Bethmann (family)

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Family coat of arms of Bethmann

The Bethmann family has been a family of bankers who have been based in Frankfurt am Main since the 18th century and ran the Bethmann Bank from 1748 to 1983 .

history

The Bethmann family came from Goslar , where they can be traced back to 1416 and belonged to the urban upper class of the families who were capable of advising and bearing the coat of arms.

The grandfather of the company's founder, Konrad Bethmann (1652-1701), was in 1683 mintmaster the Princess of Nassau-Holzappel in Cramberg on the Lahn , 1687 mint master of the Teutonic Order in Friedberg and 1692 Electoral Mainz mint master in Aschaffenburg . On his death he bequeathed a considerable fortune to his widow Anna Elisabeth (1654–1727). Anna Elisabeth Bethmann came from Minden and had a special relationship with the local Simeon and Mauritian pen . This may be the reason that in the following generations one of the sons was always given the first name Simon Moritz .

As a Protestant, Anna Elisabeth moved with her children to the Lutheran Frankfurt am Main , where she had relatives. Three of her daughters married citizens of Frankfurt. Her son Simon Moritz Bethmann (1687–1725) became a bailiff in Bergnassau an der Lahn . When he died, his widow Elisabeth, b. Thielen (1680–1757) returned to Frankfurt and became a housekeeper in the family of her brother-in-law, the businessman Jakob Adami (1670–1745). He raised his three Bethmann step-sons Johann Philipp (1715–1793), Johann Jakob (1717–1792) and Simon Moritz (1721–1782) and later bequeathed half of his fortune to them. Johann Philipp and Simon Moritz took over the Jacob Adami trading business , from which the Bethmann Brothers banking house , later the Bethmann Bank , emerged in 1748 . The third brother Johann Jakob founded a trading company in Bordeaux . He later became imperial consul in Bordeaux and founded the Bordelais family branch that still exists today.

Inner courtyard of the former Bethmann bank

Even if the bank continued to trade in goods until the second half of the 19th century, soon after it was founded it transformed into one of the leading German banks, which could only be compared with the Rothschild house that was later built . The government bond business , which the bank entered into in 1754, was particularly responsible for this . A financial innovation taken over from the Netherlands brought the decisive breakthrough in 1778: the Bethmann brothers issued a “partial bond” for the first time in the German Empire for the Austrian imperial family. Previously, bonds were only placed with one or very few wealthy investors who held them until repayment, this new type of bond was divided into small, freely tradable pieces. This not only significantly enlarged the group of potential investors, but also gave them the opportunity to turn their investment into cash before the end of the term . With this innovative success, Bankhaus Bethmann laid the foundation for the modern bond market in Germany.

The Bethmannsche Gartenhaus, acquired by Johann Philipp Bethmann in 1783

In 1783 Johann Philipp Bethmann acquired a small garden house in front of Friedberger Tor, built in 1760, which he had leased since 1773 and had it converted into a spacious villa that served the family as a summer apartment and from 1855 as their main residence, the Bethmannsche Gartenhaus . At the end of the Second World War, the main building burned down and part of the east wing was rebuilt.

While Simon Moritz died childless, his older brother Johann Philipp had six children from his marriage in 1762 to Katharina Margarethe Schaaf (1741–1822), the daughter of the Frankfurt lay judge and imperial councilor Anton Schaaf, four of whom survived:

  1. Susanne Elisabeth (1763–1833), married the Frankfurt merchant Johann Jakob Hollweg (1748–1808) in 1780 , who was named Bethmann Hollweg after the marriage . Her son Moritz August later became the Prussian minister of state, and in 1840 the Prussian king elevated him to hereditary nobility. His sons Theodor (1821–1886) and Felix (1824–1900) were members of the Reichstag, the latter's son, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg , served as German Chancellor from 1909 to 1917. His son Felix became a count through his marriage to Marie-Luise Reventlow farmer on Gut Altenhof and Gut Jersbek in Schleswig-Holstein.
  2. Simon Moritz (1768–1826) became one of Frankfurt's most important bankers, statesmen and philanthropists.
  3. Maria Elisabeth (1772–1847) married the banker Johann Jakob Bußmann (1756–1791) in 1790 . Auguste Bussmann came from this marriage . Johann Jakob died the following year. In 1797 Maria Elisabeth married the emigrated French aristocrat Alexandre Victor Francois Vicomte de Flavigny (1770-1819). Her daughter from his second marriage was Marie d'Agoult (1805-1876), which in turn had several children, among them - by associating Maries with Franz Liszt - including Cosima Wagner (1837-1930).
  4. Sophie Elisabeth (1774-1862).
Simon Moritz von Bethmann (1755–1813)

