Theodor Stern

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Theodor Jacob Stern (born May 29, 1837 in Berlin ; † September 3, 1900 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German banker , politician , patron and founder .

Life and work

Grave of Theodor Stern in the Old Jewish Cemetery on Rat-Beil-Strasse in Frankfurt am Main

Theodor Stern, son of the Berlin banker Julius Jacob Stern (1807-1852) and his wife Louisa Ellissen (1810-?), Grew up in Frankfurt and after graduating in the summer semester of 1858 studied medicine at the University of Göttingen for one semester . He joined the fraternity of Hannovera .

At his father's request, he gave up studying medicine in order to learn the trade of a businessman in Brussels . At the age of 32 he was already a co-owner of the Jacob SH Stern banking house in Frankfurt. His bank, along with two other private banks, was one of the largest trade taxpayers in Frankfurt, so it paid far higher amounts to the city than the factories, department stores and trading companies operating there. Since the banking house Jacob SH Stern was one of the 25 largest private banks in Germany in 1876, it was a member of the "Central Committee of Shareholders", the highest administrative and supervisory body of the Reichsbank, in accordance with the statutory provisions on the Reichsbank. Theodor Stern thus had an influence on monetary, currency and financial policy in the German Empire. His bank was also active abroad. It participated with other private banks and other investors from Germany, for example in 1895 in the financing of the not undisputed Schantung railway company in China.

Theodor Stern's personal interest was primarily in the city of Frankfurt. In 1873 he was elected to the city council and belonged to it continuously until his death. At his death he was one of the longest serving members after 27 years of service. He was initially a member of the Democratic Association , later of the Progressive Party , but he hardly appeared in party politics. He became a member of the finance committee and took over its chairmanship in 1878. In 1893 he was also deputy chairman of the city council for a year until the end of the legislative period. His main occupation was in the field of budgetary and financial policy, and in this respect his cautious, deliberate judgment always provided reliable guidance, as Karl Maly noted. He was also a member of the board of trustees of secondary schools and the municipal school deputation. In addition, he was prepared to work in commissions for a limited period that the city council set up to receive expert suggestions on complex problems: in 1879 to prepare for supplementary elections to the magistrate, in 1885 to find a new member of the magistrate, in 1892 to examine the space requirements of city authorities, and in 1894 to reform the municipal tax system, in 1895 for the revision of the city building plans and the city building regulations, in 1895 for the construction of a new theater and in 1897 for the introduction of electric trams .

Theodor Stern was an important donor and patron for Frankfurt. Together with his brother Abraham, he set up a foundation in 1874 that was particularly dedicated to the upbringing of poor Jewish children. He had the educational institution for the deaf and dumb and the people's shower bath built at his own expense and transferred both facilities to the city of Frankfurt. In addition, he bought the Albrecht Dürer library and bequeathed it to the city ​​library .

Like many of the city's upper-class citizens, including a number of Jews, Theodor Stern also advocated founding a university in Frankfurt, which should be privately or communally sponsored if necessary. Initially, neither the Prussian government nor the majority in the Prussian House of Representatives agreed to this. On the one hand, they feared too few control options on the part of the state, on the other hand, too strong competition with the University of Marburg .

In Frankfurt there were a large number of foundations through which institutes were established that could later be incorporated into a university that was to be established. In 1901 Johanna Wilhelmine Stern (1839–1927), the widow of Theodor Stern, donated half a million marks to the Theodor Stern'sche Medical Institute to promote physiological research. When the University of Frankfurt was founded in 1914, this institute was incorporated into the medical faculty. On the occasion of the celebrations for the tenth anniversary, the University granted Johanna Stern honorary citizenship.

Honors

  • 1896 Awarded the Prussian Order of the Crown, 3rd class.
  • In 1912, the Uferstraße in front of the University Hospital in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen was given the name Theodor-Stern-Kai (from 1937 to 1945 Skagerrakufer , then again Theodor-Stern-Kai ).
  • 1994 Establishment of the Theodor Stern Foundation for the promotion of research, teaching and patient treatment at the Frankfurt University Hospital (Foundation price 5000 euros annually; Donor: Stadtsparkasse Frankfurt and the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Hospital)

literature

  • Paul Kluke : The Foundation University Frankfurt am Main 1914-1932. Verlag Waldemar Kramer, 1972, p. 331 f. and note 12.
  • Hans-Otto Schembs : Bibliography on the history of Frankfurt's Jews 1781–1945. Verlag Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1978, p. 620 f.
  • Paul Arnsberg : The history of the Frankfurt Jews since the French Revolution. Volume I, pp. 730, 777 and 801; Volume II, p. 294 f .; Volume III, pp. 539 f .; Eduard Roether Verlag, Darmstadt 1983.
  • Siegbert Wolf : Studies on Frankfurt History. Waldemar Kramer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1987, p. 225.
  • Karl Maly: The power of dignitaries, history of the Frankfurt city council. Volume I. 1867-1900, Walter Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 129 f. and 389.
  • Arno Lustiger : Jewish Foundations in Frankfurt am Main. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1994, p. 68 ff.
  • Ralf Roth: City and bourgeoisie in Frankfurt am Main. R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1996, pp. 575 and 586.
  • Wolfgang Klötzer (Hrsg.): Frankfurter Biographie . Personal history lexicon . Second volume. M – Z (=  publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission . Volume XIX , no. 2 ). Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-7829-0459-1 . P. 516 f.
  • Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Sub-Volume 5: R – S. Winter, Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 3-8253-1256-9 , pp. 98-99.

Web links

Commons : Theodor Stern  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Henning Tegtmeyer : Directory of members of the fraternity Hannovera Göttingen, 1848–1998 , Düsseldorf 1998, page 31
  2. ^ Udo Benzenhöfer: The history of Frankfurt university medicine . (pdf) January 10, 2019, accessed on September 20, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Stern, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stern, Theodor Jacob (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German banker, politician, patron and donor
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 3rd September 1900
Place of death Frankfurt am Main