Roederer, Count Pierre Louis°
ROEDERER, COUNT PIERRE LOUIS°
ROEDERER, COUNT PIERRE LOUIS ° (1754–1835), French politician and economist, born in Metz. When a member of the Constituent Assembly, Roederer sided with *Clermont-Tonnerre, Robespierre, and others in support of the Jewish claim for political equality (1789–91). He had become familiar with Jewish matters when, as a councilor in the parliament of Metz, he organized the contest sponsored by the Société Royale des Sciences et Arts of Metz, on the theme: "Are there means of rendering the Jews more useful and happier in France?" Roederer expressed his own views on the subject in a private memorandum written for the participants in the contest. "In calling an ancient and considerable people to the service of our society," he wrote, "we cannot flatter ourselves that we are calling it to virtues which are superior to their own." Nevertheless, he advised the participants to consider the "moral causes" of the negative social and political characteristics of the Jews, in order to correct them.
bibliography:
Nouvelle Biographie Générale, 42 (1863), 492–5; A. Cahen, in: rej, 1 (1880), 82–96; R. Mahler, Divrei Yemei Yisrael, Dorot Aḥaronim, (1952), index; A. Hertzberg, The French Enlightenment and the Jews (1968), 332–3; L. Berman, Histoire des Juifs de France (1937), 338–43.
[Emmanuel Beeri]