Sara Warburg

Sara "Särchen" Warburg (born September 9, 1805 in Hamburg ; † October 10, 1884 there ) was a German entrepreneur .

Live and act

Sara, called Särchen Warburg, was the only daughter of the couple Moses Marcus Warburg and Röschen (Rosa), née Hausen, called Abrahamson. Together with his brother Gerson Warburg, the father founded the bank MMWarburg & CO . Sara Warburg was considered a pretty child. She adhered strictly to the Jewish faith for life and loved music.

Her relatives included their cousin Abraham (Aby) Samuel Warburg (1798-1856), who had worked as a sworn broker since 1828. Both married in 1829. The couple had four daughters and two sons at short intervals. After the death of her father, Sara Warburg inherited all of his shares in the bank. Since she was forbidden to run a company as a woman, this was taken over by her husband Aby Warburg, who had been a partner in the bank since 1829. From 1831 to 1837 Aby's cousin Elias Warburg also participated as a business partner.

The bank's business developed well. In 1832 she moved into new premises at 131 Second Marktstrasse, two years later at number 22. After the company moved its headquarters to 36 Neuer Wall in 1853, the Sara Warburgs family used the building at 22 Second Marktstrasse as a residential building. In 1856 the bank got a new office at Admiralitätsstrasse 58, two years later at Admiralitätsstrasse 44 and in 1860 finally at Hermannstrasse 44.

Aby Samuel Warburg died on July 8, 1856. Sara Warburg then took over the management of the company as sole owner of the bank. According to current law, she was given a “gender curator”. This position was taken over by the Jewish businessman and long-time friend of the family, August Sanders, who had headed the German-Israelite community from late 1848 to mid-1855. Sanders gave Sara Warburg a free hand in managing the company. He also agreed that the eldest son Siegmund, who had previously been declared of age , was appointed general representative on July 23, 1856. With that she managed the business de facto alone and was able to circumvent legal requirements for women in such positions. In 1856 MMWarburg & CO acquired shares in the newly founded Norddeutsche Bank and the Vereinsbank , but concentrated on business with foreign exchange and bills of exchange. The company successfully survived the economic crisis of 1857 .

On January 1, 1859, Sara Warburg transferred shares in the company to her son Siegmund as a “company name Compagnon”. In a partnership agreement, she stipulated that he had to “obtain Madame Warburg's opinion in particularly important matters and proceed in accordance with the same”. When he reached the age of majority, his son Moritz M. joined MMWarburg & CO as an “Associé” and on January 1, 1863 also received shares with the same partnership agreement as his brother before.

Sara Warburg matriarchally led the bank to become the fourth largest financial institution in Hamburg, behind the bankers Salomon Heine , Conrad Hinrich Donner and the Berenberg Bank . After Salomon Heine's death, she was able to establish a close business relationship with the Rothschild Bank in London in the summer of 1865 through the heir Carl Heine , with whom she was friends . In 1865 she bequeathed her shares to the two sons and at that time left the management.

Sara Warburg retired with a carefully worded handover agreement that provided her with generous financial security. She then lived in a house she bought at Rothenbaumchaussee 49. She took over the chairmanship of several Jewish welfare organizations to which she sent donations and had her own synagogue there.

family

Sara Warburg married her sons and daughters out of economic interests and thus had a great influence on the development of the Warburg family .

• The daughter Rosa (1833–1908) married Paul Schiff (1829–1893) around 1852, who held a director's post at Creditanstalt Bank in Vienna, headed by Albert Salomon Anselm von Rothschild .
• Siegmund Warburg married Théophile Rosenberg (1840–1905), who brought in a large dowry when they married, two thirds of which had to go to the bank. The couple with residence at Alsterufer 18 founded the so-called "Alsterufer-Warburgs". Through the marriage of Théophile's sister Anna to the banker Horace de Gunzburg (1833–1909), contacts arose between the bank in St. Petersburg, which he ran, and MMWarburg & CO.
• Moritz M. Warburg married Charlotte Oppenheimer and thus brought the family into contact with Jewish banks in Frankfurt am Main . The family founded the "Mittelweg Warburgs".
• The marriage of the eldest daughter Marianne (1830-1882) in London in 1852 with Samuel Zagury, however, did not develop successfully because the husband was an impostor. The divorce in 1859 resulted in great financial losses for the Warburg family.

literature

• Ina Lorenz : Warburg, Sara . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 6 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8353-1025-4 , p. 357-359 .