanged with her ‘ein- zig geliebter Caly’ in their days of engagement. In January 1800 Carel wrote: ‘Ich frage dir, meine Rosa, tausendmal Excus, dasz ich dir erst nach der 1sten Januar gratuliert habe mit deinem Geburtstage … dich liebende, Carl Asser.’8 On 13 May 1802 Rosa bore Carel a son, Lodewijk or Louis (1802–1850), whose life we will discuss in the next chapter.9

3.1.3 Propagation of the Jewish Cause As one would expect with the brother-in-law of Rahel Varnhagen, Carel Asser was deeply committed to the concept of and assimilation. Modernity and acculturation were no less his determined goals than they were his father’s. In the previous chapter we have referred to his involvement in Felix Libertate and the Nei Kille Adat Yeshurun, on whose board he served for many years. We also recorded how his counsel on Israelite affairs in May 1808 made Louis Napo- leon invite him on the Reconciliation Committee that reunifed the Amsterdam Ashkenazim; it typifies Carel’s mild and peaceful character.

6 Hannah Arendt, Rahel Varnhagen, Lebensgeschichte einer deutschen Jüdin aus der Romantik, München 1957; , Der Text meines Herzens: Das Leben der Rahel Varnhagen, Rein- bek 1994; Sabina Becker (ed.), Rahel Levin Varnhagen: Studien zu ihrem Werk im zeitgenöss- ischen Kontext, St. Ingbert 2001; Sulamith Sparre, Rahel Levin Varnhagen (1771–1833): Salon- nière,Aufklärerin,Selbstdenkerin,romantischeIndividualistin,Jüdin, Lich 2007 (Widerständige Frauen Vol. 3). 7 See below, Ch. 4.3.3. 8 Twelve letters from Rosa (JHMA D015648), three from Carel (JHMA D015649). The quote dates from 19.01.1800. 9 See below, Ch. 4.1.