Charles Hallgarten

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Charles Hallgarten
Charles Hallgarten in his son Robert's biography about his father
His foundation Witwerheim, Gellertstrasse 5, Frankfurt am Main

Charles Lazarus Hallgarten (born November 18, 1838 in Mainz , † April 19, 1908 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German - American banker , philanthropist and social reformer .

Hallgarten lived in New York from 1851 to 1875 and was the founder or co-founder of numerous institutions, some of which still exist in Frankfurt today. During his lifetime he was a well-known personality far beyond Frankfurt, while today he is almost forgotten.

Life

Mainz - origin and childhood

Charles Hallgarten came from a Jewish family that had lived in Mainz for centuries . His parents were Eleonore Hallgarten born in Mannheim . Darmstadt and the businessman Lazarus Hallgarten. Charles, registered as "Karl" in the birth register, had two older and two younger siblings. Lazarus Hallgarten went to New York in 1845 or 1846 and founded the Wall Street banking house "Hallgarten & Co" which made big profits from railroad finance deals. His family stayed in Germany until 1851, during which time they lived in an uncle's house in Mannheim.

New York - Youth, Education, Career and Marriage

From 1851 the family lived together in New York. Charles acquired American citizenship, attended school and college, studied languages ​​and literature, the outdoors, and horse riding. During the American Civil War (1861-1865) he represented the position of the northern states as a staunch opponent of slavery . In 1864 he married his cousin Elise Mainzer, in 1865 his first son Fritz was born, in 1869 his daughter Henriette and in 1870 his son Robert , in 1878 his daughter Emma Eleonore, later married Neisser .

Charles became a partner in his father's banking house in 1868. He showed a keen interest in social issues and in organizing private charity. In 1875 he and his family left New York and the United States after contracting tuberculosis , probably through visits to slums. In addition, he could not stand the climate in New York ("Summer of Naples - Winter of St. Petersburg"). Due to an arm that was broken several times and healed at an angle, he suffered from an obstructive physical defect. He remained a silent partner in the bank.

Frankfurt - charity as a profession

After spending several years in more southern parts of Europe to restore his health, the family settled in Frankfurt am Main in 1877, where there were already business and private connections. But once a year Hallgarten drove from Europe to New York.

His grandson George WF Hallgarten describes the visits to his grandfather's stately home in Frankfurt: “The house, Miquelstrasse (today Siesmayerstrasse) 21, destroyed in World War II, was exactly where the Consulate General was until his move in 2006 of the United States . "

His social activities there began with membership in a charitable association of the Israelite community since 1882. Gradually, he joined other organizations, was elected to boards, founded other associations, organized funds, and contributed considerable funds himself. In total, he was a member of over 40 institutions and associations. Coordinating and organizing social welfare institutions to overcome the fragmentation of private welfare activities modeled on the New York welfare organization was his particular concern. He was also active as a sponsor of art, science and education.

Charles Hallgarten died of a stroke on the morning of April 19, 1908 (the date was the 4th day of the Passover festival , Easter Sunday ). He was buried in the Jewish cemetery on Rat-Beil-Strasse in Frankfurt am Main with great sympathy among the population (grave location: Block 11).

Grave of Charles Hallgarten in the old Jewish cemetery on Rat-Beil-Strasse in Frankfurt am Main

Relation to Judaism

Charles Hallgarten's grandson wrote about his relationship to Judaism : “Charles Hallgarten - according to Hellmuth von Gerlach's description, the living refutation of the image of the Jew as it was at home in Gerlach's circles - had recommended (...) assimilation ; of his four children - two sons and two daughters - one son was a Calvinist, while my father described himself as having no religion, and almost all of his nine grandchildren were baptized as children. "

Hallgarten was one of the co-founders of the Frankfurt Lodge of the UOBB (Independent Order B'nai B'rith ) in 1888 .

The Religious Sources of Jewish Charity

Arno Lustiger cites Hallgarten's biblical passages and rabbinical literature for the reasons for the charity :

  • If your brother begins to sink and his hand becomes weak, hold him up, even if he is a stranger or a sitter, that he may live with you. ( Leviticus 25.35  EU )
  • Love the stranger like your neighbor, always think of him for the better, speak benevolently about him, do not spy out his faults, but instruct him in private if he does wrong in your presence. (Jechiel ben Jekutiel Harofe from Rome 1289)
  • You shall not bow to the law of a stranger or an orphan, nor seize a widow's dress. ( Deuteronomy 24.17  EU )

Act

Charles Hallgarten contributed a lot to the development away from pure almsgiving towards modern social welfare, e.g. B. in the field of child and youth welfare (establishment of day nurseries, day nurseries, baby milk kitchens, rest homes, the child protection association). Some of the institutions that Charles Hallgarten founded are still of enormous importance today. This includes the Kalmenhof in Idstein , founded as a home for “idiotic” children (opened in 1888). Today the Social Pedagogical Center Kalmenhof is an institution of the State Welfare Association of Hesse, in which 370 mentally handicapped, learning disabled and behavioral children and adults are cared for inpatient and a further 130 outpatient by around 300 employees.

