Ignaz Bing (January 29, 1840 - March 24, 1918) was a German-Jewish industrialist, naturalist, poet, and memoirist.
Ignaz Bing (January 29, 1840 - March 24, 1918) was a German-Jewish industrialist, naturalist, poet, and memoirist.
The brothers Ignaz Bing and Adolf Bing were the children of Bela Levi (later Babette Tuchmann) and Saloman Beer Bernard Bing, an Ashkenazi Jewish master dyer in Memmelsdorf, Germany, who went on to become a hops-dealer. In 1863 they founded GBN (Gebruder Bing Nurnberger Metall und Lakierwaren Fabrik) in Nuremberg, also known as BW (Bing Werke). [1]
Ignaz was the leader of the two brothers. He began with a line of willow baskets and enamel household goods, then hired artisans to design and craft fine art nouveau pewter, copper, and glass tableware. Toy production commenced in 1880 and the company's first teddy bears were released in 1907. [1] [2] By the early 20th century, GBN was the largest toy company in the world, and the Bing factory in Nuremberg was the largest toy factory in the world, producing a variety of goods such as dollhouse furniture and enamelware, tin-litho metal toys, and an extensive catalogue of stationary model steam engines and model trains. [3] [4] [5] Non-toy products manufactured by the company included gramophones, a line of recordings called Bingola Records, bicycles, kitchenware, office equipment, and electrical goods. [6]
The Bing Brothers company employed thousands of workers and engaged in joint business investments with many collateral family members in Nuremberg and the wider environs of Bavaria. [1] [7] Bing goods were sold not only in Germany, but also in Great Britain, the United States of America, and Canada. As a prominent Nuremberg industrialist, Ignaz Bing helped to develop the modern concept of annual industry-wide trade shows. For his many services on behalf of his country's economy, he was honoured with the title of Privy Councillor of Commerce (Geheime Kommerzienrat) to the Bavarian Court.
Bing wrote poetry and memoirs, loved nature, and liked to explore caves. He discovered a beautiful stalactite cave in 1905 near the town of Streitberg (Wiesenttal). Using his own wealth, he paid for the lighting and development of the cavern gallery as a show cave so that others could tour it; he also personally conducted a tour of the cave for Prince Ludwig of Bavaria. [1] Named after its discoverer, the cavern was called the Binghöhle (Bing Cave) from 1905 until the Nazis took over Germany. Then, because Bing was a Jew, they took control of it from the family, nationalized it, and renamed it the "Streitberger Cave" after the nearest town. However, in 1945, when the Nazi regime ended, it was renamed the Binghöhle and a settlement was given to the family in recompense for the earlier seizure. The site, now operated by the local municipality, was renovated in 2005 as a show cave and offers beautiful guided walking tours underground featuring lighting technology, including fairytale and birthday tours for children's parties. [8]
Bing wrote three autobiographical memoirs, "Tales From A Merchant's Life" (1915), "My Family and Friends" (1916), and "My Travels" (1917). These were collected into one volume, translated into English, and published in 2013 under the title "Tales From My Life." These memoirs contain quite a bit of genealogical and sociological information along the way, and Bing's anecdotes have been used as primary research to augment the Geni.com profiles of a number of his family members and to provide historical background to those who study Jewish culture in pre-Nazi Germany.
Ignaz Bing died at the age of 78 in Nuremberg. His son, Stephan Bing, took on the role of leadership. Sales declined, however, as antisemitism became a force in Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler.
in 1933, Bing's grandson, the economist Dr. Rudolf Benario, was among the first three Jews murdered in a Nazi concentration camp, at Dachau. That same year the Bing Works company was liquidated. Stephan Bing fled to England, where he helped to start the British toy company Trix.
Nuremberg is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest city in Germany. On the Pegnitz River and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it lies in the Bavarian administrative region of Middle Franconia, and is the largest city and the unofficial capital of Franconia. Nuremberg forms a continuous conurbation with the neighbouring cities of Fürth, Erlangen and Schwabach with a total population of 800,376 (2019), while the larger Nuremberg Metropolitan Region has approximately 3.6 million inhabitants. The city lies about 170 kilometres (110 mi) north of Munich. It is the largest city in the East Franconian dialect area, Nuremberg was one of the host cities of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist and a member of the Nazi Party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories in occupied Poland and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. He is the subject of the 1982 novel Schindler's Ark and its 1993 film adaptation, Schindler's List, which reflected his life as an opportunist initially motivated by profit, who came to show extraordinary initiative, tenacity, courage, and dedication to save the lives of his Jewish employees.
Hans Michael Frank was a German politician and lawyer who served as head of the General Government in Poland during the Second World War.
GBN may refer to:
Fürth is a city in northern Bavaria, Germany, in the administrative division (Regierungsbezirk) of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the two cities being only 7 km apart.
Bing or Gebrüder Bing was a German toy company founded in 1863 in Nuremberg, Germany by two brothers, Ignaz Bing and Adolf Bing, originally producing metal kitchen utensils, but best remembered for its extensive lines of model trains and live steam engines. Ignaz is also known for his discovery and development of the Bing Cave, a show cave in Germany.
Abraham Bing (1752–1841) was the Oberrabbiner of Würzburg, and a Rosh yeshiva there. He trained several prominent German rabbis.
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Trix is a German company that originally made Trix metal construction sets. One of its co-founders was Stephan Bing, the son of the pioneer toy-maker industrialist Ignaz Bing. In 1935 the company began producing the electrically powered model trains that it became famous for, under the Trix Express label. Prior to the outbreak of World War II the company produced a small range of AC powered three rail loco models running on bakelite rails.
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Moriz von Kuffner was a Jewish-Austrian industrialist, art collector, mountaineer and philanthropist. From the 1880s to the early 1910s he made a fortune in the brewery business, and became a significant sponsor of Vienna's social and cultural life as well as a mentor of astronomy. Moriz von Kuffner was forced to sell his Austrian assets and to leave Vienna in 1938.
Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke was the son of Joseph Tom Lowke, a Northampton boilermaker and his wife, Eliza, and is noted for having founded the firm of Bassett-Lowke which specialised in producing construction sets, and model railways, boats and ships. He was married to Florence Jane Jones on 21 March 1917.
Lionello Stock (1866–1948) was an Italian industrialist, businessman and owner of the Camis & Stock company.
The Bing Cave or Binghöhle is a limestone show cave in Wiesenttal, Bavaria, Germany. It was discovered in 1905 by the industrialist, poet, memoirist, and amateur naturalist Ignaz Bing (1840–1918), co-founder with his brother Adolf Bing of the Gebruder Bing toy and household goods company in Nürnberg.
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Ignaz Kreidl was a chemist and industrialist living in Vienna, Austria. He held numerous patents related to the production and use of rare earths and the production of glass, enamels, and synthetic resins. In addition to founding the chemical company Vereinigte Chemischen Fabriken (VCF), he became a major shareholder in J. Schreiber & Neffen, a leading glass manufacturer.
Julius Riemer was a German factory owner, businessman, founder of the Wittenberg Castle Museum and a collector of natural history and ethnographic artifacts.
