Siegmund Bosel

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Max Fenichel : Siegmund Bosel (around 1930)

Siegmund Bosel , Sigmund (born 10 January 1893 in Vienna , died on 8. February 1942 or 8. April 1945 ) was an Austrian wholesale merchant, banker and punter, a significant but controversial role in the economy in the First Republic played .

Life

The Vienna-born textile merchant of Jewish origin worked his way up to become the largest supplier to the army during the First World War . During the post-war inflation, Bosel preserved and increased his fortune through daring stock market transactions, took over Union Bank in 1923 and for a short time became one of the richest men in the country.

In 1925, however, Bosel suffered heavy losses due to bad speculation and almost also tore the Post Office Savings Bank , which had financed Bosel's adventure, into the abyss. A large part of this debt was forgiven him in 1933 by Finance Minister Karl Buresch . As early as 1926, Finance Minister Jakob Ahrer's flight to Cuba in this context caused a sensation. Because of Bosel's involvement in the postal savings bank scandal , a series of lawsuits began that cost him most of his fortune. In essence, Bosel only owned a carpet store.

After the “Anschluss” of Austria , Bosel was also persecuted for “racial” reasons. Among other things, the entire furnishings of his villa in Vienna- Hietzing (Gloriettegasse 17-19) were auctioned off on July 14th and 15th, 1938 at the Dorotheum in Vienna by order of the execution court .

There are contradicting statements about Bosel's death. The date of death 1945 can be found in the Austrian dictionary of persons . According to other sources, SS leader Alois Brunner is said to have shot Bosel in February 1942 on the occasion of the deportation of the Viennese Jews to Riga .

Georg Ransmayr reported the following in 2016.

Georg Ransmayr reports on Sigmund Bosel's death on pages 272 to 274 based on testimony from Gertrude Schneider (maiden name Traude Hirschhorn): Quotations reproduced accordingly.

... Exactly 1004 Jews are on board the wagons on February 6, 1942 (note: at the Aspang train station in Vienna 3) .... As an exception, Alois Brunner (note: Brunner I.) goes with him to Riga himself this time. ...

Delayed, the last passenger, the seriously ill Sigmund Bosel, was brought to the transport to Riga on a stretcher in pajamas. Pinkas Hirschhorn recognizes his card game partner from the Caffe Brillantengrund .... On the second step of the platform of the wagon, Bosel had been chained in the open.

.. "And then Alois Brunner started trampling Bosel with his feet." .... "And then Bosel said: 'Grace, grace' - and at the third grace he (note: Brunner) has him shot. One shot, one shot. "

On page 288, Ransmayer reports on the second date of death in 1945: This was officially established at the end of the war on May 8, 1945, after no further information on the death of Sigmund Bosel was available in 1945 (missing person report).

reception

In the face of banking scandals in the 21st century, social science research is also turning to the figure of the speculator Bosel.

literature

  • Georg Ransmayr: The poor trillionaire. The rise and fall of the inflation king Sigmund Bosel. Styria, Vienna / Graz / Klagenfurt 2016, ISBN 978-3-222-13535-4 .
  • Isabella Ackerl , Friedrich Weissensteiner: Austrian Personal Lexicon of the First and Second Republic. Ueberreuter, Vienna 1992, ISBN 3-8000-3464-6 .

Movie

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b JMW: Vienna, City of Jews ( Memento from March 19, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Claude Lanzmann : Interview with Gertrude Schneider In: Claude Lanzmann Shoah Collection, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum .
  3. ↑ a b c Georg Ransmayr: The poor trillionaire. The rise and fall of the inflation king Sigmund Bosel. Styria, Vienna / Graz / Klagenfurt 2016, ISBN 978-3-222-13535-4 .
  4. ↑ The trillionaire by the grace of the emperor. In: Die Presse from January 4, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Bosel, Siegmund
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wholesaler, banker and stock market speculator
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: February 8, 1942 or April 8, 1945