Karl Marx's early life shaped the way he thought about society and governments and what he thought could make them better, and his experiences and upbringing led him to become a communist. Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in the small town of Trier, Germany. Trier is located in Western Germany near France and is considered the most French-like city of Germany. Trier was built by the Romans and lies in the heart of the wine region which makes vineyards the principal business of Trier. The city numbered some 12,000 people back in Marx's time.
             Trier was once part of Napoleon's empire but was incorporated into Prussia by 1815. Western Germany was mostly inhabited by the Jewish. Many Jews converted to Catholicism due to the Jewish faith not being liked by government leaders. Marx was born into a middle-class Jewish family. His mother and father were both Jewish. His father, being the head of the family, converted to Catholicism. Judaism was not acceptable especially for the father of the family. Judaism was passed down by Marx's grandfather being a Rabbi and a faithful Jew. Marx's mother refused to convert to Catholicism but allowed all seven of her children to be baptized. The Jews had benefited greatly from Napoleon's activities. Napoleon's activities had broken many of the barriers that had made the Jewish Ghetto. Jews were included more throughout society. Napoleon's defeat hurt the Jews and brought back the Ghetto. It also made many of them convert to Catholicism because of the fear of being persecuted and the fact that the German Princes were not nice to the Jews. Also, many anti-Jewish lies were made in 1816, so Marx's father took the name Heinrich Marx and was accepted into the Catholic church in 1817. Heinrich was not a genius but he was an intelligent person.
             One of Karl's quotes from his college years describes the anti-Jewish beliefs in Germany quite well, "The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a mountai...