Bernhard Meyersfeld

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Bernhard Meyersfeld (born August 14, 1841 in Einbeck ; died October 2, 1920 in Braunschweig ) was a German banker and patron of the Jewish faith .

life and work

Bernhard was born as a child of the married couple David (February 7, 1805 in Einbeck to February 22, 1885 in Braunschweig) and Julie Meyersfeld, née. Paderstein (died 1869 in Einbeck) was born. His paternal great-grandfather was the Einbeck patron Jew Elias Meyer .

David Meyersfeld had run a soap and light factory in Einbeck since 1838, in 1861 he was mentioned as a moneylender and in 1867 as a banker and agent for Nordstern insurance . He was probably separated from his son's mother shortly after his son was born. When she died in 1869, he closed all businesses in Einbeck and moved with his son to Braunschweig.

Meyersfeld banking house

The Stechinelli house around 1900
The former Meyersfeld bank on Friedrich-Wilhelm-Platz

Together with his son, David Meyersfeld founded the D. Meyersfeld bank in 1869 , which had its first seat in the Stechinelli House , at 8 Altstadtmarkt . From the estate of the banker Hilzheimer, David Meyersfeld acquired a plot of land with a stately villa and garden on the corner of Kalenwall and Friedrich-Wilhelm-Platz , where the bank offered its services from 1875. The building, the listed former villa of Amsberg, was built in 1827 according to plans by the Brunswick architect Peter Joseph Krahe and, after a turbulent history, is now owned by the Braunschweigische Landessparkasse, just a few meters opposite .

After the death of his father in 1885, Bernhard Meyersfeld continued the banking business. He was a great promoter of the Braunschweig canning industry , benefactor and patron in science and art. The company flourished: In 1902 Meyersfeld's synagogue tax was only exceeded by that of the major industrialist Max Jüdel from Brunswick .

He remained connected to his hometown Einbeck all his life. In 1895, for example, he donated 500 marks for the building of the Kaiser Friedrich Tower there and 20,000 marks for the construction of the new Einbeck synagogue , which was inaugurated on September 1, 1896 .

Member of the Braunschweig Jewish Community

From 1898 until his death, Meyersfeld was head of the Braunschweig Jewish community alongside John Landauer , Otto Magnus , Simon Hamburger von Hamburger & Littauer and Bennie Mielziner.

Brunswick Eulenspiegelbrunnen

Installation of the Eulenspiegel fountain in 1906. In the background you can see the Fleawinkel with the Eulenspiegelhaus (left).
The Eulenspiegel fountain in 2006
Inscription on the Eulenspiegel fountain from 1950.

The artist Arnold Kramer from neighboring Wolfenbüttel created a model of a fountain for the city of Braunschweig in 1905. It showed Till Eulenspiegel surrounded by owls and monkeys - an allusion to one of the numerous pranks that Till Eulenspiegel is said to have played on the citizens of Braunschweig. However, since the city had no money for such a well, Meyersfeld bought it for 15,000 marks and gave it to the city and its youth.

The city had it set up on the Bäckerklint , because legend has it that Till Eulenspiegel baked “owls and meerkats” there. The fountain was inaugurated on September 27, 1906. On the back of the base there was an inscription that indicated the donor. But since Meyersfeld was a well-known, influential representative of the Jewish community, the National Socialists destroyed the inscription in the 1930s.

The entire development of the Bäckerklint - almost exclusively centuries - old half - timbered houses - was completely lost due to the bombing of the Second World War , especially the bombing of October 15, 1944 . The only structure in this area of ​​the old town that survived the firestorm unscathed was the Eulenspiegelbrunnen

The metal figures Till Eulenspiegel, as well as his owls and monkeys, were dismantled after the bombing on the instructions of the city administration to protect them from non-ferrous metal thieves. After the rubble had been cleared from the Bäckerklint and the fountain was renovated, it was re-inaugurated together with the figures on October 1st, 1950. On the back of the fountain surround, under Till Eulenspiegel's seat, there has since been the inscription:

"Set up the funny journeyman Till Eulenspiegel where he baked owls and monkeys. Conceived and made by Arnold Kramer from Wolfenbüttel. Repositioned for the Braunschweig Heimattag on October 1, 1950 in memory of the founder of the 1905 fountain, Bernhard Meyersfeld. "

Attack on the Orient Express

The Meyersfelds were on their way back from a trip to the Orient in May / June 1891 , using the Orient Express . After the train left Constantinople , it was derailed near the town of Çerkezköy by bandits under the leadership of a Greek named Anathas or Anastathos , and 1st and 2nd class passengers, including the Meyersfelds, were robbed. The bandits stole money and valuables and took several hostages , including German businessmen, but the Meyersfelds were not among them. Two hostages were released to deliver a ransom note in their home countries . This soon led to a diplomatic crisis between the German Empire and the Ottoman Empire , on whose territory the attack had taken place. Kaiser Wilhelm II. , Was allegedly ready to send German troops to Ottoman territory to capture the bandits and free the hostages. Due to diplomatic pressure, the ransom was eventually paid. The hostages were released, the robbers escaped undetected, and the loot and ransom were never found.

