Leopold Hirschfeld
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Leopold Hirschfeld (, 1798,
Bonyhád Bonyhád () is a town in Tolna County in Southwestern Hungary. History The area around Bonyhád has been inhabited since ancient times, primarily by Celts. The modern town can trace its history back to 14th century. The town was briefly uninhab ...
– 1893,
Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...
), was Hungarian
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
brewer in
Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...
,
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
,
Habsburg Empire The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...
. He founded in 1848 the Pécsi Sörfőzde.


Life

Leopold Hirschfeld was born in
Bonyhád Bonyhád () is a town in Tolna County in Southwestern Hungary. History The area around Bonyhád has been inhabited since ancient times, primarily by Celts. The modern town can trace its history back to 14th century. The town was briefly uninhab ...
,
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
where he was dealing with
grain trade The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals such as wheat, barley, maize, rice, and other food grains. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other agri ...
and later learnt brewering. In the 1840s he moved to
Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...
, Baranya with the aim to set up there his own brewery. At that time there were several breweries in Baranya. They worked in guilds with the permission of the responsible city council, but could produce just in little amounts despite a growing demand. Leopold bought the small brewery of the hospital of Pécs in 1848 and transformed it into a big beer manufacture during the 1850s. It became the first brewery in the whole region which successfully implemented the greatest technical achievements of this time, especially the use of produced ice. The factory's young and ambitious chemist ''Emanuel Kristian Scharbach'' developed that new brewering technology which brought the company great success. The first official recognition came on the 40th anniversary of the
Hungarian Revolution of 1848 The Hungarian Revolution of 1848, also known in Hungary as Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many Revolutions of 1848, European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in ...
''General Exhibition of Pécs'' (''Pécsi Általános Kiállítás'') where the company was awarded with a golden prize for its beer. After this period came temporary stagnation, because beers from
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, Pest and
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became more popular in the region. For the popularization of the local beers in the 1870s
Zsolnay Zsolnay, or formally Zsolnay Porcelánmanufaktúra Zrt (Zsolnay Porcelain Manufactory Private Limited) is a Hungarian manufacturer of porcelain, tiles, and stoneware. The company introduced the eosin glazing process and pyrogranite ceramics. Hist ...
introduced its own beer mugs which helped the local brewering companies for a short time. Then in 1887 an epidemic of
phylloxera Grape phylloxera is an insect pest of grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. Grape phylloxera (''Daktulosphaira vitifoliae'' (Fitch 1855) belongs to the family Phylloxeridae, within the order Hemiptera, bugs); orig ...
appeared on the vineyards in the Mecsek Mountains. Until 1889 most of the vineyards of the historical wine region were destroyed. This was a tragic incident which changed the consumption habits of the residents. People started to drink more beer and less wine, which boosted the beer production and consumption in the region. As long as the two big breweries of Pécs, the one of Scholz produced annually 5000 hectoliters and the one of Hirschfeld made 4000 hectoliters; by 1891 the production jumped up to 15 000 hectoliters together. The factory exported beer to its main export markets, to
Slavonia Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...
,
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
,
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and
Fiume Rijeka (; Fiume ( fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and in 2021 had a po ...
. But it was not enough so new, third big brewery appeared on the market in 1893, the ''Agricultural Brewery & Steammill Co.'' (''Mezőgazdasági Sörgyár és Gőzmalom RT.'') whose owner was the son of Gyula Scholtz, the owner of the ''Scholtz Brewery'' who started his own business. Leopold saw the advantages of the strong rivals, so he established a high-quality beer garden of German and Austrian examples for his beer products. He called it ''Abbázia'', and it had a covered and an open-air part where thousands of people could spend their spare time drinking and talking. The locals loved the beer garden because it offered them a metropolitan feeling and there was enough space for revelry and charity ceremonies.


Personal life

His son, Sámuel Hirschfeld was born in 1844/1843 in
Bonyhád Bonyhád () is a town in Tolna County in Southwestern Hungary. History The area around Bonyhád has been inhabited since ancient times, primarily by Celts. The modern town can trace its history back to 14th century. The town was briefly uninhab ...
.


Death

Leopold Hirschfelder died in 1893 in
Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...
.


Legacy

His son, Sámuel Hirschfeld inherited the brewery who renamed it as ''Pannonia Brewery'' (''Pannónia Sörfőzde'') and improved its beers with clearer water from deeper wells. After the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
it became the only functioning brewery of
Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...
.


Notices

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirschfeld, Leopold 1798 births 1893 deaths People from Bonyhád Jews from Austria-Hungary Businesspeople from the Austrian Empire Industrialists Hungarian Jews