Baron Maurice de Hirsch
(1831-1896)
Wife: Clara de Hirsch
Baron Maurice de Hirsch was born in Germany in 1831. His mother Karoline
Wertheimer ensured that he received the best instruction in Hebrew and religion.
Descended from a distinguished family of Jewish court bankers, he moved among
European nobility. He was counted among the intimates of the Prince of Wales,
later Edward VII, and of the Austrian archduke Rudolph.
In 1851 Hirsch joined the banking firm of Bischoffsheim & Goldschmidt in
Brussels and four years later married Clara, daughter of Senator Jonathan Bischoffsheim,
head of the firm.
Even before she met Baron de Hirsch, Clara had been involved with philanthropic
activities. Under her father's guidance, she had worked to relieve the misery
of individuals and supported alms-houses and soup kitchens, distributed clothes
for children, and financed loan banks for traveling hawkers. She was a major
force in guiding her husband in his philanthropic enterprises. As well as assisting
him in founding colonies and developing schools and farms, between 1892 and
1895 she donated over 200 million francs (about $40 million) of her own money
to philanthropic causes.
Baron de Hirsch did not rely on his wife or father-in-law for his fortune.
Instead, he initiated an audacious financial scheme, setting up the funding
to build the Oriental Railway, which linked Constantinople to Europe.
Hirsch was granted control of the railway concession by the Turkish government.
By personal supervision and skillful engineering, he ensured the success of
the venture. The railway project and his pioneer enterprises in the sugar and
copper industries brought Hirsch's fortune to an estimated $100 million by 1890,
and gained for him a reputation as an outstanding industrialist and financier.
During this period Hirsch became acquainted with the plight of Middle Eastern
Jewry and gave the Alliance Israelite Universelle one million francs ($200,000)
for the creation of schools. He provided additional sums for the establishment
of trade schools. He eventually consolidated his donations to the Alliance in
a foundation yielding an annual income of 400,000 francs ($80,000).
Thereafter, he established his own organization, the Baron de Hirsch Foundation,
for educational work in Galicia. In 1891, he established a New York Baron de
Hirsch Fund to assist and help settle immigrants to the United States and later
Canada. Later that same year, he created the Jewish Colonization Association
to facilitate mass emigration of Jews from Russia to agricultural colonies particularly
in Argentina and Brazil.
Within a few years the Jewish Colonization Association had a budget of about
180 million francs ($36,000,000). Its objective was defined as the purchase
of large tracts of land for "... establishing colonies in various parts
of North and South America and other countries for agricultural, commercial
and other purposes."
A central committee was formed in St. Petersburg in 1892 to organize the emigration
of Russian Jews (with the agreement of the Russian government), and a governing
body was set up in the Argentine to direct work in the colonies. Most of the
settlers later drifted to the towns. The accumulated funds of the Jewish Colonization
Association are now largely directed to agricultural projects in Israel.
It is impossible to assess accurately the amount of money Hirsch devoted to
benevolent purposes. He donated large sums to London hospitals and a Canadian
fund for helping immigrants. He gave all his horse racing winnings to philanthropic
causes, saying that his horses ran for charity.
On the death of his only son Lucien in 1887, he replied to a message of sympathy
with the words "My son I have lost, but not my heir; humanity is my heir."
His agricultural projects led the Chovevei Zion and later Herzl to request
Hirsch's support for the Zionist movement, but Hirsch regarded the creation
of a Jewish state as a fantasy and refused any assistance.
When Baron de Hirsch died in 1896, his wife Clara took over his philanthropic
activities. She continued her husband's work, turning her home in Paris into
her administrative office. During the three remaining years of her life she
donated $15,000,000 to charitable works in New York, Galicia, Vienna, Budapest,
and Paris. In her will she left a further $10,000,000 to endow philanthropic
foundations.
Source: Gates to Jewish Heritage
www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/Baronhirsch.html
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