The M.M. Warburg & Co. Bank survived all the political and economic catastophies of the 20th century, including the "Arisierung" in 1938 ("Arisierung" = the Nazi term for the expropriation of Jewish property and its transfer to non-Jewish ("Aryan") ownership. "Arisierung" was enforced by a series of laws and regulations, and the use of naked violence. "Arisierung" was also used to exert pressure on "Jews" as an inducement for them to forcibly emigrate. Many of those who were "arisiert" no longer possessed the necessary finances to emigrate). Today with a reserve of 5 thousand million DM it is one of Hamburg's major banks. The bank was founded in 1798. Max Warburg became its director in the first decade of the 20th century. He was so successful that he was able to fulfil the promise he made to his brother Aby Warburg to finance the purchase of all the books he required for his academic work. This turned out to be many thousands.
In 1929, Eric M. Warburg entered the family bank and secured its continuance, which became ever more difficult after the Nazis came to power in 1933. In 1938, foreseeing the growth of Nazi terror, he fled to the USA. A few weeks later the Nazis staged the Pogrom Night of 9th/10th November 1938, that confirmed that violent men were in power. In the USA, Eric Warburg helped German Jews to escape Germany, for as long as this remained possible. At the end of the war, he returned to Germany as an American officer, and in the 1950s rebuilt the Warburg bank. He actively fostered German-American friendship, and the re-establishing of the new Israelitische Krankenhaus (Israelite Hospital), and the Jewish Community in Hamburg. His death, on 9th July 1990, was mourned by very many people, both inside and outside the Jewish community. He left the bank he had re-established in a secure financial position. Eric Warburg was once asked what had been his private bank's most noteworthy business. He answered: "Ich glaube, die Hypotek, die mein Vater dem alten Hagenbeck gewährte. Sie wurde nämlich auf ein Rhinozeros eingetragen." ("The mortgage my father granted to old Hagenbeck. A rhinoceros was accepted as security").
Max Warburg:
"Mein lieber Max, meschugge. Dien Dich liebender Vater." ("My dear, crazy Max. Your loving
father"). This was the entire letter from Moritz Warburg to his son Max, but,
nevertheless, it put an end to Max's short dream of becoming a regular officer. He was only the
second eldest son of his banker father, but the eldest son Aby Warburg had declined the
world of finance for the academic world.
The Warburg family had conducted the business of banking for centuries, while most other careers
were denied Jewish families. The bank in Hamburg, initially a small business, gained a reputation
and international business mainly through its connection with the Rothschild Bank. The bank
survived the period of the French occupation of Hamburg between 1810-1814, the great bank crash
of 1857, and numerous other difficulties. In 1862, Moritz Warburg joined the bank, his
brother Sigmund Warburg having been so employed for several years prior to this.
Max Warburg later recalled: "Die beiden Brüder liebten einander, aber Auseinandersetzungen
zwischen ihnen waren an der Tagesordnung. Regelmäßig ein- oder zweimal in jeder Woche kam es
zum Streit, von dem die ganze Ferdinandstraße widerhallte." ("The two brothers loved one another,
but arguments between them were the order of the day. Regularly, once or twice a week, an argument
broke out between them, from which the entire Ferdinandstraße echoed").
The Warburg children grew up in an affluent, enlightened, patriotic and religious family. Their
uncle Sigmund's villa had its own house synagogue. Max Warburg, and his four
brothers, grew away from the religion of their parents. This was no exception in Jewish families
that had to come to terms with the modern world in which they lived. He later recalls: "Aby, Paul
und ich waren nicht gläubig. Ich betete nicht und glaubte vieles nicht, an was ein frommer Jude
glauben soll." ("Aby, Paul and I were not religious. I did not pray, or believe in much
of that which a devout Jew should believe"). At the same time his affiliation to Judaism was "eine
selbstverständlich bejahende" (self evidently so). The eldest brother, Aby, in childhood,
renounced his birthright and followed in the tradition of scholars in the family.
Aby stipulated that his brother
Max purchase all the books he would require for his lifelong work. A handshake sealed the transaction
between the boys. Max entered the bank, and in 1910 became its director.
The M.M. Warburg & Co. Bank became one of the largest German private banks under the shrewd direction
of Max Warburg. He became one of the valued advisers to the German emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II,
and, with the shipowner Albert Ballin, became one of the "Kaiserjuden" ("Emperor's Jews").
