| Cover Slide
Jewish Patrons of the Arts & Philanthropists:
The Arnhold Banking Dynasty_in
Dresden, Berlin, New York 2. Prelude: Ella Arnhold, a Bibliophile
In 2008, the University of Manitoba bought a rare item for its archival FPG (Greve/Grove) collections
It was the bound manuscript used for printing Greve's 1902 poetry book Wanderungen
How had Wendell Wallach (Yale) come to put this unique - & quite obscure! - treasure up for sale?
This tricky provenance question was soon resolved:
it stemmed from his maternal grandmother Ella Arnhold-Lewenz's estate
3. Greve/Grove Collections, UM Archives
Felix Paul Greve was a minor literary figure, who spent a year in prison for fraud in 1903,
& then became a prolific translator of world literature
In 1909, after double-selling a translation of Swift's works, he left Berlin with a faked suicide & came to America
In 1912, he settled in Manitoba, where he soon emerged as the author Frederick Philip Grove
The UM acquired his Papers in the 1960s, & has been collecting both Greve- & Grove materials ever since
4. FPG (Greve/Grove) & FrL : UM Archives Website
5. The UM Archives: FPG & Freytag-Loringhoven
Grove became a major Canadian author of Prairie Literature ...
... but was, so to speak, a BIG fish in a small pond
HIS fame is largely overshadowed by that of his wife Else who had followed her "deceased" spouse to Pittsburgh in 1910
SHE became a notorious figure in New York Dada circles headed by Man Ray & Marcel Duchamp ...
... & was a SMALL fish, but still swimming in the international waters of Art History
6. FPG & FrL
7. FPG's Poetry e-Edition, 2007: WANDERUNGEN, Feb. 1902
8. Ella Arnhold-Lewenz's Mssof Greve's Wanderungen, Nov. 1901
9. Felix Paul Greve's IRRFAHRT(Wanderungen 13) 10. Ella Arnhold-Lewenz & Her Family 1
Ella Arnhold-Lewenz (1883-1954) was the eldest of six born into a privileged Dresden Banking Family
She had four brothers & one sister, all of whom married into prominent banking families
She was the exception to the rule, when, in 1909, she married Hans Leo Lewenz (1873-1932):
He, too, came from a renowned Hamburg banking family, & had earned a Ph.D. with a thesis on trusts
But he joined - & soon owned - the cutting-edge Telegraph Firm Keiser & Schmidt
11. Ella Arnhold-Lewenz, 1883-1954
12. Dr. Hans Leo Lewenz , 1873-1932: part-owner of Keiser & Schmidt Firm
13. Dr. Hans Leo Lewenz , 1873-1932 14. Ella Arnhold-Lewenz & Her Family 2
Ella Arnhold & Hans Lewenz had six children, four girls & two boys – the reverse of Ella's situation, with two girls & four boys
The Arnhold-Lewenz Family truly lived a charmed life in the Wilhelmine Empire ...
... through World War I, & even in the turbulent post-War years of the Weimar Republic
Hans Lewenz suddenly died in early 1932 at age 56
While there is no hint of foul play, one wonders if Ella's reference to "these hard times" doesn't allude to rising anti-semitic & budding Nazi terror
15. The Lewenz Family, ca. 1921
16. Hans Lewenz Documents
17. The Arnhold-Lewenzes in Exile
In Nov. 1938, shortly after the "Kristallnacht" atrocities, Ella left Berlin with her youngest daughter DOROTHEA/Dorothy (1918-2001)
Her daughters Annegret (b.1910) & Gerda (b.1915) and her son Hans (b.1913) were already settled in the U.S.