Family and offspring

In 1872 Bernhard Meyersfeld married Adele Stern (April 21, 1854 in Elberfeld to February 5, 1926 in Braunschweig). With her he had the sons Berthold (April 18, 1875 in Braunschweig until April 26, 1934 there) and Paul (October 28, 1876 in Braunschweig until May 2, 1943 in Lima , Peru ). Berthold Meyer field continued the banking business of his father, to the bank in 1930 in the wake of the Great Depression in bankruptcy went. He married Cécile-Berche Rau (February 24, 1878 in Paris to 1965 in Johannesburg , South Africa ), who died before the National Socialists in 1934 together with their children Annette (born March 25, 1909), Herbert (born January 21, 1911 to August 25, 2006 in Cape Town ) and Alix (born March 20, 1920) fled to South Africa.

Paul Meyersfeld was an engineer and married to Emma Flesch (June 6, 1881 in Frankfurt am Main until December 6, 1951 in Lima). Both had their son Heinrich (born December 18, 1903 in Braunschweig). The family fled from the National Socialists to the Peruvian capital Lima.

The graves of Adele, Bernhard and Berthold Meyersfeld are in the Jewish cemetery on Helmstedter Straße . David Meyersfeld's grave is in the old Jewish cemetery on Hamburger Strasse .

Adele and Bernhard Meyersfeld and their children lived in Villa Sandweg 3 (today's Magnitorwall ). After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists on January 30, 1933, which in Braunschweig, as everywhere in the Reich, was affected by arbitrary acts and reprisals and the like. a. was accompanied towards Jews, the family members were forced to emigrate as quickly as possible. The house was sold to the pharmacist Saeger, the former bank building was acquired by the Buchler company .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhard Bein: You lived in Braunschweig. Biographical notes on the Jews buried in Braunschweig (1797 to 1983). P. 276.
  2. ↑ Reinhard Bein: You lived in Braunschweig. Biographical notes on the Jews buried in Braunschweig (1797 to 1983). P. 277.
  3. ↑ Reinhard Bein: You lived in Braunschweig. Biographical notes on the Jews buried in Braunschweig (1797 to 1983). P. 434.
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Kimpflinger: monuments in Lower Saxony. Volume 1.1 .: City of Braunschweig. Part 1. (= Monument Topography Federal Republic of Germany . ) Hameln 1993, ISBN 3-87585-252-4 , p. 237.
  5. ↑ Reinhard Bein: Bernhard Meyersfeld. In: Reinhard Bein: Life stories of Braunschweiger Jews. P. 208.
  6. ↑ Information on the Kaiser Friedrich Tower in Einbeck at kaiserfriedrichturm.jimdo.com
  7. ^ Isidore Singer , Cyrus Adler : The Jewish encyclopedia. A descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day. Volume 5, Funk and Wagnalls, New York 1925, p. 78.
  8. ↑ Reinhard Bein: Bernhard Meyersfeld. In: Reinhard Bein: Life stories of Braunschweiger Jews. P. 210.
  9. ↑ Gerhard Schaaf: ... and smiles his unfathomable smile. Memories of Bernhard Meyersfeld - 90 years of Eulenspiegelbrunnen. P. 98.
  10. ↑ Reinhard Bein: Bernhard Meyersfeld. In: Reinhard Bein: Life stories of Braunschweiger Jews. P.
  11. ↑ The 61st history tells how Eulenspiegel hired a bread baker as a journeyman baker in Braunschweig and how he baked owls and monkeys. on projekt-gutenberg.org
  12. ↑ Gerhard Schaaf: ... and smiles his unfathomable smile. Memories of Bernhard Meyersfeld - 90 years of Eulenspiegelbrunnen. P. 100.
  13. ^ Nellie Hortense Friedrichs : Memories from my life in Braunschweig 1912–1937. Kleine Schriften, Issue 32, City Archives and Public Library Braunschweig, 3rd ext. Edition, Braunschweig 1998, p. 23.
  14. ↑ Reinhard Bein: Bernhard Meyersfeld. In: Reinhard Bein: Life stories of Braunschweiger Jews. P. 209.
  15. ↑ Jim Harter: World Railways of the Nineteenth Century. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8089-0 , p. 403.
  16. ↑ Reinhard Bein: You lived in Braunschweig. Biographical notes on the Jews buried in Braunschweig (1797 to 1983). P. 466.
  17. ↑ Civil status archives of Paris , page 26
  18. ↑ Reinhard Bein: You lived in Braunschweig. Biographical notes on the Jews buried in Braunschweig (1797 to 1983). P. 518.
  19. ↑ a b Bert Bilzer , Richard Moderhack (ed.): BRUNSVICENSIA JUDAICA. Memorial book for the Jewish fellow citizens of Braunschweig 1933–1945 , In: Braunschweiger Werkstück , Volume 35, Braunschweig 1966, p. 196.
  20. ↑ Reinhard Bein: You lived in Braunschweig. Biographical notes on the Jews buried in Braunschweig (1797 to 1983). Pp. 434, 467, 518.
  21. ↑ Reinhard Bein: You lived in Braunschweig. Biographical notes on the Jews buried in Braunschweig (1797 to 1983). P. 277.
  22. ^ Nellie Hortense Friedrichs : Memories from my life in Braunschweig 1912–1937. Kleine Schriften, Issue 32, City Archives and Public Library Braunschweig, 3rd ext. Edition, Braunschweig 1998, p. 22.
  23. ↑ Reinhard Bein: Bernhard Meyersfeld. In: Reinhard Bein: Life stories of Braunschweiger Jews. P. 211.
personal data
SURNAME Meyersfeld, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German banker and patron of the Jewish faith
DATE OF BIRTH August 14, 1841
PLACE OF BIRTH Einbeck
DATE OF DEATH October 2, 1920
Place of death Braunschweig