Figdor (family)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Palais Figdor, Vienna

Figdor is the name of an entrepreneurial family from Kittsee in Burgenland .

history

Center of Kittsee with the synagogue (around 1920)

The family initially dealt with the agricultural goods trade, especially the trade in sheep wool in Kittsee.

Joseph Joachim, around 1860
Franziska Wittgenstein, b. Fidgor, around 1850
Wilhelm Figdor, around 1920
Albert Figdor, around 1910
A room in the Palais Figdor, around 1910

On February 10, 1791, Jakob Figdor was granted imperial privilege as a wool merchant in Vienna. After his sons joined the family company, it operated under the name Jakob Figdor & Sons under the management of Isaak Figdor. In 1834 the office was conveniently located in Leopoldstadt No. 537, near the Danube Canal . With business connections to Paris and London , the family belonged to the small Jewish upper class, who frequented the highest circles and also had contact with artists and intellectuals such as Franz Grillparzer and Eduard Bauernfeld .

The marriage of Franziska (Fanny) Figdor to the wool wholesaler Hermann Christian Wittgenstein from Korbach in 1839 and the occasional management of a joint company H. Wittgenstein & J. Figdor and Sons created the basis for one of the most powerful entrepreneurial dynasties in Austria. Among other things, the agricultural products of the goods administered by Hermann Christian, which also included the estates of the Prince of Esterházy, were marketed in Vienna. Fanny's younger brother Gustav Figdor expanded the business, including a timber and coal trade, and founded a bank. Other branches of the family also produced a number of important merchants , bankers , musicians , art collectors and scientists in the 19th and 20th centuries . Most converted to Christianity during the 19th century .

In 1875 the family settled by the architect Viktor Rumpelmayer the Palais Figdor , Löwelstraße 8 am Volksgarten within the ring build. After Gustav Figdor's death, the five-storey city ​​palace was inherited by his nephew and successor in the banking business, Albert Figdor . He lived there and used it to store and present his art and Judaica collection , which he developed from the family fortune into one of the largest private collections in Europe. In 1910 ten family members were among the 929 richest people in Vienna. After Albert Figdor's death in 1927, the Figdor Palace was sold and the art and Judaica collections auctioned.

Emilie (Emmy) Auguste Hainisch , daughter of Gustav Figdor and niece of Albert Figdor, was a committed suffragette. At the end of the 1880s she married the lawyer Michael Hainisch , son of the founder of the Austrian women's movement Marianne Hainisch , and gave him an estate near Spital am Semmering , which they both developed in the 1890s as a model company for practical solutions to agricultural and socio-political problems . She also supported his candidacy and work as 2nd Federal President of the Republic of Austria from 1920 to 1928 and was therefore Austria's First Lady for eight years .

Descendants (selection)

The oldest known family member and progenitor was Avigdor (* 1710 in Kittsee, † 1769 in Kittsee). He was followed by:

