ABSTRACT
Abraham Carel Wertheim (1832–1897), known to friend and foe alike as A.C., was the uncrowned king of Jewish Amsterdam. He built up the family firm Wertheim and Gomperts from 1858 onwards till it became a leading bank. With a tax assessment totalling a thousand guilders, he was one of the wealthiest residents of Amsterdam. He had a strong conviction that a banker must work in the service of society, so whenever he invested money he took into account employment opportunities and the flourishing of the Dutch economy. Moreover, after 1881 he refused to participate in the issuance of bonds to Russia, as a protest at the ferocious pogroms taking place in that country.
