Günzburg (family)

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Coat of arms of the Barons of Günzburg
Joseph de Günzburg (1812–1878), by Édouard Dubufe
Horace de Günzburg (1833–1909), after Ivan Kramskoy
Baron David Günzburg (1857-1910)
Share of the "Lena Gold-Mining Partnership"
Warehouse receipt for shares of "Lena Goldfields Ltd."
Photo of the victims of the "Lena massacre"

The Günzburg (or Gunzbourg) family was an Ashkenazi rabbis, merchants and bankers dynasty.

history

In the course of the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries, the Günzburg family came from Portugal via Bavaria to Poland-Lithuania . With the partitions of Poland , they became subjects of the Russian Empire . Its male members were rabbis at the time . The family got their current name Günzburg (also written Gunzburg or Gunzbourg) through their temporary stay in the Bavarian city of Günzburg . The first bearer of the family name “Günzburg” was Simeon ben Eliezer (1506–1585), known as Simon von Günzburg . He was not only a successful trader, but also a rabbi of the Jewish community in Günzburg and from 1543 until his death in 1585 an elected representative of the Jews in the Duchy of Bavaria . He was in close contact with Charles V , a member of the Habsburg dynasty and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire .

In the late eighteenth century a family member, Naphtali Herz Günzburg (? –1797), broke with the family tradition and became a trader instead of a rabbi. His son Gabriel-Jacob Günzburg (1793-1853) traded successfully in a wide range of goods, including wood, grain, sugar and alcoholic beverages. In 1849 he was accepted into the “First Guild of Merchants” and received the title “Honorary Citizen”. His son Joseph Günzburg (1812–1878) moved to the town of Kamyanets-Podilskyj in the early 1830s and specialized in the alcohol trade. He received the sole license for the wholesale of alcoholic beverages in several Russian provinces. In this way, Joseph Günzburg, especially during the Crimean War (1853-1856), became very wealthy.

After he had received permission from Tsar Alexander II to leave the settlement area (" Settlement Paleon ") specified for Jews in the Russian Empire , he moved to St. Petersburg in 1859 and founded the bank "J. E. Günzburg ". The difficult financial situation of the Russian Empire after the lost Crimean War forced the Russian government to give up the monopoly on state banks. The bank “J. E. Günzburg ”granted loans to Russian railway companies in particular and helped them to issue bonds on the financial markets of Western Europe . However, due to its limited capital, the bank did not participate in the railway companies. In order to give its Russian clients the opportunity to better manage their financial affairs outside of Russia, the bank “J. E. Günzburg “opened a branch in Paris in 1867 . Their management was taken over by Salomon Günzburg (1848–1905). "J. E. Günzburg ”quickly rose to become one of the leading banks in the Russian Empire , especially after Alexander von Stieglitz (1814–1884) had dissolved his“ Stieglitz & Co. ”bank in 1860 to become governor of the“ State Bank ”newly founded by Tsar Alexander II of the Russian Empire ”. In the following years, “J. E. Günzburg "in founding a number of major Russian banks and participated in their capital: 1868 the" Private Commercial Bank "in Kiev and the" Discount and Loan Bank "in St. Petersburg, 1871 the" Russian Bank of External Commerce " , In 1872 the "Siberian Commercial Bank" and in 1879 the "Discountbank of Odessa" in Odessa . In this way, the Bank of the Günzburgs created a network of banks that encompassed the entire Russian Empire.

In gratitude for good service, Joseph Günzburg's son, Horace Günzburg (1833–1909), was given by Grand Duke Ludwig III. of Hesse and near the Rhine in 1868 appointed Consul General of the Grand Duchy of Hesse in St. Petersburg. In 1870 the Grand Duke Horace Günzburg and in 1874 his father Joseph Günzburg raised to the hereditary baron status of the Grand Duchy. In 1879, Tsar Alexander II allowed the Günzburg family to use the title of baron in the Russian Empire. She became the only ennobled Jewish family in Russia.

In addition to his bank, Joseph Günzburg u. a. in shipping (e.g. on the Sheksna River ), insurance, Meallurie (e.g. in the Urals ) and platinum mining companies. The agricultural interest him. Beginning in 1861 with the acquisition of around 55,000 hectares of arable land in Bessarabia , the Günzburgs already owned 192,682 hectares in the 1870s, in addition to Bessarabia in particular in Podolia (including sugar refineries ) and in the Crimea (including salt pans ).

