Karoline Kaulla - Biography

Karoline (also Hebrew Chaile) Kaulla (nee Raphael), but known foremost under the name Madame Kaulla) or "Kiefe" Auerbacher, born 1739 in Buchau am Federsee, died March 18, 1809 in Hechingen, was one of the greatest Court Jews of her time, and was reputed to have been the richest woman in Germany.

Her father, Isaak Raphael, was a Court Jew for the house of Hohenzollern. She was the sister of Raphael Kaulla.

To speak in modern terms, she can be characterized as a charismatic economic leader, who came to be a treasurer at the Royal Württemberg Court, and leader of the Trading House Kaulla in Stuttgart. She later was a co-founder of the Royal Württemberg Court Bank, which, after many fusions, resulted in the Deutsche Bank in the 1920s.

Kaulla received great honors, amongst them the Civil-Verdienst-Medaille with golden chain presented to her by Emperor Franz I. The golden chain is now displayed at Yad Vashem Historic museum in Jerusalem.

She is reputed to have been a beautiful, impressive woman, praised for the welfare, her care for the poor (regardless of religion) and her works for the Jewish community in Hechingen.

Her direct descendant emigrated to Melbourne, Australia, in 1934 and her great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren (born 2004 and 2009) live there. Descendants of Karoline Kaulla emigrated from Germany to Switzerland in 1933 (Rudolf Kaulla and his daughter Margerite Kaulla)and their descendants live between Geneva and Lausanne.