Her daughter Erika (b.1911) was in Israel
Her younger son Hellmut (b.1916) had died in 1937 of pneumonia in Lima, Peru
GERDA - indirectly - gave the UM Greve's book - HANS the World an award-winning film
18. Ella's Passport, Nov.1938
19.Wendell Wallach, Yale Center for Bioethics
20.Lisa Lewenz, b. 1954 Filmmaker
21.Lisa Lewenz' Film: A Letter Without Words, Berlinale 1998
22.Lisa Lewenz' Film on PBS, April 5, 1999
23.Lisa Lewenz and Kurt
24.Ella with Dorothy
25.Einstein, Gropius, Brigitte Helm, Rabbi Leo Baeck ... & Goebbels! 26. The Arnholds, Collectors of Books & Art
Ella's renowned book collection was distributed among her children when she died in 1954
Not long after she arrived in New York in 1938, the centre-piece of "Goetheana" – that is, books by/about Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) – was exhibited in the New York Public Library
Incidentally, she named her son Hans Wolfgang (1913-1984, Lisa Lewenz's Father) after this most famous of German poets ..._ ... & she also named one of her daughters after Goethe's epic Hermann & Dorothea (1897)
27. Goethe in Italy(Johann H. W. Tischbein, 1787)
28. Ella Arnhold-Lewenz & Her Family
Ella was far from being the only collector in her family -- in fact, ALL Arnholds were avid collectors not only of books, but also of art
Her grandfather Adolf (1817-1876) was a physician of rather modest means in Dessau, who had unselfishly treated the poor
In the Leo Baeck Institute records, the misreading of "Army doctor" (ARMEEarzt) was indignantly corrected to ARMENarzt, probably by Dorothy Lewenz (1918-2001)
29. The Arnholds as Collectors
30. The Arnhold Family of Bankers
Ella's uncle Max (1845-1908) had founded a bank in Dresden in 1864 that counted among the six leading private establishments
Her father Georg (1859-1925) had joined it in 1881, as would all four of his sons later on
Her other uncle Eduard (1849-1926) was an industrialist who had acquired an immense fortune in mining & transportation
It is a relief to note that this entire older Arnhold generation died of natural causes before the Nazi came to power in 1933
31. Max Arnhold, 1845-1908: Founder of The Bank in 1864
32.Georg Arnhold, 1859-1926 (= Ella's Father: joined The Bank in 1881)
33.Georg Arnhold, The Patriarch in later years 34. The Arnhold Brothers of Bankers
Ella's four younger brothers Adolf, Heinrich, Kurt & Hans Arnhold all expanded the Bank greatly before, during, & after the Great War
Then the Nazis "aryanized" it in 1935 ...
By 1937, it had been absorbed into the Dresdner Bank ... which is now infamously viewed as "the SS Bank" by historians
Stripped of their civil rights & assets, three of the brothers went into Swiss, U.S. & Brazilian exile
The fourth, Heinrich (b.1885) fell victim to the new regime - he died of a heart-attack in Oct. 1935
35. Georg Arnhold's Sons, Gebrüder Arnhold Bank, Dresden
36. The Arnholds as Bankers in New York
It was Ella's brother Hans (1888–1966) who headed the Arnhold & Bleichroeder Bank in New York
He was succeeded by his son-in-law S. M. Kellen (1914-2004) & in 1960 by his nephew Henry Arnhold
Billionaire Soros (b.1930) worked there in the 1960s
Today, the Bank flourishes as the "First Eagle Investment Management" Firm (with a capital of 98 Billion)
Henry's son John has been a leader since 1994, & has become its CEO/Chief Exec. Officer in 2010
37. Ella's Brother Heinrich's Son, Philanthropists in Dresden & NY
Bankers Henry (b.1921) & John are descendants of Ella's younger brother Dr. Heinrich Arnhold (1885-1935)
They have been major donors to a variety of causes in Dresden, including a splendid grave monument
In Apr. 2013, Henry received a decoration for his generosity from Saxony politician S. Tillich
When Henry lost his wife earlier that year, he endowed the popular PBS Nature program ...
... it was on PBS that Lisa Lewenz' film premiered in the USA in April 1999!
38. Georg & son Heinrich Arnhold's Dresden Monument (Sep.2014)
39.Henry Arnhold (b. 1921, Dresden), decorated by S. Tillich in April 2013
40.Henry & John Arnhold support PBS in 2013 41. The Arnholds as Philanthropists: Max, Georg, Eduard (Ella's Uncles)
Max Arnhold founded a cross-confessional institution, to which he left a legacy of 100,000 Marks in 1908
Georg Arnhold established a Pension Fund when this was unheard-of, & financed an expedition to Palau – the Dresden Museum of Ethnology exhibited related artifacts in 2003
The most prominent philanthropist & supporter of the Arts was, however, their brother Eduard
42. Eduard Arnhold, 1849-1925 : Industrialist
43. Eduard Arnhold as Philanthropist 1
Eduard Arnhold, termed the "Coal King" since his company supplied a quarter of Germany's needs around
1900, had a fortune of nearly 35 million Marks in 1912 – an astronomical sum then & today
He was the only Jew ever to have been appointed by Kaiser Wilhelm to the Prussian Assembly (Herrenhaus / House of Lords)
He might even have become German Minister of Transportation, if he had agreed to convert
44. Kaiser Wilhelm II
45. Eduard Arnhold as Philanthropist & Art Patron
Early on, he founded the Johannaheim to educate orphans
near his country domain Hirschfelde
In 1923, he sold a Manet for some 26,000 Marks to keep it afloat in the inflationary floods
In 1910, he established the Villa Massimo in Rome, where renowned or budding artists
obtain prestigious internships to this very day
He supported renowned artists like Böcklin & Liebermann, who painted him & his Wannsee Villa garden 46. Eduard Arnhold's Rittergut Hirschfelde & Johannaheim School, 1906
47.Eduard Arnhold's Villa Massimo, Rome - 1910 48. The Arnholds in Public Life: Peace Conference, 1904 – Versailles, 1919
The Arnholds were held in high esteem in their respective communities who honored them with numerous titles, decorations, etc.
