Handwritten Document – Jewish Spies in the Service of the French Army during the Revolution – Landau in der Pfalz ...

Handwritten Document – Jewish Spies in the Service of the French Army during the Revolution – Landau in der Pfalz, ca. 1791
Notte des fraix, a handwritten document listing payments to seven spies (five of them Jewish) from Landau in der Pfalz by French General François-Christophe Kellermann [Landau?, ca. 1791]. French.
Following the outbreak of the French Revolution (July 1789), Prussia led a counter-revolutionary coalition against France. This document details payments by François-Christophe Kellermann, commander of the fifth division of the French army, which was stationed in Landau in der Pfalz (which belonged to France since 1714, following the Treaty of Rastatt. Today in Germany) to seven spies from Landau. The spies, five of them Jewish, were sent to gather information about enemy positions in April 1791.
This is a rare documentation of the involvement of Jews in espionage during the French Revolution. Presumably, both sides used Jewish spies due to their knowledge of the German language and their family connections.
François-Christophe Kellermann (1735-1820), born in Alsace, served in the French army during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) and in 1788 was promoted maréchal de camp. In September 1792, he led the French revolutionary army, alongside General Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez, to a victory over the Prussian army at the Battle of Valmy (bataille de Valmy). In 1804, as reward, Napoleon ennobled Kellerman as first Duke of Valmy.
[1] leaf, approx. 23 cm. Good condition. Fold lines. Minor creases.