Germaine de Staël

Born Anne Louise Germaine Necker to a prominent Genevan family, Germaine de Staël's father, Jacques Necker, was a banker and finance minister to Louis XVI. While not Jewish herself, her father's family had some distant Protestant German roots, and there are whispers, largely unconfirmed and likely speculative, of Jewish ancestry further back on her paternal side. We'll err on the side of giving her a point, just in case.

Her salon in Paris became a hub for intellectual and political discourse, attracting many of Europe's leading minds. De Staël was a vocal critic of Napoleon Bonaparte, who, in a fit of pique (or perhaps genuine concern over her influence), exiled her from Paris. This just goes to show that even an emperor can get a little testy when faced with a sharp-witted woman who won't shut up.

She was a prolific writer, penning novels, essays, and literary criticism that championed Romanticism and explored themes of freedom, passion, and the role of women in society. Her works like "Corinne" and "De l'Allemagne" cemented her status as a major literary figure, influencing generations of thinkers. For challenging empires with her pen and brain, she certainly earns some serious kvell points, even if her Jewish credentials are a bit thin.