The Rothschild banking family of Austria (Austrian German : Rothschild Bankiersfamilie) was founded by banker Salomon Mayer von Rothschild in 1820 in Vienna in what was then the Austrian Empire.
The Rothschild banking family of Austria (Austrian German : Rothschild Bankiersfamilie) was founded by banker Salomon Mayer von Rothschild in 1820 in Vienna in what was then the Austrian Empire.
Salomon Mayer had been sent to Austria from his home in Frankfurt by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812). Wanting his sons to succeed on their own and to expand the family business across Europe, Mayer Amschel Rothschild had his eldest son remain in Frankfurt, while his four other sons were sent to different European cities with the mission of establishing a financial institution to invest in business and provide banking services. Endogamy within the family was an essential part of the Rothschild strategy in order to ensure control of their wealth remained in family hands. Through their collaborative efforts, the Rothschilds rose to prominence in a variety of banking endeavours, including loans, government bonds and trading in bullion. Their financing afforded investment opportunities, and during the 19th century, they became major stakeholders in large-scale mining and rail transport ventures that were fundamental to the rapidly expanding industrial economies of Europe.
Salomon von Rothschild established S M von Rothschild, a banking and investment entity that would be highly successful, playing an integral role in the development of the Austrian economy. In 1836, the bank invested in and financed the building of the Nordbahn rail network, Austria's first steam railway. As well, it financed various government undertakings where large amounts of capital had to be raised.
In 1822, the five Rothschild brothers at the head of the family's banks in various parts of Europe were each granted the hereditary title of Freiherr (baron) in the Austrian nobility by Emperor Francis I of Austria. [1]
In 1929, the family's Creditanstalt was affected by the banking collapse that brought in the Great Depression. [2]
The Rothschild business empire in Austria was passed down to ensuing generations until the March 13, 1938 Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany, when the family was pressured to sell its banking operations at a fraction of its real worth. While other Rothschilds had escaped the Nazis, Baron Louis was imprisoned for a year and only released after a substantial ransom was paid by his family. This ransom was later used to finance the further murder of Jews seen as "lesser" than the Rothschilds. After Louis was allowed to leave the country, in March 1939, the Nazis placed the firm of S M von Rothschild under compulsory administration. Nazi officers and senior staff from Austrian museums also emptied the Rothschild family estates of all their valuables. Post-war, some of the family's assets were restored to the survivors, but others were not. In 1999, as a result of international Jewish pressure groups along with a determined personal effort by Bettina von Rothschild, the government of Austria returned some 250 Rothschild art treasures worth more than US$100 million. The artworks, which had been looted by the Nazis and placed in the Kunsthistorisches, the Albertina, the Leopold Museum and other state museums after World War II, were returned to the eldest surviving heir of two Vienna Rothschild brothers.
Further, in 2001, files involving more than 40,000 papers taken from the Rothschild family in Vienna by the Nazis, were voluntarily returned by the Russian government to them from the State Military Archive in Moscow. The Russian government inherited the papers from the Soviet Union which obtained the papers during the fall of Berlin during World War II. The documents are now part of the Rothschild Archive in London. [3]
With the 2012 death of Bettina Jemima Looram de Rothschild (1924–2012), the second child of Alphonse Mayer de Rothschild, the Austrian branch has become extinct in the male line, although there are numerous descendants through female lines. [4] [5] [6]
The historian Roman Sandgruber assessed in 2018: "The Austrian line of the family occupies a special position. It is the story of a fairytale rise .. to the largest bank of the Habsburg monarchy and a tragic decline in the economic turmoil of the interwar period and in the robbery of the National Socialists". [7]
The Austrian Rothschilds and members of the other branches in Europe were all major contributors to causes in aid of the Jewish people. However, many of their philanthropic efforts extended far beyond Jewish ethnic or religious communities. They built hospitals and shelters for the needy, supported cultural institutions and were patrons of individual artists. Their donation of works of art to various galleries has been the largest of any family in history. At present, a research project is underway, by The Rothschild Archive in London, to document the family's philanthropic involvements. [8]
The business success of the Austrian Rothschilds allowed them to become great patrons of the arts and substantial contributors to philanthropic causes that include a major donation in 1844 to help build a polytechnic institution in Brno, the Rothschild Hospital built in 1869 by Anselm von Rothschild, the construction of a Vienna hospital for women in 1892, and the founding of psychiatric institutions in 1898 by Nathaniel Anselm von Rothschild.
Members of the Rothschild family of Austria include:
All branches of the Rothschild banking family are famous for their art collections and many for their palatial estates. Ferdinand James von Rothschild moved permanently to England to build Waddesdon Manor. In Austria-Hungary, the acquisition of property by branch founder Salomon Mayer Rothschild was especially significant because at the time Jews were barred from the purchase of real estate, except in designated areas. Among the Rothschild properties in Austria were:
The Rothschild family is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire, who established his banking business in the 1760s. Unlike most previous court factors, Rothschild managed to bequeath his wealth and established an international banking family through his five sons, who established businesses in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Vienna, and Naples. The family was elevated to noble rank in the Holy Roman Empire and the United Kingdom. The family's documented history starts in 16th century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, built by Isaak Elchanan Bacharach in Frankfurt in 1567.
