Chiel Weissmann

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Chiel Weissmann (born July 25, 1883 in Rzeszo , Galicia , † May 19, 1974 ) was an Austrian - Swiss businessman , film producer and film distributor .

life and work

Weissmann was the firstborn son of Abraham and Chaji Sury, née Mondow. As a small child he attended the Talmud -School and helped his father in the grocery store .

In 1909 Weissmann married Chiel Frimet Jitte Steiner, known as Frieda. When the First World War broke out, they fled to Vienna with their two children , where Weissmann found a job in a bank. After dealing with the financing of a film project, Weissmann got into the film business himself.

When he moved to Zurich with his family in the autumn of 1916 , he made contact with the local film business. In 1907 his cinema "Radium" was opened in Zurich. This was the first motion picture theater in the city of Zurich and one of the first in Europe .

Logo. Weissmann EMELKA film. Chiel Weissmann (1883–1974) film producer and film distributor. Switzerland
Weissmann EMELKA film.

Weissmann founded the "Weissmann-Emelka-Film" in Zurich on August 1, 1918 and until 1921 loaned the German films to the Munich company Emelka . From 1922 he was an independent film distributor and was able to buy and lend foreign productions at his own discretion. A community of interests with Emelka continued to exist. Adolf Hawelski and Jgnaz Rosenkranz were his collaborators. On the residence applications, which Weissmann had to renew on an ongoing basis, he referred to himself in 1920 as the "director of the Bavarian film company".

When Emelka had to file for bankruptcy in Germany in 1932, Weissmann successfully continued his office under the same name. In the interwar period Weissmann produced several films in Germany . The film Mayerling , produced in 1936 with Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux in the leading roles, and the film Masquerade were particularly successful .

In Zurich Weissmann began an intensive love affair with piano teacher Bertha Rosenkranz (* 1900). When she became pregnant in 1931, she traveled to Budapest with a friend and entered into a marriage of convenience with the drug addict doctor Ferencz Neumann.

After the birth of her son Karolyi Neumann - later he was called Charles Weissmann - she traveled to Zurich, where she lived with her child in her parents' house. In 1933 Weissmann was able to divorce his wife and was granted Swiss citizenship . Bertha then traveled to Neumann, dissolved the marriage of convenience and married Weissmann in 1935.

In 1937 Weissmann acquired the so-called " Loorengut " . The 17-room house, built in 1927 in the English country house style, was owned by Marion McHang-Röntgen, whose husband was Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen's nephew . When Max Oppenheimer fled Germany in 1938, he was a guest at Weissmann's for four days.

The «Emelka-Filmgesellschaft Zürich» cooperative resolved to dissolve it at an extraordinary general meeting in October 1938 as a result of the transfer of the assets and liabilities according to the balance sheet to «Emelka-Film Aktiengesellschaft» in Zurich. The signatures of the board members Weissmann and Jgnaz Rosenkranz were lost.

When Germany attacked the neutral states of the Netherlands , Belgium and Luxenburg on May 10, 1940 , Weissmann and his wife decided to leave Switzerland with their son. On the coast west of Lisbon they lived for several months in the hotel " Monte Estoril ". When they received a visa for Rio de Janeiro , they embarked on the "Angola" along with hundreds of other Jewish refugees.

During the following years the family lived in Copacabana . In 1944 Weissmann adopted his son Charles and in 1945 he was father of a son again. In the following year Weissmann decided to return to Switzerland with his family. Weissmann was elected to “Emelka-Film Aktiengesellschaft” in 1968 as a member and delegate of the Board of Directors with individual signature.

The “Chil and Bertha Weissmann Foundation” was entered in the commercial register for the first time in 2001 and is based in Zurich. The foundation is active in the field of "Church, political or secular associations".

literature

  • Daniela Kuhn: Charles Weissmann. A life dedicated to science . In: NZZ Libro ( digitized version )
  • Weissmann producer and distributor . In: Schweizer Film = Film Suisse: official organ of Switzerland , vol. 3. 1937, p. 9. ( digitized version )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Yvonne Zimmermann: Mountain Guide Lorenz. Career of a failed film. Schüren, Marburg 2005, p. 216.
  2. ↑ 1943. Adolf Hawelski, 25 years at Emelka. Schweizer Film = Film Suisse: official organ of Switzerland, accessed on June 8, 2020 .
  3. ↑ 1918–1938 «Weissmann-Emelka-Film». Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
  4. ↑ 1933, Emelka advertisement. Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
  5. ↑ 1937, Das Loorengut. Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
  6. ^ 1932, Emelka-Filmgesellschaft Zürich. Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
  7. ↑ 1938, Emelka-Film Aktiengesellschaft. Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
  8. ^ 1968, Emelka-Film Aktiengesellschaft. Retrieved June 8, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Weissmann, Chiel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-Swiss businessman, film producer and film distributor
DATE OF BIRTH July 25, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH Rzeszo , Galicia
DATE OF DEATH May 19, 1974