Louis Nathaniel, Baron von Schwartz de Rothschild () was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

from the

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt. The family's documented history starts in 16th-century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, ...

Early life

Rothschild was born in

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. ...

on 5 March 1882. He was the son of Baron Albert Salomon Anselm von Rothschild (1844–1911) and his wife, Bettina Caroline de Rothschild (1858–1892). His father owned numerous palaces in

, including the Palais Albert Rothschild, that housed exquisite art collections and

antique An antique () is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely to describe any object that i ...

Career

After the death of his father, Albert Rothschild, in 1911, he took over the management of the Creditanstalt bank and industrial companies owned by the Austrian branch of the Rothschilds.

Held for ransom by Nazis

After the

Anschluß The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany") arose after the 1871 unifica ...

of Austria to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in March 1938, he was arrested at the airport at

Aspern Aspern () is a neighbourhood in Vienna, Austria, within Donaustadt, the Districts of Vienna, 22nd district of Vienna. It has a population of 52,375 as of 2023 and covers an area of 19.89 km2. History The area is known for the Battle of Asp ...

and held by the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

. He was released only after lengthy negotiations between the family and the Nazis and upon payment of $21,000,000, believed to have been the largest kidnap ransom in history for any individual. While imprisoned he was visited by

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

. Rothschild apparently impressed the SS leader, who subsequently ordered that Rothschild's prison conditions be improved with better furniture and sanitation facilities. Despite appeals from Queen Mary of the United Kingdom and possibly the

Duke of Windsor Duke of Windsor was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 8 March 1937 for the former monarch Edward VIII, following his Abdication of Edward VIII, abdication on 11 December 1936. The Duchy, dukedom takes its name from ...

, Rothschild was held in Vienna's Hotel Metropole while the German government attempted to expropriate his business concerns. He was imprisoned at least through July 1938, and his property placed under control of a German "commissioner". Felix Somary, in his memoirs, recalls that, soon before the Anschluss, he phoned to the baron repeatedly, in a desperate attempt to convince him to leave Austria. The day before the Anschluss, Louis's brother Alphons and his wife were visiting him in Switzerland, wanting to go back into Austria; he persuaded them to remain there, and to get his children Francesca de Rothschild and Heidi de Rothschild away from Austria to

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Finally allowed to leave Austria, Louis survived the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Aryanisations and seizures

All of the Rothschild possessions were plundered and subsequently " Aryanised". The city-palace of the family was destroyed after the war. The baron never received most of his former belongings back, since most of the paintings were taken over by the Austrian state, which did not allow the paintings to leave the country. In 1998, over 200 art works were returned to the Rothschild heirs by the Austrian Government, and were placed at Christie's in London for auction in 1999. In 2020, in one of the largest ever restitution claims filed, Rothschild heirs sued Vienna over a trust seized by Nazis.

Personal life

In 1946 he married the Countess Hildegarde Karoline Johanna Maria "Hilda" von Auersperg (1895–1981), the only daughter of Count Anton von Auersperg (1858-1924) and his wife, Valerie Schenk von Lédecz (1875-1931). They lived in East Barnard, Vermont in the United States, and in England. They did not have any children. Rothschild died of heart failure while swimming in

Montego Bay Montego Bay () is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth most populous urban area in the country, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Portmore ...

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

on 15 January 1955.

Notes

External links

AEIOU , Louis Nathaniel Freiherr von Rothschild

Die Rothschild'schen Gemäldesammlungen in Wien
register of Louis and Alphonse Rothschild's art collection seized by the Nazis, on OAPEN Foundation {{DEFAULTSORT:Rothschild, Louis Nathaniel von Louis Nathaniel Austrian bankers 1882 births 1955 deaths Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss Jewish art collectors