Ephraim Veitel Foundation

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The Ephraim Veitel Foundation , based in Berlin, is probably the oldest Jewish foundation in Germany. It was founded in 1799 by Ephraim Veitel Ephraim, a member of the Prussian-Jewish court jeweler family Ephraim and son of Veitel Heine Ephraim , and came into effect after his death in 1803. Since then, the foundation has been in existence - albeit with changing names - until today.

history

The Ephraim Veitel Foundation was endowed by the will of Ephraim Veitel Ephraim of February 6, 1799 with a capital stock of exactly "33,333 Reichsthalers , and eight Groschen Prussisch Courant " and came into force in 1803 with the name "Ephraim Veitel ('Sche) Foundation". Its objective was to promote Jewish education and upbringing as well as to support needy people from the Ephraim family and beyond, as well as non-Jewish people.

Before its “ Aryanization ” from 1934 onwards, the foundation essentially financed the “Veitel Heine Ephraimsche Lehranstalt”, an educational foundation run by Ephraim's father Veitel Ephraim, especially during its “university” phase. The poor and sick care practiced was adapted to the changing social and family conditions. In the course of the National Socialist disfranchisement, the foundation was Aryanized from 1934 and had to discard the name of the Jewish founder. It was then continued under the name "Foundation of 1803" as a "no longer Jewish" foundation. After the Second World War , which also resulted in high capital losses, "re-Judaization" and thus the restoration of the original legal status was prevented despite the emphatic demands of the Allied and Berlin authorities. During this period, the chairman Ralf Lohan, who had been in office from 1936 until his death in 2000, was still responsible, who also moved the headquarters of the foundation from Berlin to Bonn. The return to the original status as a Jewish foundation under the name of its founder was only possible after the death of the "permanent chairman" Lohan. Recent historical research about the foundation also contributed to this. This has been done emphatically since 2007 by the new chairman Karl Erich Grözinger and on the basis of his research into the history of the foundation. The efforts finally led in 2018 to the return from the Bonn “exile” to Berlin to the former parent house of the Ephraim family, the rebuilt Ephraim-Palais in the Nikolaiviertel of Berlin-Mitte . The return and restart of the foundation's activities in Berlin are also due to the joint efforts of the new board, which now also includes Ms. Lala Süsskind and Ms. Beatrice Magnus-Wiebel, and the director of the Stadtmuseum Berlin Foundation, Paul Spies and his colleague Ms. Nele Güntheroth.

The founder

The Prussian-Jewish court jeweler Ephraim Veitel Ephraim was born on October 8, 1729 as the second child of Veitel Heine Ephraim (1703–1775) and Elke Fraenkel (1703 – approx. 1769) in Berlin. The father was a so-called court Jew of Frederick the Great (1712–1786), so he belonged to the circle of court factors , coin tenants, bankers and industrialists serving the king . Ephraim Veitel and his three brothers Joseph, Zacharias and Benjamin received both a traditional Jewish education and a modern secular education. After the death of their father, Ephraim Veitel and his brothers took over his business. So he too became a representative of the Jewish court factors, who as court jewelers, coin entrepreneurs and bankers at the Prussian court in Berlin were essentially responsible for the financing of the state under Friedrich II. And his successor Friedrich Wilhelm II. (1744–1797). Prince Friedrich Wilhelm II awarded Ephraim Veitel Ephraim the official title of “Real Court, War and Cammer Agent” in 1782 and the title of “Court Jeweler and Court Agent” after he took office. The Ephraim family also ran a gold and silver manufacture as well as silk manufacture and trade and owned several houses and large gardens, including the Ephraim Palais , built from 1762 to 1769 on the edge of the Nikolaiviertel in Berlin-Mitte. The rococo palace served the family as a residential and commercial building until 1823. In 1935 the house was demolished as part of an expansion of the Mühlendamm and rebuilt 1985–1987 on the occasion of the 750th anniversary of Berlin and in the course of the reconstruction of the entire Nikolaiviertel by the GDR using original components. Today the palace is used for thematic exhibitions and is part of the Berlin City Museum Foundation . The Ephraim Veitel Foundation has had an office here since 2018.