In addition, in 1873 Joseph Günzburg acquired the gold mining company "Lenskoye Zolotoye Tovarishchestvo", or "Lenzoto" for short, with gold deposits on the Siberian River Lena, which was founded in 1855, and expanded it further through acquisitions. Due to the large capital requirement, the company was converted into a stock corporation in 1896 , opened to shareholders outside the family and renamed "Lena Gold Mining Partnership". Listed on the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange since 1905 , the company was brought into a specially founded British investment company, "Lena Goldfields Limited", in 1908 to raise additional capital . Only about 30% of the share capital remained in the hands of the Günzburg family, but they retained control of the company, as they continued to provide the general manager of the company with Alfred Günzburg (1865–1936). After this second restructuring, extremely profitable, the company rose to become the largest gold mining company in the Russian Empire by the First World War . However, these positive trends were overshadowed by the so called Lena massacre on April 17, 1912, when a Czarist regiment in the town Bodaibo on striking workers of "Lena Goldfields Ltd." shot, where there were at least 150 dead and 100 wounded.

Bad investments (including a failed speculation in Argentine railway stocks by the Paris branch) and the difficult Russian economic situation drove the bank “J. E. Günzburg ”and its Paris branch went bankrupt in 1892 . The other investments made by the Günzburg family were not affected by this. Four years later, the bank was successfully liquidated without a customer losing any money. Joseph Günzburg's grandson, Jacques de Gunzburg (1853–1929), founded a bank again in 1911, the "Jacques de Gunzburg & Cie." In Paris.

As a result of the Russian Revolution in 1917 , the Günzburg family was expropriated without compensation. The family members still living in Russia fled to France and Switzerland .

Family tree (simplified)

  • Naphtali Herz Günzburg (? –1797), Russian dealer
    • Gabriel-Jacob Günzburg (1793–1853), Russian trader and philanthropist , married to Lea Kamenets-Podolsk (? –1848)
      • Joseph Günzburg (1812–1878), Baron von Günzburg since 1874, Russian trader, banker and philanthropist, lived in Paris at 7 Rue de Tilsit since 1857, married to Rosa Dynin (1814–1892)
        • Alexander von Günzburg (1831–1878), married to Rosalie Ettinger (1829–1897)
          • Gabriel Jacob (Jacques) de Gunzbourg (1853–1929), banker in Paris, married to Quêta de Laska (1868–1925)
        • Horace de Gunzburg (also called Naphtali Herz Günzburg, 1833–1909), banker and philanthropist, co-founder of the charitable organization " World ORT ", married to Anna Rosenberg (see below in the family tree, 1838–1876)
          • Gabriel de Gunzburg (1855–1926), Russian State Councilor
          • David Günzburg (1857–1910), orientalist, published the book L'ornement hébreu together with Wladimir Stassow in 1908, supported the young Marc Chagall from 1908–1909 , married to his cousin Mathilde de Gunzburg (1864–1945), daughter of Ury de Gunzburg (see below in the family tree, 1840–1914)
          • Louise de Gunzburg (1862–1921), married to Joseph Sassoon (1855–1918), member of the Sassoon family of British and Jewish merchants
          • Alexander Moses (Sasha) de Gunzburg (1863–1948), President of the Jewish community in St. Petersburg, officer in the Russian army and, after the Russian Revolution, banker in Amsterdam , married to Rosa Warburg (1870–1922)
          • Alfred de Gunzburg (1865–1936), officer in the Dragoons of the Imperial Russian Army , then headed the mining company “Lenzoto”, married to Sonia Ashkenasy (1875–1929), sister of Siegfried Ashkenasy (see below in the family tree, 1873–1949 )
            • Anne de Günzburg (1901-?), Married to: 1: Jean-Alexandre David-Weill (1898–1972), curator for Islamic art at the Louvre , son of the banker David David-Weill (1871–1952); 2. Charles-Emile Weil
          • Mathilde de Gunzburg (1866–1917), married to Ludwig von Gutmann (1860–1900), son of the Austrian industrialist David von Gutmann (1834–1912)
          • Isaac Demitri (Berza) de Gunzburg (1870–1918), missing in the Russian civil war , married to Marguerite (Guetia) Brodskyj (1884–1973), daughter of the Russian sugar industrialist Lasar Brodskyj (1848–1904)
          • Pierre de Gunzburg (1872–1948), banker and industrialist, married to Yvonne Deutsch de la Meurthe (1882–1962), daughter of the French industrialist and philanthropist Émile Deutsch de la Meurthe (1847–1924)
            • Phillippe de Gunzbourg (1904–1986), banker, resistance fighter and spy, married to: 1. Gaby Berteau (1906–1958); 2. Antoinette Kahn (1910-2001)
            • Aline Elisabeth de Gunzbourg (1915–2014), married to: 1. André Strauss (1903–1939); 2. Hans von Halban (1908-1964); 3. Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997)
          • Vladimir de Gunzburg (1873–1932), emigrated from Kiev to Paris after the Russian Revolution of 1905 , financed several ethnographic expeditions of Salomon An-ski (1863–1920) in the Jewish Pale of Settlement between 1912 and 1914 , married to Clara Brodskyj (1880– 1940), daughter of the Russian sugar industrialist Lasar Brodskyj (1848–1904)
            • Anna de Gunzburg (1900–1998), married to: 1. André Prévost (1875–1951), rider and tennis player; 2. Robert Merle d'Aubigné (1900–1989), orthopedic surgeon
          • Anna de Gunzburg (1876–1956), married to Siegfried Ashkenasy (1873–1949), owner of the “Moses Ashkenasy” bank in Odessa , brother of Sonia Ashkenasy (see above in the family tree, 1875–1929)
        • Ury de Gunzburg (see above in the family tree, 1840–1914), owner of the French Château de Chambaudoin near Orléans , married to Ida Merpert (1841–1926)
        • Eve-Mathilde de Gunzburg (1844–1894), married to Paul Fould (1837–1917), requete master in the French Council of State
        • Salomon de Gunzburg (1848–1905), banker, managed the branch of “J. E. Günzburg ”in Paris , married to Henriette Goldschmidt
      • Eleone (Elka) Günzburg (1819–1905), married to Chaim Joshua Heschel Rosenberg (1816–1884), Russian sugar industrialist
        • Anna Rosenberg (1838–1876), married to Horace Günzburg (see above in the family tree, 1833–1909)
        • Louise (Leah) Rosenberg (1840-1905). married to Eugène (Yisroel) Ashkenasy, banker in Odessa
        • Rosa Rosenberg (1845–1884), married to Joseph von Hirsch auf Gereuth (1829–1920), banker in Würzburg
        • Rosalie Rosenberg (1848–1904), married to Siegmund Herzfelder, banker in Budapest
        • Theophilie Rifka Tova Rosenberg (1849–1927), married to Siegmund Warburg (1835–1889), banker in Hamburg

