Different European states had different attitudes towards Jews and their social standing. In the Habsburg monarchy, several hundred people of the Jewish faith were ennobled between 1789 and 1918 (both in Austria and later in Hungary), while Jews were granted equal social status in 1867. In Prussia the social status of Jews had improved since the rule of Frederick II and in 1812 they were able to become Prussian citizens. However, Jewish emancipation reached a high point in July 1869 when a law on equal religious rights was declared in Prussia as well as in all the states of the North German Confederation. However, in Prussia the issue of granting aristocratic titles to people of the Jewish faith or of Jewish origin was, of course, more vexed and the ennoblement of these people was very rare.
In 1427, the Carthusian monk Heinrich Beringer complained to the Grand Master Paul von Rusdorf that the Teutonic Knights allowed Prussians to continue worshipping the old gods. When asked about this matter, the commanders were to answer: "Let Prussian be Prussians." The existence of relics of old cults is also indicated by synodal and act sources, e.g. the Toruń Peace document from 1411. Recently, Michael Brauer questioned the survival of paganism in Prussia until the 15th century. According to him, the available information was only a creation constructed by the authors of said sources. This is also the opinion of Stephen Rowell and Darius Baronas in relation to Lithuania. They do not notice, however, that it is only early-age modern sources that expand pagan pantheons and associate folk customs with paganism. In Prussia, the language situation was conducive to maintaining relics of paganism – priests did not know Prussian.