Otto Hermann Kahn

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Otto Hermann Kahn (1929)
Otto Hermann Kahn's house in Central Park in New York
Oheka Castle on Long Island (1915)

Otto Hermann Kahn (born February 21, 1867 in Mannheim , † March 29, 1934 in New York City ) was a banker and entrepreneur in the United States . He became known as a patron , especially of the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

Life

Otto Hermann Kahn came from a Jewish banking family. The father was Bernhard Kahn . The mother was Emma (née Eberstadt). He was the brother of the composer Robert and Paul, private secretary of Gerhart Hauptmann and AEG director in Athens. His brother Franz was a lawyer. Felix was a violinist. His sister Elisabeth was married to Felix Deutsch , the co-founder of AEG. Other sisters were Clara and Hedwig.

Kahn graduated from high school in Mannheim and studied law . Kahn became an employee of Deutsche Bank and came to London on their behalf in 1888 . There he became a British citizen. In 1893 he moved to New York. It was there in 1896 that Kahn married the daughter of one of the partners in the investment bank Kuhn, Loeb & Co. Kahn joined the company. In particular, he was successful in financing railway companies. He was at the head of several corporations, including the Equitable Trust .

For many years he was chairman, president and one of the most important patrons of the Metropolitan Opera . Last but not least, he also promoted art from Germany in the USA and Europe. For example, he was a patron of Max Reinhardt . He also played a major role in turning Park Avenue into a boulevard.

Even before the First World War, Kahn was a representative of an anti-German direction within the Jewish upper middle class of New York . In 1917 he became an American citizen. After the war, he advocated the United States' conditional waiver of war debt claims.

In the 1920s, Kahn was one of the most famous personalities in the USA.

Residences

In New York, he had a large townhouse (1 East 91st Street, Upper East Side ) built directly on Central Park East by the architect CPH Gilbert .

On Long Island between 1914 and 1919 he had the Oheka Castle built, a prestigious residence with 125 rooms. At the time, it was the second largest private house in the USA. It served as the setting for the film Citizen Kane and is now used as a hotel.

Others

Kahn's photo from 1929 (see above right) served as a template for the symbol of the well-known board game Monopoly .

literature

  • Helmut Weber: The theory of qualification: Franz Kahn, Etienne Bartin and the development of their teaching up to the universal recognition of qualifications as a general problem of international private law (1890–1945) . Tübingen, 1986 p. 15 Partial digitization
  • Report on the death of Kahn In: The Voice . Jewish newspaper of April 5, 1934 digitized version (PDF file; 2.26 MB)
  • Janne Böhm: Otto Hermann Kahn (1867–1943) - railway pioneer, investment banker and patron of the arts . In: Wilhelm Kreuz, Volker von Offenberg (ed.): Jewish students of the United Grand Ducal Lyceum - Karl-Friedrich-Gymnasium Mannheim. Portraits from two decades , Mannheim 2014 (series of publications by the Karl-Friedrich-Gymnasium Mannheim in cooperation with the Mannheim City Archives - Institute for Urban History; 2), ISBN 978-3-95428-153-4 , pp. 93-106.
  • Helmut Brenner / Reinhold Kubik : Mahler's people. Friends and companions . St. Pölten - Salzburg - Vienna 2014, pp. 89–90, ISBN 978-3-7017-3322-4 .
  • Salomon Wininger : Great Jewish National Biography . Kraus Reprint, Nendeln 1979, ISBN 3-262-01204-1 (reprint of the Czernowitz 1925 edition), Volume 3, pp. 368f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas-M. Langener:  Robert Kahn. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , p. 27 f. ( Digitized version ).
  2. ^ Paresh Dave: NY authorities investigate shooting of developer at Oheka Castle . February 25, 2014.
  3. ↑ Fate away from the bank - Mannheimer Morgen .

See also

Web links

Commons : Otto H. Kahn  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Kahn, Otto Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American banker and patron
DATE OF BIRTH February 21, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Mannheim
DATE OF DEATH March 29, 1934
Place of death New York City