References and comments

  1. ^ William L. Blackwell: "Beginnings of Russian Industrialization, 1800-1860", Princeton Legacy Library, Princeton 1968, p. 234
  2. ↑ Entry on "Günzburg-Ulma, Simon Ben Eliezer" on www.http: //www.jewishencyclopedia.com
  3. ↑ Lorraine de Meaux: "The Gunzburgs - A Family Biography", London 2019, pp. 63–66
  4. ↑ Lorraine de Meaux: "The Gunzburgs - A Family Biography", London 2019, pp. 63–81
  5. ↑ Lorraine de Meaux: "The Gunzburgs - A Family Biography", London 2019, pp. 94–97
  6. ↑ With the establishment of the German Empire in 1872 this office was transferred to the German Consul General. In return, Horace Günzburg received the German title of " Secret Commerce Councilor ".
  7. ^ Kai Drewes: “Jüdischer Adel - Nobilitierungen von Juden in Europa des 19. Century”, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2013, p. 347, ISBN 978-3-593-39775-7
  8. ^ William L. Blackwell: "Beginnings of Russian Industrialization, 1800-1860", Princeton Legacy Library, Princeton 1968, p. 235
  9. ↑ Lorraine de Meaux: "The Gunzburgs - A Family Biography", London 2019, pp. 98f.
  10. ↑ Lorraine de Meaux: "The Gunzburgs - A Family Biography", London 2019, pp. 279ff.
  11. ↑ Lorraine de Meaux: "The Gunzburgs - A Family Biography", London 2019, pp. 237–239
  12. ↑ Lorraine de Meaux: "The Gunzburgs - A Family Biography", London 2019, pp. 302-315
  13. ↑ Lorraine de Meaux: "The Gunzburgs - A Family Biography", London 2019, pp. 455ff.
  14. ↑ Georg Gaugusch : Who once was. The upper Jewish bourgeoisie in Vienna 1800–1938 . Volume 1: AK . Amalthea, Vienna 2011, ISBN 978-3-85002-750-2 , p. 107.
  15. ^ Text about the wedding in Paris. In:  Sport & Salon , February 18, 1905, p. 4, right column (online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / sus. Quote: The solemn act was attended by: the members of the families related to the Bauer and Lambert families, such as Baron Gustav Rothschild, Baroness Henri Rothschild, Baron and Baroness Lambert-Rothschild, furthermore from Vienna director Moritz Bauer from the Wiener Bankverein , Baron Gustav Springer etc. At the reception in the Günzburg house the k. and k. Ambassador Count Khevenhüller and the Italian Ambassador Count Tornielli appeared. Witnesses were: the Belgian ambassador to Paris Le Ghait, Baron Lambert Bischoffsheim and director Moritz Bauer.

literature

  • William L. Blackwell: "Beginnings of Russian Industrialization, 1800-1860", Princeton Legacy Library, Princeton 1968;
  • Kai Drewes: "Jewish nobility - ennobling Jews in Europe in the 19th century", Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2013, ISBN 978-3-593-39775-7 ;
  • Lorraine de Meaux: "The Gunzburgs - A Family Biography", Halban Publishers Ltd., London 2019, ISBN 978-1-905559-99-2 .