Following the German defeat in the First World War, Warburg participated in the arduous negotiations
over reparations with the victorious allies. He was unable to prevent the demand for astronomically
high reparation payments prior to, and in Versailles, which proved a heavy burden on the young
German democracy. Marked by the war and its catastrophic aftermath, in 1923 Max Warburg became one
of the co-founders of the first German institutes for peace research, in Hamburg.
It was a difficult task re-establishing the bank. In a letter Max Warburg confessed: "Ich bin
Philosoph geworden, das ist die einzige Methode, sich seine Lebensfreude, den Appetit und Humor,
einige der wenigen Dinge, die nicht versteuert werden, zu erhalten." ("I have become a philosopher.
It is the only way in which to retain ones zest for life, appetite and humour, some of the few
free things in life"). As the bank again flourished the antisemitic attacks increased. A radical
right-wing scribbler slandered Max Warburg, referring to him as "Generalstabschef des Weltjudentums"
("Chief of staff of world Judaism"). Warburg went to court, and on the 5th December 1924, the author
of the defamatory article was sentenced to three months prison.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Warburg, like many other Germans, hoped that the nightmare would
be shortlived: "Ich hielt es für vollkommen ausgeschlossen, daß dieser Mann jemals zum Allienherrscher
eines der schöpferisch befähigtsten, fleißigsten und mächtigsten Völker werden könnte." ("I thought
it completely impossible that this man would ever become absolute dictator of one of the most
creative, industious and powerful nations"). Even after Warburg saw that Nazi rule was established,
he was not prepared to emigrate: "Ich war entschlossen, meine Firma wie eine Festung zu verteidigen".
("I was determined to defend my company, linke a fortress"). The Nazis were resolved to make life
difficult for the banker Warburg, and ultimately to bring down his bank. Warburg received one
communication after another that he had been relinquished from his position as member of the board
of companies, or as member of the executive of commercial associations and public institutions.
This was occasionally done in a particularly offensive manner. Only two executive members of an
institute in Kiel resigned in sympathy with Warburg. The bank's customers were also put under
pressure to terminate their business with the Warburg bank. The majority complied, and business
declined. Only the close association with banks in London and New York, owned by other family
members, permitted international business to continue. Despite his personal difficulties, Max Warburg
assisted Jewish families to emigrate to Palestine, which, however, meant a further reduction in
bank customers. Max Warburg, nevertheless, tenaciously continued to defend his bank. Max Waburg
later recalled the year 1937: "Es wurde still in unserem Betrieb. Auf meinen Weg in die Bank traf
ich nicht einem einziger Bekannten, während ich früher den Hut zum Grüßen hatte ziehen müssen."
("Business was quiet. On my way to the bank I met with no one, whereas formerly I had to regularly
raise my hat in greeting").
In 1938, Max Warburg had to sell his business. At the end of August 1938 he departed for New York,
determined to soon return. However, the further brutal persecution of the Jews, and the invasion
of Poland, prevented this. Max Warburg died in New York, in 1946, without seeing his beloved
Hamburg again.
Elsa-Brandström-Haus:
Prior to the Second World War, the Warburg family lived in two large villas on Kösterberg,
overlooking the river Elbe, in Blankenese. During the war they were used as a hospital for
wounded soldiers. When Eric Warburg returned as an American soldier, at the end of the war,
they were in a delapidated condition. Huts had been erected in the gardens in which East European
forced labour had been housed. Eric Warburg had both villas renovated. Children who had
been liberated by the Allies from Nazi concentration camps were accommodated here, either awaiting
the discovery of their parents, or placement by foster parents. After three years the villas
were empty again, and the Warburg family decided again to place the villas at the disposal of
community work in Germany. In 1949, the charity Elsa-Brandström-Haus im Deutschen Roten Kreuz
was founded, and the "White House" donated to the German Red Cross.
Elsa Brandström, renown through her commitment for prisoners-of-war during the First World
War, was a friend of the Warburg family, and had spent her last days in Germany with the Warburgs
on Klösterberg, before emigrating to the USA. Hitler had attempted to recruit her for his winter
relief organization. She had brusquely declined, and departed Germany.
Today the "White House", on Klösterberg, in Blankenese, is owned by the German Red Cross and
functions as a conference centre. The adjacent villa is a sanatorium for mothers and children.
Roman Garden:
The roman garden with amphitheatre, overlooking the river Elbe, is now a public park. A stone
tablet carries the inscription: "Im Andenken an Max M. Warburg, Hamburg 1867-1946, stiftete seine
Familie diese Anlage der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg".