Rothschild (family)

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Baron coat of arms Rothschild

Rothschild is the name of a Jewish family whose lineage can be documented in Germany from 1500. Its members have been known primarily as bankers since the 18th century . In the 19th century you were among the most influential and important financiers in European countries. The parent company of the banking business was M. A. Rothschild & Sons in Frankfurt; the family continues to be active in banking through various successor institutions, mainly in investment banking and asset management .

Headquarters of the Rothschild family in Frankfurt's Judengasse

For the longest periods of the century, between 1815 and 1914, the Rothschild family owned the world's largest bank. Until 1860 the company NM Rothschild & Sons was organized as a group of companies with five independent branches. The name Haus Rothschild , which was used by both family members and their contemporaries in the 19th century, indicates the close connection between the history of the company and the family history. Constantly revised and renewed articles of association regulated the joint business activities and the distribution of the resulting profits. The focus of the family-owned bank's activities in the 19th century was on the international bond business. There was also trading in precious metals, the acceptance and discounting of commercial bills of exchange, foreign exchange transactions and asset management for wealthy private customers. The Rothschilds were also among the major financiers of the emerging railway companies.

Historian Niall Ferguson has called the rise of the Rothschild family one of the most remarkable case studies in 19th century social history.

Mayer Amschel Rothschild , who was born in Frankfurt's Judengasse and is considered the founder of the Rothschild dynasty, was still forbidden from buying property outside of the Frankfurt ghetto. His sons, on the other hand, were among the wealthiest Europeans and were raised to the nobility in Austria and England.

History of the House of Rothschild

The rise of Mayer Amschel Rothschild

Mayer Amschel Rothschild (born February 23, 1744, † September 19, 1812 in Frankfurt am Main ) was the founder of the Rothschild dynasty. His ancestors had lived in the Frankfurt ghetto , Judengasse , by the middle of the 16th century at the latest . The houses in Judengasse were not marked with house numbers, but with different colored signs or special trademarks. Since the family lived in the "Haus zum Rot (h) en Schild" for generations, the family name "Rothschild" was established as early as the 17th century. Nothing changed when they moved into the " Secret Annex to the Pan " in 1664 .

Mayer Amschel Rothschild

Mayer Amschel's father, Amschel Moses Rothschild, ran a shop in Judengasse for trading small goods and changing money. The son first attended a Jewish elementary school in Judengasse. Presumably with the intention of becoming a rabbi, he then attended the Talmud school in Fürth . Due to the early death of his parents, he dropped out of training in 1756. He was sent to Hanover for a few years , where he worked in Wolf Jakob Oppenheim's company. This belonged to the widely ramified Oppenheim family , one of whom was one of the court factors of Clemens August von Bayern in Bonn at the time . Court factors were independent merchants who supplied the noble courts with various luxury goods, carried out financial transactions for them or granted them loans. The fields of activity of court factors, who were often Jews, also included the procurement of antiquarian coins and other collectibles for the princely cabinets of curiosities.

After returning to Frankfurt, Mayer Amschel started his own business as a coin and exchange dealer in 1764 at the age of twenty. In Hanover he had met the coin collector General von Estorff , and thanks to this relationship, Mayer Amschel Rothschild was able to repeatedly sell coins to the coin cabinet of the Hereditary Prince and later Elector Wilhelm von Hessen in Hanau . In 1769 Mayer Amschel submitted a petition to give him the title of court factor, which was then granted. On September 21, 1769 he could get the plaque with the coat of arms of Hessen-Hanau and the inscription “M. A. Rothschild, purveyor to the court of His Highness, Hereditary Prince Wilhelm of Hesse, Count of Hanau ”in front of his shop. Although this title was not associated with special rights, it was a prestigious reference for customers.

On August 29, 1770, Mayer Amschel married Gutle Schnapper (* August 23, 1753; † May 7, 1849), the 17-year-old daughter of Wolf Salomon Schnapper, one of the court factors of the Principality of Saxony-Meiningen . Gutle Schnapper brought a dowry of 2,400 guilders with him into the arranged marriage , which was roughly equivalent to her husband's annual income. The couple had a total of twenty children between 1771 and 1792, of which five daughters and five sons reached adulthood. Growing income made it possible for the family, which was also growing, to acquire the Haus zum Grünen Schild in 1785 , one of the largest houses on Judengasse. It became the ancestral home of the Rothschild dynasty.

Start of financial business

However, the business breakthrough came in a completely different field. In 1789 Mayer Amschel Rothschild made a significant entry into the banking business for the first time when he met Wilhelm, who since 1785 as Landgrave Wilhelm IX. von Hessen-Kassel resided in Kassel , was able to conclude a discount transaction.

William IX. was one of the richest princes in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation . His father, Landgrave Friedrich II of Hessen-Kassel , laid the foundation for this fortune by selling Hessian soldiers to the English crown, which used them against the North Americans striving for independence (see also: Soldiers' trade under Landgrave Friedrich II of Hesse -Kassel ). The financial dealings with the Landgrave increased only slowly at first. It was only with Rothschild’s participation in the sale of a loan to the Landgrave in 1800 that the banking business began to grow significantly. The appointment of Mayer Amschel Rothschild as court factor of Hessen-Kassel in 1801 underscored his increasing importance for Wilhelm's financial affairs. In 1804 he was able to issue and sell a government bond on his own for the first time . It was a loan from the Danish state that Rothschild was able to convey in full to Wilhelm, who had become elector in 1803.

Wilhelm I. von Hessen-Kassel - a bill of exchange deal with this prince founded the banking business of the Rothschilds

Decisive for the growing success of Mayer Amschel Rothschild in the financial dealings with Wilhelm I was his most important financial advisor and asset manager, Carl Friedrich Buderus von Carlshausen . Rothschild had already established close relationships with him during his time as court factor in Hanau. Both men were united by their ascent from modest social backgrounds. The further Buderus rose at Wilhelm's court, the more he ensured that the elector's established bankers (e.g. Bethmann ) were ousted in favor of Rothschild.

When Kassel was occupied by French troops in 1806 and Wilhelm I had to flee into exile (first to the Duchy of Schleswig , then part of Denmark , then to Prague , then part of the Austrian Empire ), Buderus succeeded with great difficulty, most of the time to save the immense financial fortune of the Elector from French access. As the elector's most important financial advisor, Buderus exclusively used the services of Mayer Amschel Rothschild and his five sons Amschel, Salomon, Nathan, Kalman and Jakob from 1807. Until the expulsion of the French army from the electorate in 1813, they handled Wilhelm's financial transactions discreetly and reliably throughout Europe.

Change to a family business

The increasing size, complexity and internationality of his business prompted Mayer Amschel Rothschild in 1810 to put his company on a broader basis. In a new partnership agreement, he accepted his sons into the company as full business partners. The father was still at the head of the company, but the burden of everyday work was now on the shoulders of the sons. As an outwardly visible sign of the innovations, the company was henceforth called "Mayer Amschel Rothschild and Sons".

Mayer Amschel could now concentrate more on another matter: the emancipation of Frankfurt's Jews. Repeated written interventions with the Grand Duke of Frankfurt appointed by Napoleon , Karl Theodor von Dalberg , finally led to the proclamation of an edict of emancipation on February 7, 1811 . The Frankfurt protection Jews were thus legally equated with the other citizens. But before the edict could become legally binding, the Jewish community had to pay considerable sums of money to the city of Frankfurt. Shortly before his death on September 16, 1812, Mayer Amschel finally became a member of the Frankfurt electoral college .

In his will, Mayer Amschel Rothschild decreed to keep the family business as a whole. He laid down strict regulations for its management:

  • All key positions are to be filled by family members.
  • Only male family members are allowed to participate in business.
  • The eldest son of the eldest son should be the head of the family, unless the majority of the family decides otherwise.
  • There should be no legal inventory and no publication of the assets.

Promotion under Nathan Mayer Rothschild

Mayer Amschel's son Nathan Mayer Rothschild , who emigrated to England in 1799, played a central role in the rise to become the most important European financial institution . Nathan Rothschild had spent the first ten years in Great Britain mainly in the newly industrialized north of England, where he bought textiles and exported them to Germany. The entry into the banking business did not take place until 1811 and was partly due to the fact that most of the elector's assets consisted of English government bonds. The annual interest for this, however, was paid in London and could only be transferred to the elector with great difficulty due to the war and the continental blockade. The continental blockade was an economic blockade over the British Isles ordered by Napoleon on November 21, 1806 in Berlin , which remained in force until 1814. Because of the limited transfer options, Nathan received the order from 1809 to reinvest the interest payments for the duration of the war.

Nathan Rothschild was also able to offer his services to pay the British troops. The British government had sufficient financial resources through the sale of bonds. However, in the countries where their troops fought, British currency was not accepted, so that the government was forced to supply their troop leader Wellington with gold coins. The order to procure the coins went to Nathan Rothschild in January 1814. At this point in time, the Rothschild house already had Europe-wide connections. Even so, the transaction was a financial and logistical challenge for the Rothschilds. The risk was rewarded with commissions between two and six percent of the funds raised. The coins bought and transferred on behalf of the British Crown, according to an estimate by the then British paymaster John Charles Herries , were around 12.6 million francs by June 1814. However, a comment by JC Herries also shows the suspicion a Jewish financier encountered in the 19th century:

"Rothschild of this place has executed the various services entrusted to him in this line admirably well, and though a Jew, we place a good deal of confidence in him."

"The Rothschild resident here has done an excellent job on the various assignments we have entrusted to him, and although he is a Jew, we have a good deal of confidence in him."

When Napoleon escaped from his exile on the island of Elba on March 1, 1815 and was able to return to Paris at the head of the army sent to meet him (March 20, 1815), the House of Rothschild again began to buy gold for the British troops across Europe . Nathan Mayer Rothschild assumed that the coming war - like all previous Napoleonic wars - would last a long time. Initially, Napoleon had some successes, but with the defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815, the rule of the Hundred Days and with it Napoleon's power in Europe ended. The gold hoarded by Rothschild in misjudgment threatened to lose value and bring the house a financial loss. To prevent this, Nathan Rothschild bought British government bonds with the gold. He assumed that after the end of the war and the falling financial requirements, fewer British bonds would also be issued, which would lead to a rise in the price of the bonds already placed. Since most investors at the time feared defeat by the British, Nathan Mayer Rothschild was able to buy cheap British government bonds. Rothschild's guess was correct, and by the time he sold the securities two years later they had increased more than 40 percent. Niall Ferguson estimates that the Rothschild House realized a profit on the deal that would have been equivalent to £ 600 million in 2009.

The activities of the Rothschild brothers in Europe

Within just a few decades, the Rothschild sons rose to become Europe's leading bankers. Each of them was ennobled. They financed wars, states, companies, railways and were z. B. involved in the construction of the Suez Canal . The five branches in Frankfurt, Vienna, London, Paris and Naples operated independently of one another, but were linked by a contract that was revised and renewed every five years. Business operations were mostly carried out in close cooperation. Profits were shared among the brothers and their descendants, both according to performance and family responsibilities. Despite repeated conflicts of interest, the various branches of the family renewed the partner contract again and again until 1905.

Above all, the House of Rothschild played a major role on the London Stock Exchange , which since the Glorious Revolution of 1688 had slowly but steadily developed into one of the major European financial centers. Between 1815 and 1859 the London branch was involved in the issuance of 14 different government bonds. The nominal volume of the securities issued corresponded to 43 million British pounds, which is more than fifty percent of all securities that were issued in London. British government bonds played a major role in this. But the governments of France, Prussia, Austria, Naples, Belgium and Brazil also made use of the banking house's services. Typically, the Rothschilds bought the entire tranche from the government. However, they did not bear the marketing risk, because the issuing government only received the purchase amount in full if the paper could be placed in full. Due to their close-knit network, the Rothschilds were able to sell the papers throughout Europe. In contrast to a large number of its competitors, the Rothschild banking house was regularly able to ensure that the nominal amount of the paper was based on British pounds. The paper owner was not only able to redeem his claim in London, but also received interest payments in other countries in which the Rothschilds had branches.

This securities trading represented the core business of the bank. They were also active in currency trading and invested in insurance, mines and railways. The fact that the Rothschilds paid great attention to the creditworthiness of the issuers contributed significantly to the bank's reputation. The pledges of every security placed through their house in the 1820s were honored by the late 1820s, though Latin America experienced a massive financial crisis in the mid-1820s.

The Rothschild brothers

Amschel Mayer Rothschild

Amschel Mayer Rothschild (1773–1855) became the new head of the family after the death of his father and took over the management of the Frankfurt banking house "MA Rothschild & Sons". This was also the parent company of the Rothschild banks in London , Paris , Vienna and Naples . As the most cautious of the five sons of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, he was always concerned about the bank's liquidity , avoided risks as much as possible and preferred smaller deals. He also tried to slow down the Rothschild family's rapidly growing businesses across Europe, which repeatedly led to disputes between the brothers. Amschel Mayer Rothschild concentrated on continuing his work as a court factor for various German princes. The relationships with the court of the Electorate of Hesse-Kassel, which his father established with the help of Carl Friedrich Buderus, played a particularly important role. Amschel Mayer Rothschild was also the treasurer and financier of the German Bundestag in Frankfurt. His good relationships with almost all German medium-sized and small states helped MA Rothschild & Sons between 1820 and 1830 to oust the Gebrüder Bethmann banking house as the leading issuer of government bonds in German-speaking countries . Despite this success, the parent company in Frankfurt already lost its importance under the direction of Amschel Mayer Rothschild compared to the rapidly expanding Rothschild banks in London and Paris. Nevertheless, the latter officially only remained branches of MA Rothschild & Sons. As long as Gutle Rothschild (* 23 August 1753; † 7 May 1849), the mother of the five Rothschild brothers, was still alive, Frankfurt continued to be the main meeting place of the steadily growing Rothschild family.

Salomon Rothschild

Salomon Rothschild (1774–1855) was the founder of the Austrian line. He achieved his first commercial success in 1815, from 1820 (participation in a loan from the Parish bank ) he grew into the role of the largest financier of the Metternich regime and the German Confederation . Salomon Meyer Rothschild, who was forbidden from owning land at the beginning of his career and who therefore initially rented an entire hotel for a long time, was made a baron in 1822 and subsequently developed into one of the largest landowners in the country. In 1835 he received the concession to build the Emperor Ferdinand's Northern Railway and, in connection with this, also built the Witkowitz ironworks . The Creditanstalt , which emerged from his banking house in 1855, was under Rothschild influence until the 1930s.

Nathan Rothschild

Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836) went to Manchester in 1799 as a textile merchant . In 1808 he founded the NM Rothschild & Sons bank in London , which is still operating today. He became the most influential financier of the British government thanks to his carefully planned and executed transactions and established the great role of the House of Rothschild, which it held in the European financial world for at least fifty years from 1815. The unusually rapid rise of the House of Rothschilds, in which Nathan Rothschild was an essential part, sparked a number of rumors about the financier. As early as 1830 it was rumored that Nathan Rothschild's success was due to a legendary Hebrew talisman. From the same time comes the inaccurate story according to which Nathan Rothschild made a fortune through price manipulation in connection with the Battle of Waterloo (see below). In fact, Nathan Rothschild did not differ in his financial behavior from that of his competitors (see the advancement section under Nathan Mayer Rothschild ), but he obviously had a very good instinct for the functioning of the financial markets. The good networking of the European branches of the five Rothschild brothers also played a significant role in the rapid rise of the Rothschild family.

Kalman and Carl Mayer Rothschild

Kalman Rothschild (1788–1855), who later called himself Carl Mayer von Rothschild, went to Naples in 1821 on Salomon's order . There he had to supervise the finances of the Austrian troops. He opened the Sicilian Rothschild branch, whose customers included the popes , the kings of Sicily , other Italian princes and the Sardinian Prime Minister Cavour . Carl lived in both Frankfurt and Naples, where one of his properties, the Villa Pignatelli , drew visitors from all over Europe. In the last years of his life, however, he only ran the Naples branch from Frankfurt. After his death in 1855, his third son Adolphe Carl took over this branch until it was closed in 1863 due to the political unification of Italy.

Jakob Rothschild

Jakob Rothschild (1792–1868) was the youngest of the brothers. He went to Paris in 1812 and established Rothschild Frères there as one of the first bank addresses and called himself James de Rothschild from then on. As an advisor to two French kings, he became the country's most influential banker. In the following wars under Napoleon III. he played an important role in financing the construction of railways and the construction of mines , which helped France overcome the economic setback after the lost Franco-German War of 1870/1871 and become an industrial power. In 1982 the bank was nationalized along with other banks by the government of François Mitterrand . The successor institute Rothschild & Cie Banque is a new establishment by David René de Rothschild , it now represents the French part of the Rothschild banking group.

communication

In contrast to today, in the 19th century it was very difficult and cost-intensive to obtain business-relevant information quickly and reliably. So the five sons of Mayer Amschel Rothschild had to develop and expand their information network to the same extent that they expanded their activities across Europe. Beginning in the last years of Napoleonic rule, the five brothers exchanged private and business correspondence almost daily. The network was quickly expanded to include people outside of the family, usually other bankers with whom one had particularly trusting business relationships (e.g. Sal. Oppenheim in Cologne, Bleichröder in Berlin). Some of these so-called “agents” also existed outside of Europe. While letters from the Rothschilds to one another were written almost exclusively in so-called Jewish German until the 1850s , contact persons outside the family wrote mostly in German and French and from the 1830s also in English.

In order to guarantee the highest possible degree of speed and secrecy, the Rothschilds built their own, effective, but also cost-intensive courier system. Horses, carriages, carrier pigeons and ships were used for transport, and secrecy was to be ensured by means of code words and encryption . The Rothschilds' communications system grew in size and quality very quickly, making it comparable not only to that of its competitors, but also to that of entire states. The decline did not begin until the second half of the 19th century with the introduction of telegraph services , as courier systems were technically superfluous on the one hand and larger sections of the population could now get or pass on information cheaply, quickly and reliably.

Kinship marriages

When independent branches of the family began to develop from the branches of the five sons of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, the need arose in the Rothschild family to ensure solidarity for the future. Close family ties were seen as a prerequisite for maintaining the family's top economic and social position. The custom of marrying first and second degree cousins ​​to each other was therefore adopted in the European upper class until the 19th century (see parallel cousin and cross cousin marriage ). James de Rothschild started on July 11, 1824, when he married the daughter of his brother Salomon, Betty von Rothschild , in Frankfurt.

In the generation of the children and grandchildren of the five brothers, kinship marriage almost became the rule. Of 21 marriages concluded by descendants of Mayer Amschel Rothschild between 1824 and 1877, both spouses were direct descendants of 15 in 15. This not only ensured solidarity, but also kept the considerable dowries in the family. In addition, the influence of strangers on the family business was prevented and the preservation of the Jewish faith ensured.

Descendants of Mayer Amschel Rothschild

The five sons of Mayer Amschel Rothschild were ennobled in 1817 and raised to the status of Austrian baron in 1822. They founded important branches of this dynasty in foreign metropolises.

Possession and Cultural Influence

Wineries

The family's wineries enjoy a worldwide reputation to this day. Nathaniel de Rothschild , Nathan's third son, acquired Château Brane-Mouton in 1853 . In 1868, shortly before his death, James acquired the renowned Château Lafite-Rothschild . Edmond Rothschild in turn became the owner of Château Clarke and Château Malmaison in 1873, and in 1879 he also acquired the neighboring Château Peyre Lebade. A collection of over 15,000 bottles of Rothschild wines can be found in the English Waddesdon Manor , a Rothschild family residence that is unique in its architecture, gardens and art collection, built in 1874 by Ferdinand von Rothschild. The Château Lafite-Rothschild winery is currently under the management of Éric de Rothschild .

Castles

With their furnishing and lifestyle, the Rothschilds were style-setting. They founded the Goût Rothschild , which was characterized by the use of the finest materials and opulent furnishings. Often were antiques from the period of the Ancien Régime reused. The architecture of the Rothschilds was dominated by the Renaissance style .

The Rothschilds as the subject of smear campaigns and conspiracy theories

Since its inception as a factor in the European economy, the Rothschild family has been the subject of numerous caricatures and polemical writings, including smear campaigns and conspiracy theories . These are usually characterized by a sometimes hidden, sometimes open anti-Semitism . The name Rothschild is often used as a symbol for Zionism and to illustrate the alleged omnipotence of world Jewry over international finance.

Honoré de Balzac was one of the first to publicly attack the Rothschilds. In his short story Das Haus Nucingen (1838) he caricatures James de Rothschild as the arrogant, ruthless and rude banker Nucingen, who acquires his wealth through fraudulent bankruptcies. The story that continues to this day probably goes back to this story that the Rothschild family acquired their wealth through speculation on the outcome of the Battle of Waterloo . After that, thanks to an efficient information service, Nathan Rothschild learned of the victorious outcome of the battle even before the British government and then sold his shares to make other investors believe that he had information about a British defeat. Thereafter there were panic selling and heavy price losses, which Nathan used to buy the securities cheaply. After receiving the news of victory, he then benefited from an enormous price increase. Georges Dairnvaell re-circulated this untrue story in 1846 in his pamphlet The edifying and curious story of Rothschild I, King of the Jews . Later, at the time of National Socialism , it was spread through the undisguised anti-Semitic German propaganda film The Rothschilds . In addition, it was rumored as early as the 19th century that Nathan Mayer Rothschild had bribed a French general to ensure the British victory.

The author of the German national anthem August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben published the poem Modesty leads to the highest in the world in 1843 , in which he described the Rothschilds as immodest "Jews of kings" and "believers of lords".

As early as the first half of the 19th century, the influence of the Rothschilds was compared to that of the ruling monarch. They were considered part of a money aristocracy that, thanks to their economic power, contributed to the preservation of existing governments, did not feel patriotically committed to any nation, and even survived the overthrow of monarchs such as the French King Charles X , with whom they had close relations, without harm. "Money is the god of our time and Rothschild is his prophet," wrote Heinrich Heine in March 1841. Alphonse Toussenel , a French journalist and writer, combined his criticism in the book The Jews, Kings of the Era: A History of Financial Feudalism , published in 1846 the conditions under which James de Rothschild was able to acquire the concession on the railway line from Paris to Belgium, with an argument against Judaism itself: France had been "sold to the Jews" and the railway lines were directly or indirectly under the control of "Baron Rothschild, the king of finance, a Jew who was made a baron by a very Christian king".

Very early on, people believed in the power of the Rothschilds to prevent wars on the basis of their financial resources. In 1828 Prince Pückler-Muskau wrote that without the Rothschilds there seemed to be "no power in Europe to be able to wage war". Comparable statements can also be found in Ludwig Börne , Austrian diplomats and anti-Semites like Alphonse Toussenel , who wrote: "The Jew speculates on peace, that is, on the bull market, and that explains why peace in Europe has lasted for 15 years." From today's perspective, the willingness and ability to prevent war is rated positively. In the 19th century, however, war was seen as a legitimate political tool and the Rothschilds' business interests of pacifism met with criticism. During the Italian Wars of Independence , Earl Shaftesbury wrote that it was "strange, frightening, humiliating" that "the destiny of this nation is the pawn of an unbelieving Jew". The deployment of August Belmont , the agent of the Rothschilds in North America, for peace negotiations between the parties to the Civil War met with similar harsh criticism .

Conspiracy theories in which the Rothschild family is assigned a role still exist today. The theory that Rothschilds led or participated in a Jewish, Masonic , Illuminati or extraterrestrial conspiracy exists in different versions , often with the usual similarities or uncritical references to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which have long been exposed as forgery . The so-called Rakowski Protocols , which are generally not regarded as authentic, are also cited as a source for such theories .

The Rothschild banking house and its financial groups today

A central bank or a network of closely cooperating banks jointly owned by the Rothschild family no longer exists. Instead, there are three financial groups, which are controlled by different branches of the Rothschild family and are in some cases characterized by numerous inter-company and cross-shareholdings. There are occasional mutual minority holdings between the three financial groups.

logo
Logo Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild

The largest of these companies is Rothschild & Co. ("Paris-Orléans SA" until September 2015). The merger of the banking activities of the British and French branches of the Rothschild family in January 2008 made this company the central holding company for the business of British and French Rothschilds in the four areas: investment banking, corporate banking, private banking (wealth management) and private equity (corporate investments). The company was founded in 1838 and was originally a railroad company. It is listed on the Euronext exchange in Paris ( ISIN : FR0000031684). 47.1% of the share capital is controlled by the British and French branches of the Rothschild family (as of March 2015). The rest of the shares are widely diversified across the stock exchange.

A second financial group, the Groupe Edmond de Rothschild , is controlled by a Swiss-based branch of the Rothschilds. It was founded in 1953 by Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild and, in addition to several banks, also includes hotels, real estate, wineries and an insurance broker. A central part of this group is the Geneva-based Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild . It is listed on the Swiss Exchange ( SIX Swiss Exchange ) ( ISIN : CH0001347498).

