Henry Budge

Henry (Heinrich) Budge (born November 20, 1840 in Frankfurt am Main , † October 20, 1928 in Hamburg ) was a German-American merchant and benefactor.

Live and act

Henry Budge was a son of Moritz Budge (1802–1872), who was born in Wetzlar . Ancestors of the family lived there from 1734. His father was later a Frankfurt merchant and banker and donated 10,000 marks to his hometown shortly before the end of his life.

The Budge-Palais at Harvestehuder Weg 12

Henry Budge had shares in the American bank L. Hallgarten & Co. and made a fortune running into the millions on the continent. On October 10, 1879, he married Emma , née Lazarus, who was born in Hamburg and with whom he had no children. In 1903 he ended his business activities and moved to Harvestehuder Weg 12 in Hamburg. The house of the Budges, known as Budge-Palais , became a culturally and socially important place in the Hanseatic city.

Henry Budge and his wife were American citizens and had close relationships with friends who lived there. The outbreak of World War I therefore got them into trouble. In order to prevent loyalty problems, the couple emigrated in 1917 and then stayed alternately in Holland and Switzerland. After the end of the war, they did not return to Hamburg directly.

At his birthday party on November 20, 1920, at the age of eighty, Budge founded the Henry and Emma Budge Foundation in Hamburg and a foundation of the same name in Frankfurt in the Dolder Hotel in Zurich . He donated one million marks each to both institutions that were supposed to stand up for those in need, in particular “women of the educated class” regardless of their denomination.

In 1922 Budge founded the Mrs. Emma Budge Foundation , to which he donated one million marks as starting capital. The foundation should promote professional training and German scientific goals. He explicitly considered the universities of Hamburg and Frankfurt, which were supposed to use his money to procure American literature.

Budge donated 25,000 marks for the Hamburg Scientific Foundation , from which the University of Hamburg emerged, and larger sums for the University of Frankfurt. When the foundations ran into financial problems due to increasing inflation, he donated more money after the currency conversion in 1924 to compensate for the losses.

Like his father, Budge also considered institutions in Wetzlar. In 1909, a burned down children's home was restored and in 1928 a children's rest home was built in nearby Albshausen.

Grave of Emma and Henry Budge in the Jewish cemetery in Frankfurt, Rat-Beil-Strasse

Shortly before his death, the paralyzed Budge negotiated for a long time with Fritz Schumacher about the donation of two limestone sculptures by Georg Kolbe for the Hamburg city park . Budge found the works of art hideous and would have preferred to donate a fountain. However, Schumacher preferred the sculptures and, as a compensation, allowed Budge to drive his chauffeur into the park, which was actually closed to motor vehicles, in the morning.

Budge was cremated in the crematorium of Ohlsdorf Cemetery three days after his death . Senator Paul de Chapeaurouge and the mayors of Frankfurt am Main and Wetzlar took part in the funeral service . He was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Rat-Beil-Strasse in Frankfurt.

estate

Since he was of Jewish faith, the name Budges was removed from all public records during the Nazi era and his foundations were “Aryanized”. Eric Warburg , who was friends with Budge's parents, campaigned for the foundations to be revitalized after the end of the war. In Winterhude , Henry-Budge-Strasse has been a reminder of the former patron since 1945 . Eric Warburg may have committed himself to this dedication.

literature

Renate Hauschild-Thiessen: Budge, Henry . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 4 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0229-7 , pp. 71-72 .

Web links

Renate Hauschild-Thiessen: Budge, Henry and Emma on The Jewish Hamburg .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c Renate Hauschild-Thiessen: Budge, Henry . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 4 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0229-7 , pp. 71-72 .
↑ ^a ^b Renate Hauschild-Thiessen: Budge, Henry . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 4 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0229-7 , pp. 71-71 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Renate Hauschild-Thiessen: Budge, Henry . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 4 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0229-7 , pp. 72-72 .

personal data
SURNAME	Budge, Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Budge, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German merchant and benefactor
DATE OF BIRTH	November 20, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH	Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH	October 20, 1928
Place of death	Hamburg

[S71-72-1] Renate Hauschild-Thiessen: Budge, Henry . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 4 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0229-7 , pp. 71-72 .

[S71-2] Renate Hauschild-Thiessen: Budge, Henry . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 4 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0229-7 , pp. 71-71 .

[S72-3] Renate Hauschild-Thiessen: Budge, Henry . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 4 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8353-0229-7 , pp. 72-72 .