KAULLA

KAULLA, family of German Court Jews and bankers. The family became prominent with CHAILA (CAROLINE) RAPHAEL KAULLA (1739–1809) who, as "Madame Kaulla," was one of the few woman court agents in German principalities. Born in Buchau, Wuerttemberg, she married Akiba Auerbach in 1757, a Jewish scholar who left business activities to his wife. She served the princes of Donaueschingen, Hechingen, and Wuerttemberg, as well as the Imperial Court in Vienna, as a banker, jeweler, and army contractor. Her brother, JACOB RAPHAEL KAULLA (c. 1750–1810), who was also born in Buchau, a court banker, was among the members of the Kaulla family who were granted citizenship rights in Wuerttemberg by King Frederick for their services to the country in critical periods. The family later settled in Stuttgart. During the first decade of the 19th century the Kaullas were said to be financially stronger than most contemporary German-Jewish banking houses. Their most significant achievement was the 1802 establishment, in cooperation with the Duke of Wuerttemberg, of the Wuerttembergische Hofbank which, until the arrival of modern corporate banking, was the country's leading credit institution; it was eventually absorbed by the Deutsche Bank. The family contributed generously to Jewish and general community projects. JOSEPH WOLF KAULLA (1805–1876), Madame Kaulla's grandson, was ennobled in 1841 by the prince of Hechingen after the king of Wuerttemberg had refused a request to that effect. Among the Kaullas were a number of high-ranking economic and financial officials; many of them left the Jewish faith. ALFRED VON KAULLA (1833–1899), manager of the Wuerttembergische Vereinsbank, another Kaulla affiliation, counted among its clients the Mauser rifle factory, a leading German arms manufacturer. When negotiating contracts for the Ottoman army he became interested in Turkish railway projects including the Baghdad railway and was successful in securing the participation of the Deutsche Bank in that famous plan. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Schnee, Die Hoffinanz und der moderne Staat, 4 (1963), 148–78. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: K. Hebell, in: Hofjuden (2002), 332–48. (Joachim O. Ronall)