Georg was sent as a German delegate to the first International Peace Conference in Boston in 1904, & was received by Teddy Roosevelt
Eduard was chosen to represent Germany at the Peace Talks in Versailles in January 1919
49. Dr. Kurt Arnhold, 1888-1951, Brazil & Else, b. Zimmermann, 1895-1992
50.Ella Arnhold's Father Georg & Uncle Eduard
51.Georg Arnhold (1859-1925) & Betha v. Suttner (1843-1914) - 1904 Peace
Conference, Boston
52.Eduard Arnhold (1849-1926) - 1919 Peace Conference, Paris 53. The Arnholds, Collectors of Books & Art
Eduard was a major player in the art trade & had great influence on various Galleries & Museum acquisitions
His outstanding collection of French Impressionists is legendary
It has been said that his keen appreciation brought that school to its first international recognition
Many of his paintings by Manet, Monet or Degas can be admired in major Art Museums today ...
54. Claude Monet, & Eduard Manet
55. The Arnholds & Plundered Art 1
... many others fell prey to Nazi plundering:
No less than twenty-eight items from Eduard's art collection are listed in the "Lost Art" database
Ella's own losses are not well documented
However, through the "Lost Art" website, I found that a painting by Walter Leistikow was ordered returned from Vienna's Belvedere Gallery to Ella's heirs in 2010 56. Leistikow's "Dänische Landschaft" (1898) - ordered returned, Belvedere, Vienna, 15apr2011
57.Walter Leistikow (1865-1908), "Am Kanal," ca. 1900 58. The Arnholds & Plundered Art 2
The best documented case of the Arnhold family's art losses is that of Ella's banker brother Hans:
On his way into forced exile, his family stayed in Paris until the occupation
There, they were robbed of their possessions ...
The ERR Jeu de Paume Project lists 208 items!
59. ERR/Paris – Jeu de Paume Project : Hans Arnhold, 206x
60. The Arnholds & the Wannsee 1
Many Arnholds had elegant residences in Berlin's privileged Tiergarten section, & sprawling villas on the Wannsee Lake near Berlin
That's where the infamous "Final Solution" Meeting was held in January 1942 (AmGrWannsee56-58)
Today, this Villa is an important Holocaust Memorial & Research Centre (since 1992)
Practically next door is Max Liebermann's Villa - his widow Martha was forced to sell it in 1938, & committed suicide to evade deportation in 1944
Eduard Arnhold's Villa is located further afield (AmGrWannsee 4) 61. The Wannsee Villa & Historian/Holocaust Survivor Jos. Wulf, 1912-1976
62.Max Liebermann's "Wannsee Villa & View over Arnhold's Garden," 1911 63. The Arnholds on the Wannsee 2
Hans Arnhold acquired his property, the former Villa Oppenheimer
(Am Sandwerder 17-19), in 1925 & had to make way for Nazi official W. Funk in 1938
In 1994,
Henry Kissinger, Ambassador Holbrooke& Bundespräsident R. v. Weizsäcker
hatched a grand plan for a German-American Cultural Relations Institute in Berlin
With 7-figure donations from the Arnhold Family & major industries,
The American Academy & Hans Arnhold Center opened its doors in 1998,
in the very Villa where Hans's daughter Annemarie Arnhold-Kellen had grown up.64. American Academy Founders, 1994: Holbrooke – Kissinger – R.v.Weizsäcker
65.American Academy / Hans Arnhold Center, Then & Now
66.2013 Kissinger Prize, American Academy 67. A Final Twist to our story ...
On occasion of the 1998 Berlinale Film Festival that launched Lisa Lewenz's memorable film, her aunt Dorothea (1918-2002) was received by
President Roman Herzog & Chancellor Gerhard Schröder
at the official State Residence Schloß Bellevue:
She was being honored for her role in Lisa's filmEin Brief ohne Worte.
68. Dorothy, Leo Baeck Center for Jewish History
69. President Herzog, State Residence Bellevue, Chancellor Schröder |