During his lifetime, the founder Ephraim Veitel Ephraim campaigned, among other things, at court with a memorandum to improve the legal and economic situation of the Jews. Presumably in 1785 he submitted a memorandum “On the situation of the Jews in Prussia” to the court, in which he presented his ideas about the emancipation of Jews and argued against the “General Regulations” issued by Frederick the Great, restricting Jews and making them financially burdensome. In his will of 1799, Ephraim Veitel Ephraim determined an amount for a charitable foundation. When the Ephraim Veitel Foundation named after him came into force in 1803, it was at the beginning entirely in the family tradition and essentially financed the teaching staff and the library of the "Veitel Heine Ephraimschen Lehranstalt" (Bet Ha-Midrasch) donated by his father, as well as funds Doctors at the Jewish Hospital in Berlin paid off.

Goals and Research

Today, the Ephraim Veitel Foundation primarily researches and documents its eventful and complex history and works in the field of science and education in a public-oriented manner and organizes its own events for this purpose. Insofar as the foundation's funds allow, the foundation also supports projects that expand, shape and safeguard knowledge about Jewish life, Jewish traditions and culture in Germany. The focus is on the life and work of the Ephraim family and their cultural, social and economic environment.

literature

  • The Ephraim Veitel Foundation, ed. KE Grözinger, 2009
  • Karl-Erich Grözinger, Harry Van der Linden (ed.): The foundations of the Prussian-Jewish court jeweler family Ephraim and their traces in the present, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 9783447057554
  • Harry B. van der Linden, Veitel Heine Ephraim, court Jew of Frederick II, Berlin 2013
  • G. Steiner, Three Prussian Kings and a Jew: Explorations about Benjamin Veitel Ephraim and his world, Berlin 1995
  • Dolf Michaelis, The Ephraim Family. Age of Transition, in: Leo Baeck Year Book, Vol. 21, Jan. 1, 1976, pp. 201-228
  • Dolf Michaelis, The Ephraim Family and their Descendants (II), Vol 24, Jan. 1, 1979, pp. 225-246
  • Rolf Born, Heimann Joseph Ephraim or Tradition as Education, Berlin (1988)
  • Veronika Bendt: The Ephraim House in Berlin and its descendants. The Bear of Berlin, episode 31, 1982

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://ephraim-veitel-stiftung.de/stiftung/stiftungsgeschichte/
  2. ↑ A Kurant coin (older spelling Courantmün (t) ze, from French courant "running") is a coin whose face value is (almost) completely covered by the metal it is made of. For this strange number see: https://ephraim-veitel-stiftung.de/rthlr-33333-8g/
  3. ↑ See KE Grözinger, The Foundations of the Prussian-Jewish Court Jeweler Family Ephraim and Their Traces in the Present, Wiesbaden 2009.
  4. ↑ https://www.stadtmuseum.de/objekte-und-geschichten/das-ephraim-palais
  5. ↑ https://alt.juedischerundschau.de/die-ephraim-veitel-stiftung-ist-zurueck-135911995/ Press article by Paul Heintze in the Jüdischen Rundschau on May 4, 2018
  6. ↑ https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/hofjuden-schleudersitz-beim-fuersten.1079.de.html?dram:article_id=472290 Radio report by Josefine Janert on the subject of "Hofjuden" on Deutschlandfunk Kultur on March 13, 2020.
  7. ↑ https://ephraim-veitel-stiftung.de/stiftung/der-stifter/
  8. ↑ https://www.stiftungen.org/terminkalender/termine/gomperz-ephraim-itzig-erfolg-und-bedrueckung-der-hofjuden-friedrichs-ii-soiree-vortrag-le.html Announcement of the soirée "Gomperz, Ephraim, Itzig - success and oppression of the 'court Jews' of Frederick II. "
  9. ↑ https://ephraim-veitel-stiftung.de/wissenschaft/