His commitment to the promotion of learning disabled children through participation in the founding of the first Frankfurt "special school" was recognized by the established as a third "special school" the city of Frankfurt to Hall Gardens death in 1913. Hallgarten school was named after him.

In 1890, the "Aktienbaugesellschaft für small dwellings" (now ABG Frankfurt Holding ) was founded. As in other large cities, the enormous increase in the number of inhabitants (doubling of the Frankfurt population within ten years) meant that the poorer population had a great housing shortage (overcrowding, poor hygienic conditions). Land was acquired and settlements built. The ABG developed into the largest and most active non-profit building association; many hundreds of apartments were built at affordable prices including infrastructure (club house, people's kitchen, daycare centers, playgrounds, etc.).

Furthermore, his activities in the field of the advancement of women were significant: At Charles Hallgarten's instigation and with his financial support, the first legal protection office for women was set up in Frankfurt and the first female lawyer was employed in Germany. He supported the women's rights activist Bertha Pappenheim and was a co-founder of an association that helped unmarried pregnant women.

personality

One of the reasons why Charles Hallgarten is largely forgotten even in Frankfurt is certainly his personal modesty. Obviously, being praised wasn't important to him. He did not hold any public office, but worked almost exclusively as a private person.

At the age of almost 40, he became “The Philanthropist”, an integral part of the intellectual life of Frankfurt Jewry.

That he was still a famous man is shown by v. a. the reports of his funeral, which was attended by over 20,000 people. 20 speeches were given. It spoke u. a. the mayor of Frankfurt, Franz Adickes . In the speeches his kindness, his energy and his liberal attitude were emphasized. That Charles Hallgarten must have been a tremendously hardworking person is immediately apparent from the amount of his activities. He must have been a disciplined worker with great organizational skills. There are testimonies about the private Charles Hallgarten from his son Robert and grandson Fritz.

In the biography “Charles Hallgarten. Life and Work of a Frankfurt Social Reformer ”Ulrich Stascheit points out a connection between the Hallgarten and Mann families as well as striking parallels between the figure of the philanthropic multimillionaire Samuel Spoelmann in Thomas Mann's “ Royal Highness ”and Charles Hallgarten.

Obituary of Arno Lustiger

The final word in the Charles Hallgarten biography from 2003 was formulated by Arno Lustiger himself as the editor of the book:

"If you (...) consider that in the course of his life in Frankfurt, according to today's value, Hallgarten donated a two-digit million amount for charitable purposes and, despite his poor health, tirelessly and without sparing his person for various purposes in Frankfurt, in the German Reich and worked all over the world, then one has to be convinced that he was the greatest among the philanthropists and patrons and has remained unprecedented to this day. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The name "Hallgarten" comes from the place of origin Hallgarten in the Rheingau , where his ancestors lived until they moved to Mainz. Paul Arnsberg : The History of the Frankfurt Jews since the French Revolution, Vol. III, Darmstadt 1983 .
  2. ↑ Photo of the Villa Hallgarten on Miquelstrasse (today Siesmayerstrasse) 21, which was destroyed in the bombing of the Second World War
  3. ↑ George WF Hallgarten: When the Shadows fell - memories from the beginning of the century to the turn of the millennium. Frankfurt / M-Berlin 1969, p. 20.
  4. ↑ Guide to the graves of well-known personalities in Frankfurt cemeteries . Frankfurt am Main 1985, p. 49.
  5. ↑ George WF Hallgarten : When the shadows fell - memories from the beginning of the century to the turn of the millennium , Frankfurt / M-Berlin 1969, - with a dedication from Albuquerque (New Mexico), USA March 1969, p. 27.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hallgarten, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hallgarten, Charles Lazarus; Hallgarten, Charles L .; Hallgarten, Karl Lazarus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American banker, philanthropist and social reformer
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH Mainz
DATE OF DEATH April 19, 1908
Place of death Frankfurt am Main