After Johann Philipp Bethmann's death in 1793, his son Simon Moritz took over the management of the bank. He expanded the financial business to a considerable extent and issued bonds for Denmark, Austria and Russia, among others . The Bethmann family became, alongside the Rothschild family, the most important financier of the German and European royal houses. He also used his contacts to the ruling houses for diplomatic missions in the interests of his hometown. In 1802 he succeeded in reducing the French contribution demands . Through his appearance in the negotiations for the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss , he achieved the secularization of the ecclesiastical assets located on Frankfurt territory in favor of the Imperial Treasury. In 1807 he became Russian consul general, and in 1808 he was raised to the Austrian nobility by Emperor Franz I. On October 31, 1813, Emperor Napoleon stayed in his summer house. Bethmann achieved the peaceful withdrawal of the French army from Frankfurt through negotiations. He campaigned for culture, art, economy and science in Frankfurt in a variety of ways. Simon Moritz was the first citizen of Frankfurt to his contemporaries, and in France he was also called le roi de Francfort . He had been with the Dutchwoman Louise Friederike, born in British Guiana, since 1810 . Boode (1792–1869) married. The Louisapark in Frankfurt is named after her. The couple had four sons, Moritz (1811–1877), Karl, Alexander and Heinrich († 1845). Since they were minors when their father died, his partners initially took over the management of the bank. In 1828 his widow married Matthias Franz Borgnis (1798–1867).

In 1833 Moritz von Bethmann joined the management of the bank. Since the mid-1820s, the bank slowly lost its leading position in European bond trading in favor of the Rothschild bank, which was also founded in Frankfurt. While the latter began to dominate the financing of European countries, Bethmann now increasingly concentrated on industrial bonds. In the course of the 19th century, the bank played a key role in financing the construction of the railways and steam shipping . Another line of business was asset management , for European monarchs as well as for citizens; so had Goethe in 1786 and his Italian Journey leave by Bankhaus Bethmann finance. Moritz was promoted to the Prussian Consul General in the Free City of Frankfurt in 1854 and to the baron class of the Grand Ducal Baden . In 1863 he hosted participants in the Frankfurt Princely Congress in the garden house. Like his father, he was a generous patron and promoter of Frankfurt's art and cultural life. With Maria, geb. Freiin von Bose , he had two sons and three daughters, including Simon Moritz , named after his grandfather , who later succeeded him as head of the Bethmann banking house.

Until well into the 20th century, the bank was able to maintain its leading position in Germany in matters of wealth and complex industrial finance. After the First World War , it developed from a bank specializing in securities issues and asset management to a general commercial bank. The first branches were opened in 1964. In 1976 the family, together with the co-owners of the Krahnen family, initially sold 50% of the bank to the Bayerische Vereinsbank and then in 1983 the remaining shares. After the merger of Bayerische Vereinsbank with Bayerische Hypotheken und Wechselbank , the Frankfurt private bank was merged with the Munich bank Maffei & Co. to form Bethmann Maffei AG & Co. KG ; After the merged private bank was sold to the Dutch ABN Amro in 2003, the latter merged the bank with the Cologne private bank Delbrück & Co., which it had acquired in 2002; the merged bank was initially called Delbrück Bethmann Maffei AG ; since 2011 the house has been trading as Bethmann Bank AG again . In 2011, Liechtenstein-based LGT Germany was acquired, and Credit Suisse's German private client business was integrated into Bethmann Bank in 2014.

Schönstadt Palace , Hesse

Simon Moritz Freiherr von Bethmann (1887–1966) was married to Maximiliane Countess Schimmelpenninck (1889–1966), the heiress of Schönstadt Castle in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district in Hesse. This property is now managed by Albrecht Freiherr von Bethmann.

Bethmannstrasse in Frankfurt's old town , Bethmannpark in Nordend , Louisapark and Bethmannschule , a commercial vocational school, are reminiscent of the Bethmann family .

coat of arms

Coat of arms of the Bethmann family

The Bethmann coat of arms can be traced back to the year 1530. It shows in the split shield on the right in gold the half black imperial eagle from the Goslar city arms, on the left in silver two red diagonal bars. On the crowned helmet with red and silver covers, a black eagle flight . Later, the motto tuebor ( Latin: I will protect ) was added.

Bethmännchen

Bethmännchen

Legend has it that the Bethmännchen , a confectionery made from marzipan, was invented in 1838 by the Parisian confectioner Jean Jacques Gautenier , who was then head chef in the house of Simon Moritz von Bethmann . Originally the Bethmännchen were equipped with four almond halves, one for each of his four sons. After Heinrich's death in 1845, one half of the almond was left out. However, this legend is controversial, especially since Simon Moritz died in 1826. The Bethmännchen are therefore probably older.

Members

Bethmann family

Bethmann Hollweg family

Descendants of Johann Philipp's daughter Susanne Elisabeth Bethmann (1763–1833) and her husband Johann Jakob Hollweg (1748–1808)

literature