Gottschalk Josef Ballin

Gottschalk Josef Ballin (born March 24, 1789 in Aurich , † October 4, 1876 in Oldenburg ) was a German banker.

Gravestone for Gottschalk Josef Ballin in the Jewish cemetery in Oldenburg

Live and act

Members of the Ballin family had lived in northern Germany since the 17th century. The first known personality was Elia Ballin (approx. 1615–1680), who mostly lived in Altona and headed the local Jewish community. He traded in precious stones, which he also sent to the East Frisian court. Probably because of these business relationships, he applied for his son to reside in Aurich in 1668, which he was granted in the same year.

Gottschalk Josef Ballin belonged to this East Frisian branch of the Ballins. His father Josef Meyer Ballin, who died in 1802, was a successful businessman and married to Priba (Prievchen), née Goldschmidt (approx. 1761–1836). During the Oldenburg French era , Gottschalk moved to Oldenburg in 1812 with his brothers Samuel (1778-1870) and Cosmann (1788-1820). Immediately after the move, he helped found the local Jewish community and headed it for many years.

The Ballin brothers initially traded in Ellenwaren and also worked as bankers. This is how the C. & G. Ballin bank came into being , which they ran from 1854 onwards, independently of the Ellen business. The company existed for many years as the sole and significant private bank in Oldenburg. In 1815 Gottschalk Josef Ballin was granted citizenship in Oldenburg. He developed into an important figure in the city's economy and society. He tried repeatedly and vigorously to improve the legal position of fellow Jewish citizens. In 1845 he made a far-reaching petition in which he advocated equating Jews and Christians. This request was only fulfilled in 1849, when the new constitution for the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg came into force. Ballin participated in the construction of the Jewish cemetery in Oldenburg and the inauguration of the new synagogue in 1854.

On November 8, 1820 Ballin married his cousin Bräunchen geb. Goldschmidt (* January 17, 1789; † May 25, 1883), whose father Josef Baruch Goldschmidt worked as a merchant and came from one of the oldest Jewish families in Oldenburg. The couple had two sons who married Christian women. They turned away from the Jewish faith and were baptized. After 1918, a national private bank took over the C. & G. Ballin bank in 1918 . Descendants of the Ballins living in East Frisia converted to Christianity at the end of the 19th century and entered into Christian marriages. Therefore they survived the time of National Socialism.

literature

• Werner Vahlenkamp: Ballin, Gottschalk Josef. in: Martin Tielke (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon für Ostfriesland. Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft, Aurich, Vol. 3 ISBN 3-932206-22-3 (2001), pages 21-22.
• Harald Schieckel: The oldest Jewish families in the city of Oldenburg. In: The history of the Oldenburg Jews and their destruction, Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg (1988), page 31 ff.