Warburg family

The Warburg family is a German-Jewish family of bankers.

The Warburgs moved from Bologna to Warburg in Germany in the 16th century before moving to Altona, near Hamburg in the 17th century. Their first known ancestor was Simon von Cassel, who died ca 1566. They took their surname from the city of Warburg. The brothers Moses Marcus Warburg and Gerson Warburg founded the M.M.Warburg & CO banking company in 1798 that is still in existence. Moses Warburg's great-great grandson, Siegmund George Warburg, founded investment bank S. G. Warburg & Co in London in 1946. Siegmund's second cousin, Eric Warburg, founded Warburg Pincus in New York in 1938. Eric Warburg's son Max Warburg (not to be confused with Eric's father Max Warburg) is currently one of the three partners of M.M.Warburg & CO.

Family organization

Alsterufer and Mittelweg lines

The family is traditionally divided into two prominent lines, the Alsterufer Warburgs and the Mittelweg Warburgs. The Alsterufer Warburgs descended from Siegmund Warburg (1835–1889) and the Mittelweg Warburgs descended from his brother Moritz M. Warburg (1838–1910). They took their nicknames from the brothers' respective addresses in Hamburg. The brothers were grandsons of Moses Marcus Warburg.

Siegmund George Warburg was of the Alsterufer line; the four brothers Aby, Max, Paul and Felix were of the Mittelweg line.

American and German Warburgs

One of the members of the family in the United States was Felix Warburg. He was a banker and philanthropist, and his house in New York City became the Jewish Museum. Another American Warburg was Paul Warburg, the father of the U.S. Federal Reserve System.

The German branch of the family included Max Warburg, one of the founders of the IG Farben industrial conglomerate which later played such an ominous role in helping the Third Reich. At the outbreak of WWII, however, all Jewish members had been expelled from the board of IG Farben (and all other companies in Germany). Virtually all members of the Warburg family had fled to the United States or Great Britain by 1938. However, two cousins, mother and daughter Gerta and Betty Warburg, lingered in Altona until 1940, were captured by the Nazis and died in the concentration camp at Sobibor. [Ron Chernow, "The Warburgs" (Vantage: 1993)] Eric Warburg, son of Max Warburg, retired to Germany and was influential in restoring Germany's reputation after the Second World War. Eric's son, also called Max, is currently a partner in M.M. Warburg & CO. in Hamburg.

Noteworthy members and institutions

** Moses Marcus Warburg (-1830), banker
** Moritz Warburg (1810–1886), jurist
** Max Warburg (1867–1946), Hamburg banker, great-grandson of Moses Marcus Warburg (of the "Mittelweg" line of Warburgs)
** Aby Warburg (1866–1929), German-UK art historian, brother of Max Warburg
** Paul Moritz Warburg (1868–1932), father of the Federal Reserve, brother of Max and Aby Warburg
** James Paul Warburg (1897–1969), son of Paul Moritz Warburg, advisor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the early days of the Brain Trust, American delegate to the London Economic Conference, economist, banker, and author of lyrics (using the pen name Paul James) to a 1930 hit Broadway musical, Fine and Dandy.
** Felix M. Warburg (1871–1937), New York banker, philanthropist, brother of Max, Aby and Paul Warburg
** Frieda Schiff-Warburg, wife of Felix Warburg
** Gerald Warburg, son of Frieda and Felix, well-known cellist
** Eric Warburg (1900–1990), banker and goodwill ambassador, son of Max Warburg, namesake of the [http://www.atlantik-bruecke.org/owx_1_0_3_15_1_5a482027569c42.html Eric M. Warburg Prize]
** Siegmund George Warburg (1902–1982), founder of S. G. Warburg & Co, London, great great grandson of Moses Marcus Warburg (of the "Altersufer" line of Warburgs)
** M.M.Warburg & CO, bank in Hamburg founded by Moses Marcus Warburg and Gerson Warburg
** Warburg Institute, founded by Aby Warburg
** Kultur-wissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg, founded by Aby Warburg
** Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm, founded by Eric Warburg
** S. G. Warburg & Co., London investment bank founded by Siegmund George Warburg

Works about Warburgs

*cite book | author=Klessmann, Eckart | title=M.M.Warburg & CO 1798—1998: Die Geschichte des Bankhauses | location=Hamburg | year=2004
*cite book | author=Chernow, Ron | title=The Warburgs: The Twentieth-century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family | publisher=Random House | location=New York | year=1993 | id=ISBN 0-679-41823-7
*cite book | last=Attali | first=Jacques | title=A Man of Influence: The Extraordinary Career of S.G. Warburg | publisher=Adler & Adler | location=Bethesda, MD | year=1985 | id=ISBN 0-917-56136-8
*cite book | author=Farrer, David | title=The Warburgs: The Story of a Family | publisher=Stein and Day | location=New York | year=1974 | id=ISBN 0-812-81733-8
*cite book | author=Rosenbaum, Eduard | title=M.M.Warburg & CO, Merchant Bankers of Hamburg; A Survey of the First 140 years, 1798 to 1938 | location=London | year=1962

References

External links

* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=38&letter=W Jewish Encyclopaedia article (1901–1906)]
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1038/is_n1_v38/ai_16791194 Irving Katz's review of "The Warburgs: The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family" by Ron Chernow]

References

*JewishEncyclopedia