  1. Jakob Figdor (* 1742 in Kittsee, † 1808 in Kittsee), founder of the trading house Jakob Figdor and Sons , ∞ Regina Sinzheimer (1752-1818)
    1. Isaak (* 1768 in Kittsee; † October 9, 1850) ∞ Anna Jafe-Schlesinger (* 1770 in Bratislava ; † April 14, 1833 in Vienna), managing director Jakob Figdor and sons ten children, including:
      1. Fanny Figdor (* 1789 in Kittsee; † June 26, 1867 in Vienna) ∞ Julius Joachim (* 1791 in Pest , Hungary, † January 17, 1865 in Vienna) eight children, including:
        1. Joseph Joachim (born June 28, 1831 in Kittsee; August 15, 1907 in Berlin ), violinist, conductor and composer
      2. Wilhelm Wolf Figdor (* 1793 in Kittsee, † April 28, 1873 in Vienna), Managing Director Jakob Figdor and Sons , ∞ Amalie Strim Veit, (* 1892 in Śrem , Poland; † February 22, 1863 in Vienna)
        1. Franziska (Fanny) Christiane Figdor (born April 7, 1814 in Kittsee; † April 7, 1890 in Vienna), ∞ Hermann Christian Wittgenstein (* 1802 in Korbach; † 1878 in Vienna), wool merchant, real estate entrepreneur and landowner, eleven children, including
          1. Karl Wittgenstein (* 1847 in Gohlis , † 1913 in Vienna)
        2. Gustav Wolf Adolf Figdor (* April 14, 1816 in Kittsee, † April 26, 1879 in Vienna), Managing Director Jakob Figdor and Sons , City Council in Vienna, elected the 5th Director of the Austrian-Hungarian Bank in 1876, ∞ Barbara Elizabeth Zeitler (* October 27, 1827 in Amberg ; † March 3, 1903) seven children, including:
          1. Emilie (Emmy) Auguste Figdor (born February 9, 1863 in Vienna; † April 5, 1941), women's rights activist, ∞ Michael Hainisch (born August 15, 1858 in Aue near Schottwien (Lower Austria); † February 26, 1940 in Vienna), 1920–1928 President of the Republic of Austria
          2. Wilhelm Friedrich Figdor (born March 11, 1866 - † January 27, 1938), Professor of Plant Physiology at the University of Vienna
      3. Ferdinand Joachim Figdor (born February 16, 1805 in Kittsee; † March 27, 1876 in Vienna), ∞ Nanette Heymann (born April 7, 1819 in Augsburg ; † January 25, 1879 in Vienna), three children, including:
        1. Albert Figdor (born May 16, 1843 in Baden , Lower Austria; † February 22, 1927 in Vienna), banker and art collector
    2. David Jakob Figdor (* 1778 in Kittsee; † June 4, 1842 in Pest) ∞ Charlotte Winternitz (1805–1877), eleven children, including:
      1. Julius "Jehuda Ben Hindel" Figdor (* 1809 in Kittsee; † December 4, 1865 in Vienna), wool merchant, nine children from two marriages
      2. Samuel Figdor (born October 1, 1837 in Kittsee, † August 13, 1897 in Voslau) ∞ Charlotte Kriser

Another, possibly related, branch was founded in Bratislava , 15 km from Kittsee :

  1. Löwy Figdor (also Löwi, Lewy , * 1811 in Bratislava, † September 20, 1893 in Vienna) ∞ Nanette Bettelheim (* approx. 1818, † 1892 in Vienna), six children, including:
  1. Ing.Samuel Siegmund Figdor (* April 7, 1849 in Vienna, † August 17, 1907 in Heiligenblut am Großglockner ) ∞ Anna Redlich (* 1861 in Hodonín , † 1916 in Vienna), three children, including:
  1. Karl Figdor (born August 31, 1881 in Vienna, † June 21, 1957 in Zurich ), journalist and writer
  2. Hans Figdor (born September 20, 1884 in Vienna, † December 13, 1956 in Orange , California )
  3. Grete Figdor (also Grethe , born September 27, 1885 in Vienna, † January 13, 1980 in Los Angeles , California)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Strauss: Non-profit and exhilarating house calendar for the Austrian Empire, especially for friends of the fatherland or business, entertainment and reading books. Vienna 1834.
  2. ^ Gaugusch 2011, Wittgenstein 1944
  3. ^ Roman Sandgruber: The money of the Wittgensteins. In: Upper Austrian news. Linz, February 26, 2011 .
  4. ^ City of Vienna: Vienna History Wiki: Albert Figdor with reference to Felix Czeike: Historisches Lexikon Wien. Retrieved August 8, 2018
  5. ↑ Sandgruber 2013, p. 338
  6. ↑ www.fembio.org
  7. ↑ Ancestry List at MyHeritage.com
  8. ↑ a b www.biografien.ac.at
  9. ↑ Ancestry List at MyHeritage.com