10 'fHE 0PPERMANNS forgotten. But what Gustav Oppermann liked about the pic- ture was actually something apart from its artistic merit. He and his brothers and sister could see in this familiar portrait the man hirnself and his work. The life-work of Immanuel Oppermann was nothing great in itself. It was merely successful commerce. But it meant more in the history of the Jewish inhabitants of Berlin. The Oppermann family had been established in Germany from time immemorial. They originally came from Alsace. There they had been bankers on a small scale, merchants, gold- and silver-smiths. The great-grandfather of the present gener- ation of Oppermanns had come to Berlin from Fürth in Ba- varia. The grandfather, Immanuel Oppermann, had filled important contracts as purveyor to the German armies operat- ing in France in the years 1870-1871. A framed document hung in the private office of the Oppermann firm, in which the taciturn Field-Marshal von Moltke attested that Herr Opper- mann had rendered the German army good service. A few years later Immanuel had founded the furniture firm of Op- permann. It was an undertaking which manufactured house- hold furniture for the middle classes and, by standardizing its products, was able to give good value. Immanuel Oppermann took a personal interest in his customers, sounded them, tempted their obscure desires into the light of day, created new needs for them, and then proceeded to supply these needs. His jokes were repeated everywhere. They were an excellent com- bination of lusty Berlin common sense and his individual brand of genial scepticism. He became a well-liked personality in Berlin and soon his popularity began to extend beyond the city. It was by no means due solely to personal vanity that the Oppermann brothers later registered his picture as the trade- mark of their firm. Through his integrity and manifold con- nexions with all sorts of people, he contributed towards mak- ing the emancipation of the German Jew a fact, not a mere