Logo of RIT Capital Partners Plc

The third company under the control of a branch of the Rothschilds is RIT Capital Partners . This company was founded in 1961 on the initiative of Jacob Rothschild and has been run by him ever since. Since 1988 RIT Capital Partners has been investing mainly in small and medium-sized, listed and private companies on an international level. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange ( ISIN : GB0007366395).

literature

  • Christian Wilhelm Berghoeffer: Meyer Amschel Rothschild . Salzwasser-Verlag, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-86383-088-5 (reprint of the original from 1924)
  • Fritz Backhaus :  Rothschild. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , pp. 129-131 ( digitized version ).
  • Niall Ferguson : The History of the Rothschilds. Prophets of money. From the Engl. 2 vol. DVA, Munich / Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-421-05354-5 .
  • Georg Heuberger (ed.): The Rothschilds. A European family. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1995, ISBN 3-7995-1201-2 .
  • Georg Heuberger (ed.): The Rothschilds. Contributions to the history of a European family . Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1995, ISBN 3-7995-1202-0 .
  • Herbert H. Kaplan: Nathan Mayer Rothschild and the Creation of a Dynasty. Stanford University Press 2006, ISBN 0-8047-5165-X . (English, excerpt )
  • Joachim Kurz: The Rothschilds and the Wine. A success story from Bordeaux. Econ Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-430-30005-3 .
  • Rainer Liedtke: NM Rothschild & Sons - Communication channels in European banking in the 19th century . Böhlau Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-412-36905-5 .
  • Frederic Morton : The Rothschilds. A portrait of the dynasty. From the American by Hans Lamm and Paul Stein. Updated by Michael Freund. Franz Deuticke, Vienna 1992, ISBN 3-216-07896-5 .
  • Bernhard Schmidt: Rothschild. In: BS, Jürgen Doll, Walther Fekl, Siegfried Loewe, Fritz Taubert (eds.): Frankreich-Lexikon. Erich Schmidt, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-503-06184-3 .
  • Derek Wilson: The Rothschilds. A story of fame and power to the present day. Translated from the English by Gunther Martin. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-453-07326-6 .

Web links

Commons : Rothschild  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ferguson (2002), p. 23
  2. ↑ Ferguson (2002), p. 62
  3. ↑ Ferguson (2002), p. 32
  4. ↑ Quoted from Ferguson (2002), p. 34
  5. ↑ a b Quoted from Ferguson (2002), p. 37
  6. ↑ Quoted from Ferguson (2002), p. 38
  • Niall Ferguson: The Ascent of Money - A Financial History of the World . Penguin Books, London 2009, ISBN 978-0-14-103548-2
  1. ↑ Ferguson (2009), p. 82
  2. ↑ Fergusson (2009), p. 84
  3. ↑ quoted from Ferguson, p. 83.
  4. ^ Ferguson (2009), p. 86
  5. ↑ a b Ferguson (2009), p. 87
  6. ↑ Ferguson (2009), pp. 88-89
  7. ^ Ferguson (2009), p. 89
  • Other
  1. ↑ Christian Wilhelm Berghoeffer: Meyer Amschel Rothschild , salt water-Verlag, Paderborn 2012, ISBN 978-3-86383-088-5 , pages 23/24
  2. ^ Daniel Pipes : Conspiracy. Fascination and power of the secret , Gerling Akademie Verlag Munich 1998, SS 140 ff. U. ö .; Tobias Jaecker : Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories after September 11th. New variants of an old interpretation pattern , LIT Verlag, 4th ed., Münster 2009, pp. 43, 52 u. ö .; Juliane Wetzel : Conspiracy Theories . In: Wolfgang Benz (Hrsg.): Handbuch des Antisemitismus . Volume 3: Concepts, ideologies, theories. De Gruyter Saur, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-598-24074-4 , p. 335 (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  3. ^ Text online , accessed April 24, 2013.
  4. ↑ Birk Meinhardt: Aryans in the microwave war. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of May 10, 2010.
  5. ↑ Participation organization chart of Paris Orléans SA
  6. ↑ Participation organization chart of the Groupe LCF Rothschild ( Memento of the original from June 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 2.6 MB) on pages 30 and 31 of the 2008 annual report @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / medianet.lcf-rothschild.fr