Rothschild is a name derived from the German zum rothen Schild, meaning "to the red shield", in reference to the houses where these family members lived or had lived. At the time, houses were designated by signs with different symbols or colors, not numbers. The name Rothschild in Yiddish means "red coat". The Rothschild banking family's coat of arms features in the center of its heraldry a red shield.
Mayer Amschel Rothschild was a German-Jewish banker and the founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty. Referred to as a "founding father of international finance", Rothschild was ranked seventh on the Forbes magazine list of "The Twenty Most Influential Businessmen of All Time" in 2005.
The Creditanstalt, full original name k. k. priv. Österreichische Credit-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe, was a major Austrian bank, founded in 1855 in Vienna.
Baron James Mayer de Rothschild was a German-French banker and the founder of the French branch of the prominent Rothschild family.
The Rothschild banking family of France is a French banking dynasty founded in 1812 in Paris by James Mayer de Rothschild (1792–1868). James was sent there from his home in Frankfurt, Germany, by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812). Wanting his sons to succeed on their own and to expand the family business across Europe, Mayer Amschel Rothschild had his eldest son remain in Frankfurt, while his four other sons were sent to different European cities to establish a financial institution to invest in business and provide banking services. Endogamy within the family was an essential part of the Rothschild strategy in order to ensure control of their wealth remained in family hands.
S M von Rothschild was a banking enterprise established in 1820 in Vienna, Austrian Empire by Salomon Mayer Rothschild, the founder of the Rothschild banking family of Austria and a member of the Mayer Amschel Rothschild family of Frankfurt, Germany. The business prospered, financing various Austrian government undertakings where large amounts of capital had to be raised. The bank played a major role in the building of the country's economic infrastructure including the first rail transport networks. Passed down to Salomon Mayer Rothschild's male heirs, the bank would be run by Anselm von Rothschild, Albert Salomon von Rothschild, and Louis Nathaniel von Rothschild.
Salomon Mayer Freiherr von Rothschild was a Frankfurt-born banker in the Austrian Empire and the founder of the Austrian branch of the prominent Rothschild family.
The Rothschild banking family of England was founded in (1798) by Nathan Mayer von Rothschild (1777–1836) who first settled in Manchester but then moved to London, England. Nathan was sent there from his home in Frankfurt by his father, Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812). Wanting his sons to succeed on their own and to expand the family business across Europe, Mayer Amschel Rothschild had his eldest son remain in Frankfurt, while his four other sons were sent to different European cities to establish a financial institution to invest in business and provide banking services. Nathan Mayer von Rothschild, the third son, first established a textile jobbing business in Manchester and from there went on to establish N M Rothschild & Sons bank in London.
Albert Salomon Anselm Freiherr von Rothschild was a banker in Austria-Hungary and a member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria. Businesses that he owned included Creditanstalt and the Northern Railway.
Nathaniel Meyer von Rothschild was a member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria, known as art collector and patron.
The Rothschild banking family of Naples was founded by Calmann (Carl) Mayer von Rothschild (1788–1855) who was sent to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1821.
Louis Nathaniel, Baron von Schwartz de Rothschild was an Austrian Baron from the famous Rothschild family.
Amschel Mayer Freiherr von Rothschild was a German Jewish banker of the prominent Rothschild family. He was the second child and eldest son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), the founder of the dynasty, and Gutlé Rothschild née Schnapper (1753–1849).
Anselm Salomon von Schwartz Rothschild, Baron Rothschild was an Austrian banker, founder of the Creditanstalt, and a member of the Vienna branch of the Rothschild family.
The Rothschild family is a European family of German Jewish origin that established European banking and finance houses from the late eighteenth century.
Bettina "Nina" Burr is vice president of the board of trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to which she and other members of her family made a major donation of Rothschild family heirlooms that is known as The Rothschild Collection.
Baron Eugène Daniel von Rothschild or simply Eugène von Rothschild was a member of the notable Rothschild family. He was part of the 5th generation of Rothschild and his parents were Salomon and Bettina Rothschild. He was descended from the Austrian branch of the family.
Betty von Rothschild, Baronne de Rothschild was a noted salonnière, patron of the arts and philanthropist.
M. A. Rothschild & Söhne was a German family-controlled bank based in Frankfurt, formally founded in 1810 by Mayer Amschel Rothschild on the basis of the banking business he had developed since 1766. It was eventually liquidated in 1901.
The crash of 1929 brought problems, not least in Austria where Louis von Rothschild struggled hard to shore up the Creditanstalt, Austria's largest bank, to prevent collapse.
The papers of the Viennese Rothschilds were seized by the Nazis in 1938, and later taken by the Red Army to Moscow. They were handed to the Rothschild Archive in 2001.