From the province of Lower Saxony to Berlin
Family collection
One big family
Jakob Goldschmidt was born on 31 December 1882 into a family of merchants in Lower Saxony. Both parents, Markus Feist Goldschmidt (1851-1928) and Helene Goldschmidt, née Bachrach (born 1850) are Jewish. Jakob Goldschmidt has six more siblings: Karl, Julius, Louis, Paul, Ella and Hedwig. All seven Goldschmidt children are born in the small town of Eldagsen, between Hamelin and Hanover.
Family collection
A career takes its course
After successfully completing his banking training, Goldschmidt moves to Berlin in 1907, where he works as an authorised signatory.
In 1910, Goldschmidt becomes co-owner of the newly founded banking house Schwarz, Goldschmidt & Co. This is the beginning of a brilliant career.
Berlin State Archives, P Rep. 570, No. 312
Berlin State Archives, P Rep. 570, No. 312
Family and stroke of fate
He earns well as a banker, so nothing stands in the way of starting a family. Jakob Goldschmidt and Sophie Wolpert, née Joseph (1884-1922), marry on 5 April 1913. Three years later, their son Alfred Erwin (1916-1970) is born.
Picture archive Pisarek / akg-images
Sophie Goldschmidt dies on 19 October 1922 at the age of just 38. In 1927, Goldschmidt founds the Sophie Goldschmidt Girls' Home on Schönhauser Allee in her memory.
Federal Archives, picture 183-H28575
Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
In 1919, shortly before his personal tragedy, Goldschmidt is appointed to the Management Board of the National Bank for Germany at not yet 30 years if age. Two years later, this was merged with Darmstädter Bank and was now called Darmstädter und Nationalbank, or Danat-Bank for short.
Goldschmidt becomes a personally liable partner of Danat-Bank, which rapidly rises to the top league of major Berlin banks.
Money for art
National Gallery of Art, Washington D. C., Collection of Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon. Public domain. 🔍 Hover over the image to enlarge
Porcelain and Impressionism
As a successful banker, Goldschmidt has enough money to collect art.At first his passion is for East Asian porcelain. Later, he becomes interested in French Impressionism. In 1929, he buys this painting by Paul Cézanne in Paris.
Family collection
Architecture Museum of the TU Berlin, Inv. No. B 3258,060
Two houses full of art
He keeps his art collection in his villa in Neubabelsberg and in his townhouse in Matthäikirchstraße in Berlin's Tiergarten district.
Architecture Museum of the TU Berlin, Inv. No. B 3634,19
Architecture Museum of the TU Berlin, Inv. No. B 3634,20
Photographs of the Neubabelsberg villa show the rich amenities with precious furniture, sculptures and valuable paintings on the walls.
Bank crash
Zentralverband des Deutschen Bank- und Bankiergewerbes in the plenary hall of the Reichstag, 1931.
bpk / Berlinische Galerie / Erich Salomon
bpk / Art Library, SMB, Photothek Willy Römer / Willy Römer
On 13 July 1931, the German banking system collapses as a result of the global economic crisis. Despite a crisis meeting in the Reichstag, Danat Bank also becomes insolvent. Goldschmidt is released by the government from personal liability for his bank's losses, but is still several million Reichsmarks in debt.
„The day Danat Bank closed its counters was also a fateful day for Jacob Goldschmidt, who was more closely associated with his institution than any other major bank manager. [...] The role of Danat Bank is probably played out for all time.“
Magazine of the economy, 17 July 1931
Brandenburg State Main Archive Potsdam, 36 A (II), No. 12990. public domain
Brandenburg State Main Archive Potsdam, 36 A (II), No. 12990. public domain
Loan secured
As security for his loans, Goldschmidt transfers his two houses to the bank in December 1931, together with the works of art and furniture. In 1932, the insolvent Danat Bank is taken over by Dresdner Bank. As a result, Goldschmidt's loan is also transferred to the new creditor.
Flight and persecution under the Nazi regime
By 1933, Goldschmidt is able to reduce his bank debts from ten million to seven million Reichsmarks. Despite this, there is no improvement, as the National Socialists come to power. He is no longer allowed to withdraw money from his account and transfers are not authorised.
Goldschmidt is also slandered in National Socialist hate newspapers.
„A group of Hitler's followers searching for Jakob Goldschmidt found his brother Louis, whom they dragged through the streets, beat him up in an inhumane manner and left him to his fate lying in the street. When Jakob Goldschmidt was informed of this incident a few minutes later, he fled with his son Erwin without any preparation. He left behind all his possessions - assets, securities and all other movable and immovable property - here in Germany.“
From the restitution files, 16 January 1958 (Landesarchiv Berlin, B Rep. 025-02, No. 200/57)
bpk photo archive / photographer unknown
Escape across the Atlantic
Goldschmidt flees to Switzerland on 15 April 1933. The Berlin tax office demands over 1.8 million Reichsmark Reichsfluchtsteuer from him. He later travels on to New York via England. He tells the American authorities that he arrived in New York harbour on the Queen Mary on 2 November 1936.
A school for ‚Reichsführerinnen‘
In 1938, Dresdner Bank sell Villa Goldschmidt in Neubabelsberg to the National Socialists, who use it for training purposes.
Brandenburg State Main Archive Potsdam, 36 A (II), No. 12990. public domain. 🔍 Hover over the image to enlarge
Goldschmidt is stripped of his German citizenship in 1940. In 1941, his assets still in Germany are confiscated in favour of the German Reich.
Heidelberg University Library / Die Weltkunst, 15.1941, p. 5 🔍 Hover over the image to enlarge
Forced sale
In 1941, the Dresdner Bank also sells the paintings and artefacts that had been transferred to it since 1932 as security for the loan. The Berlin auction house Hans W. Lange is commissioned with the sale. The „J. G. Collection“ is auctioned off there on 25 September 1941.
Restitutions
After the Second World War, the Goldschmidt collection is scattered around the world. The family embarks on a search and submits many applications to the German authorities for compensation, restitution and reparations.
Jakob Goldschmidt dies in exile in New York on 23 September 1955. His heirs continue the search and receive a wooden figure attributed to Albrecht Dürer back from the National Museums in Berlin in 1960. The sculpture collection had acquired it in 1938.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst / Marion Böhl. Public Domain Mark 1.0. 🔍 Hover over the image to enlarge
Return from Berlin
Decades later, a second figure from the Goldschmidt collection is located in the sculpture collection. It is returned to the heirs in January 2023. The art dealer Johannes Hinrichsen had bought it from an earlier Goldschmidt auction at the Hugo Helbing auction house and sold it on to the National Museums.
Munich also restituted
In 2024 the Bavarian State Painting Collections and the Bavarian National Museum in Munich restitute a painting by Hans Wertinger and two sculptures from the 16th century to the heirs of Jakob Goldschmidt.
