F. Mart Bank. Magnus
The F. Mart banking house. Magnus was a Berlin private bank in the 19th century. The bank had the greatest importance for about twenty years (1850-1870), during which it participated in the issuance of Prussian bonds, financing of industrial projects and the establishment of further banks.
Beginnings
The bank was founded by the Jewish textile merchant Immanuel Meyer Magnus (1770–1821). He had six sons with his wife Merle Fränkel, daughter of the Berlin merchant and banker Benjamin Fränkel. He converted to Protestantism in 1807 and acquired citizenship in Berlin in 1809. In the same year, under his new name Johann Matthias Magnus, he started banking and exchange business in addition to trading, which was a common combination at the time. The two eldest sons, Carl Adolf Magnus and Friedrich Martin Magnus , became employees of the father. After the early death of Carl Adolf (1820) and the death of his father, Friedrich Martin ran the bank from 1821 under the new company F. Mart. Magnus goes on alone. It was he who brought the bank to its real importance. His brothers include the painter Eduard Magnus and the physicist Gustav Magnus .
Friedrich Martin Magnus
Magnus was born on November 7th, 1796 in Berlin and died on February 17th, 1869 in Görlitz. His first marriage was to Franziska Maria Fränkel (1801–1841), daughter of the Warsaw banker Samuel Anton Fränkel, and his second marriage (1857) to Henriette von Prittwitz (1831–1913), daughter of the Prussian infantry general Karl von Prittwitz (1790– 1871). Magnus had belonged to the Prussian nobility since 1853 and was promoted to baron status in 1868. His successor in the bank was the son Victor Freiherr von Magnus. The daughter Ida Maria married Paul Julius Reuter in 1845 , later founder of the Reuters news agency in London. Reuter, trained as a banker, recognized the importance of fast transmission of bank and stock exchange data and from 1850 onwards he used mailing pigeons to close the gap between Aachen and Brussels in the communications link between the Berlin and Paris stock exchanges. His other son, Anton von Magnus (1821–1882) was a Prussian diplomat.
F. Mart Bank. Magnus
The Magnus family had owned the residential and commercial building at Behrenstrasse 46 since around 1810 . The settlement of banks in Behrenstrasse began with her house. In the almost 50 years of Friedrich Martin Magnus's work, the bank rose to the fore among the Berlin institutes. An important partner in the early days was his father-in-law Fränkel, for whom he brokered several Polish and Russian loans in Berlin. In 1833 Magnus-Bank became a member of the Berliner Cassenverein , an institution that simplified the accounting of the banks involved. After the transformation into the bank of the Berliner Kassenverein (1850) Magnus presided over the board of directors. In 1856 Magnus was one of the founders of the Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft , a bank for the financing of industrial projects in Prussia.
A decisive phase for the Magnus Bank began in 1859, when it took over the so-called mobilization loan from Prussia together with six other Berlin private banks, including S. Bleichröder , Mendelssohn & Co. and Gebr. Schickler . The loan of 30 million thalers was issued in view of Austria's acts of war against Italy and France. After Austria's rapid defeat and Prussia's renunciation of intervention, the loan was used to finance the reorganization of the Prussian army planned by War Minister Albrecht von Roon . A few years later, the Prussian consortium emerged from the cooperation between these banks and subsequently placed further Prussian bonds on the financial markets.
With the death of Friedrich Martin von Magnus in 1869, management passed to his son Victor von Magnus (1828–1872), who only survived his father by three and a half years. One of the far-reaching decisions of Victor von Magnus was joining the founding committee of Deutsche Bank . The establishment of a large German bank for overseas trade, initiated by Adelbert Delbrück , was intended to overcome the dependence on the London financial center. Magnus contributed 175,000 thalers to the share capital. He was a chairman of the first board of directors. The founding of Deutsche Bank in 1870 was followed with skepticism and suspicion, as it was the first bank in Berlin to be approved as a stock corporation. Shortly before his death, Magnus took part in the financing of the Rittergut Weißensee terracing company , which promoted urban development in this part of Berlin. Victor von Magnus also served as Consul General in London.
When he died in 1872 without heirs, his shares were transferred to the Magnus community of heirs. This arranged the ownership structure in such a way that it installed the two nephews of Victor Magnus, Paul Magnus and Georg Magnus, as successors and accepted the long-time authorized signatory Friedrich August Schüler as co-owner. Paul Magnus initiated the liquidation of the bank as early as 1873. After completion of the current business including the losses from the involvement in the construction company for railway companies F. Plessner & Comp. the bank ceased operations. In 1894 the company was deleted from the commercial register. The property at Behrenstrasse 46 at the corner of Charlottenstrasse was sold in 1899. The building erected there in 1901, expanded and modified several times, is now the seat of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association .
Some members of the extensive Magnus family, including Eduard and Gustav Magnus, are buried in the Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof , Invalidenstrasse in Berlin.
literature
- Morton Reitmayer: Bankers in the Empire. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1999, ISBN 3-525-35799-0 .
- Lothar Gall: The Deutsche Bank. CH Beck, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-406-38945-7 .
- Rahel Levin Varnhagen: Family Letters. CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-58683-5 .
- Sibylle Ehringhaus, Roland Kanz (ed.): Berlin art industry, Berlin reality. Letters from the painter Eduard Magnus. (Bonn Contributions to Art History, New Series, Volume 7). Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-412-20460-0 .
- Carsten Lüders: Magnus, Friedrich Martin Freiherr von. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie 15 (1987), p. 672 f.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the baronial houses , 21st year, Justus Perthes , Gotha 1871, pp. 429-430.
- ^ Berlin address book, edition from 1812.
- ^ Morten Reitmayer: Bankers in the Empire. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1999, p. 37.
- ^ Berlin address book, edition 1875.
Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 57 ″ N , 13 ° 23 ′ 26 ″ E