ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the procedures leading to baptism, and also the agents and their respective social contexts of their options and their explanations for their acts. It deals with people who were on the way to conversion. For this it uses letters of application and the records of the official inquiries which were conducted by the church and ducal authorities. The candidates were equipped with clothes as well as a bible, a catechism and a hymn book. The poor board and the ducal church funds provided the necessary support but most applicants also promised to earn at least some money through manual work. The strict rules of the Jewish community controlled maidservants rigorously and punished them for quite minimal transgressions with dismissal from their employment and eviction from the city. Beyle was interviewed in December 1772 before the government decided about her support. It is not only their social situation that causes Beyle and others to leave Judaism.
