Moritz Jellinek (economist)

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Moritz Jellinek (* 1823 in Uherský Brod ; † June 13, 1883 in Budapest ) was an Austro-Hungarian economist and the founder of the tram network in Budapest .

Live and act

Moritz Jellinek was a younger brother of the Talmudic scholar and chief Viennese rabbi Adolf Jellinek and brother of Hermann Jellinek , who was executed as one of the ringleaders of the Vienna Revolution of 1848 . He studied political economy in Vienna and Leipzig , where he was strongly influenced by the ideas of his brother Hermann, so that like him he took an active part in the revolution in Vienna by publishing liberal magazines in Krems and Brno and being in contact with Viennese revolutionaries.

After the rebellions were put down, he left Austria and went to Pest , where he started a grain wholesale business. He quickly succeeded in integrating into the new environment of Hungarian society, as he viewed the economic function of the Jews in the economy of his new homeland as the fulfillment of patriotic duties towards the Hungarian homeland. Although he, like most of his contemporaries, despised retail and trade, he portrayed the role of all Jews as beneficial and productive in the economy as a whole. The man from a tiny Moravian village became President of the Grain Exchange and the Corn Exchange of Hungary and organized on the stock exchange effective stock exchange court. The Hungarian Academy of Sciences published in its annual reports a number of highly regarded articles by Jellinek on the formation and effects of grain prices as well as work on the statistical organization of Hungary, and his articles on a particularly necessary "Hungarianization" of the economy appeared in a magazine "Hon". So through the practical implications of all these activities, he played a significant role in the modernization of Hungary's economy in the 19th century.

This was not least due to the fact that Moritz Jellinek founded a tram operating company, BKVT, in Buda (German: Ofen ) in 1864 , the first horse tramway of which began operating in 1866. When in 1873 the two cities of Buda and Pest were united into a single “ Budapest ”, he was able to merge this company with Pester PKVT, which until then had to operate completely separately on the other bank of the Danube. Jellinek remained general director of the successful Budapest trams until his death.

His son Heinrich, born in 1853, succeeded his father in this position of general manager. Even before he started operating, he had studied the traffic system in major European cities and then improved the Budapest system, switched the horse-drawn tram to electric drive from 1887 and expanded the network to the Budapest suburbs with the lines to Szentendre and Haraszti. He chose the name of the latter place as a predicate when he was raised to the Hungarian nobility by Franz Joseph I. As Heinrich Jellinek de Haraszti , he was also president of the Budapest Chamber of Commerce, but also of the philanthropic workers' welfare and health fund.

literature

  • Encyclopaedia Judaica, 22 volumes, Macmillan, 2nd ed., New York, 2006, ISBN 978-0-02-865928-2 . E-book ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4 .
  • Jewish encyclopedia; a descriptive record of the history, religion, literature, and customs of the Jewish people from the earliest times to the present day . Eds. Cyrus Adler, Isidore Singer et al., Funk and Wagnalls, New York 1901-06. 12 volumes, Volume 7 ( online at jewishencyclopedia.com) (English)
  • Joseph Fraenkel (Ed.): Jews of Vienna. London 1967
  • Hugo Gold : History of the Jews in Vienna , Olamenu Publ., Tel-Aviv, 1966
  • Wolfgang Häusler : Judaism in the revolutionary year 1848 . (= Studia Judaica Austriaca Vol. 1) Herold-Verlag, Vienna-Munich 1974.
  • Péter Varga: Identity change of the German-Jewish intelligentsia in Hungary. (PDF; 91 kB)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jewish Virtual Library: 1823. No further data available
  2. ↑ József Szinnyei : Magyar és IROK élete munkái Budapest, 1891
  3. ^ A b c Jewish Encyclopedia: Jellinek Family: Moritz Jellinek
  4. ^ A b c Michael Miller, Central European University: Budapest Going Native: Moritz Jellinek and the Modernization of the Hungarian Economy ( Memento of August 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), Conference Report: Jewish History Encounters Economy , 15./16. April 2005, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  5. ^ A b Akos Varga: Trams of Hungary: History of the Tram in Budapest
  6. ^ Jewish Encyclopedia: Jellinek Family: Heinrich Jellinek-Haraszt
personal data
SURNAME Jellinek, Moritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austro-Hungarian economist
DATE OF BIRTH 1823
PLACE OF BIRTH Uherský Brod
DATE OF DEATH June 13, 1883
Place of death Budapest