William Zimdin
Wilhelm Julius Arthur Zimdin (born December 21, 1880 in Estonia , † March 4, 1951 in Santa Barbara , California ) was an Estonian international financier, real estate trader, hotel and casino owner.
Zimdin's first major international deals took place in 1920 and involved trade between the United States and the Soviet Union . At the beginning of the 1920s he acquired the Palais Blücher on Pariser Platz in Berlin , which he sold on to the American government a few years later for the purpose of setting up their embassy. Zimdin was also active in the timber industry and potash mining, and he made major real estate investments in the area of the Austrian spa town of Semmering . From 1930 to 1938 he was the owner of the Hotel Panhans am Semmering, which he brought back into the profit zone through clever investments. He also owned the "Grand Hotel Erzherzog Johann " on the top of the pass, which was destroyed in 1945 . Back then, Zimdin was celebrated as the “savior of Semmering”.
Zimdin had the orientalizing Villa Šeherezada built in Dubrovnik , which with its blue dome has become one of the city's landmarks.
After 1938 the millionaire, who had to stop his activities in the area of influence of the Nazi system because of his Jewish origins, concentrated his activities on the USA. In 1945 he began to send aid packages to friends and former employees in Europe on a large scale. In 1948, three years before his death, he established an important charitable foundation, which was subsequently directed and expanded by his business partner Dezső (Denis) Karczag. In 1957 it was renamed Direct Relief. Direct Relief International , headquartered in Santa Barbara , California, today supplies drugs to over 50 countries, most recently over $ 200 million annually.
literature
- Desiree Vasko-Juhasz: The Southern Railway. Your health resorts and hotels . Böhlau, Vienna et al. 2006, ISBN 3-205-77404-3 , ( Semmering Architektur 1).
- Werner Röder Herbert A. Strauss : Biographical Handbook of German-speaking Emigration after 1933 . Volume 1: Politics, Economy, Public Life . Saur, Munich 1980, ISBN 0-89664-101-5 .
- Robert Johann Pap: Recovered Paradise: Summer retreat between Reichenau and Semmering , Verlag NÖ Pressehaus, St. Pölten 1996
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Zimdin, William |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Zimdin, Wilhelm Julius Arthur |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Financier, real estate trader, hotel and casino owner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 21, 1880 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Estonia |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 4th 1951 |
| Place of death | Santa Barbara , California |