Carl Fürstenberg (August 28, 1850 in Danzig – February 9, 1933 in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

) was one of the most prominent

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

bankers A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becaus ...

of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and was responsible for the revival of the German

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

industry during his era. Fürstenberg was born to

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish parents in Danzig (Gdańsk). While working at a

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 177 ...

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not t ...

mill throughout his childhood, he apprenticed under local banker R. Damme. At the age of seventeen, he moved to

. At first, Fürstenberg worked for the textile company of Gebr. Simon (Simon Bros.). Two years later, he became an employee at the

Disconto-Gesellschaft The Disconto-Gesellschaft (full name: Direktion der Disconto-Gesellschaft), with headquarters in Berlin, was founded in 1851. It was, until its 1929 merger into Deutsche Bank, one of the largest German banking organizations. History It was fou ...

, one of the leading German joint-stock banks. In 1871, he defected to aristocrat Gerson von Bleichröder's well-known S. Bleichröder Bank, working in the firm as a départemental manager. In 1883, he became first director of the joint-stock bank

Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft Berliner is most often used to designate a citizen of Berlin, Germany Berliner may also refer to: People * Berliner (surname) Places * Berliner Lake, a lake in Minnesota, United States * Berliner Philharmonie, concert hall in Berlin, Germany * ...

(B. G.-H.) and dominated it during the next decades in a way, that the bank was often regarded as ''Fürstenberg's bank''. In 1884 he was accepted into the Gesellschaft der Freunde society. Under Fürstenberg, the B. G.-H. became the house bank of

Emil Rathenau Emil Moritz Rathenau (11 December 1838 – 20 June 1915) was a German entrepreneur, industrialist, mechanical engineer. He was a leading figure in the early European electrical industry. Early life Rathenau was born in Berlin, into a ...

's AEG. 1902, Fürstenberg made Emil Rathenau's son,

Walther Rathenau Walther Rathenau (29 September 1867 – 24 June 1922) was a German industrialist, writer and liberal politician. During the First World War of 1914–1918 he was involved in the organization of the German war economy. After the war, Rathenau ...

a co-director of the B. G.-H. which he remained until 1907. Fuerstenberg was involved in the development of the diamond industry in

German South West Africa German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...

(now

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). He also organized the construction of a railway line between Lüderitz Bay and Kubub. In 1901, Fürstenberg received the Cross of Commander with Star of the

Order of Franz Joseph The Imperial Austrian Order of Franz Joseph (german: Kaiserlich-Österreichischer Franz-Joseph-Orden) was founded by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria on 2 December 1849, on the first anniversary of his accession to the imperial throne. Classes ...

. Fürstenberg died in Berlin in 1933.

References

* Fürstenberg, Carl: Die Lebensgeschichte eines deutschen Bankiers 1870-1914, ed. by

Hans Fürstenberg Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi a ...

; Berlin:

Ullstein Leopold Ullstein (6 September 1826 – 4 December 1899) was the founder and publisher of several successful German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of Ger ...

1931. *

External links

* 1850 births 1933 deaths 19th-century German Jews Businesspeople from Gdańsk German bankers Jewish bankers People from the Province of Prussia {{Germany-business-bio-stub Commanders of the Order of Franz Joseph