Biographies

Selig Goldschmidt 1826-1898 Excerpted from obituary written in the Frankfurter General Anzeiger: Today, after a brief illness Mr. Selig Goldschmidt, the Head of the local, highly regarded antique firm J & S Goldschmidt, passed away in the 68th year of his life.  With him, our Town has lost one of its most splendid citizens, the arts an unceasing patron, whilst the poor and suffering bemoan the passing of a benefactor who practiced charity in a lavish, in fact, princely fashion.  With superior intelligence, keen business acumen, and in conjuction with a strict sense of justice, Selig Goldschmidt succeeded to raise the business founded by him, from small beginnings to its current world-wide reputation.  Thanks to these qualities, and his highly developed understanding of art, he grew to be a confidant of the famous collector--the late Baron Mayer Carl von Rothschild as well as of various other personages of noble descent.  Year after year Mr. Goldschmidt dispersed large sums of money for the furtherance of artistic endeavours and the support of institutions with idealistic purposes.  All charitable trusts were always generously remembered by him, and his confidential donations towards humanitarian funds are virtually unmatched, even in our City, well known for its charitability.  His kindly character showed in his personal, quite exceptional participation during the annual parties, when he gave individual gifts for 400 children of the Jewish Primary School he had founded, and always remembered with generous donations.  Though personally of strictly orthodox Jewish persuasion, his charity extended to all sufferers irrespective of religion or outlook.  Everybody will grieve at his passing and the City will retain for one of its finest citizens a truly treasured memory.

The obituary of Jacob Goldsmith

Jacob Goldsmith died last Sunday at his residence, 2229 North Sixteenth Street, aged 73 years.  He had been hopelessly ill for some months past, suffering from a complication of diseases.  Mr. Goldsmith was born in Oberlistingen, Germany, in 1822, and came to this country when still a young man.  Shortly after his arrival he engaged in the retail clothing business in Philadelphia, and subsequently associated himself with his brothers, Levi and Abraham Goldsmith, in the wholesale manufacture of clothing.  Mr. Goldsmith afterwards went into business with the late Michael Jacobs, and was for a number of years one of the most prominent merchants in the clothing trade of this city.  During the war period he secured a number of large contracts for the Government.  In late years, and up to within a short time of his death, Mr. Goldsmith was in the insurance business.  A widow and six children survive.  The latter are Mrs. N.H. Rice, Mrs. Abe Coleman, Mrs. Chapman Raphael, Mrs. Isaac Levy, of Circleville, O. Philip Goldsmith, of Bridgeton, N.J., and Harry Goldsmith, of this city.  The deceased was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and also of several Jewish lodges, and was one of the oldest members of Keneseth Israel Congregation. 

The funeral took place on Tuesday at 1 o’clock and was largely attended.  Rev Dr. Joseph Krauskopf officiated, and paid a high tribute to the character and virtues of the deceased.  The pallbearers were Dr. Louis A. Mansbach, Milton Goldsmith, E.M. Goldsmith, George W. Goldsmith, Julius Mansbach and J.J. Rice.  Interment was made at Mr. Sinai Cemetery, where Rev. Wm. Armhold officiated.

From Die Geschichte der Frankfuter Juden
Paul Arnsberg Band III, Eduard Rocther Verlag, Darmstadt, 1983 

Julius Goldschmidt Art Dealer, born 1858, died 1932 

Julius Goldschmidt was the son of the Grebenstein descendants Jakob Goldschmidt and his wife Henrietta, of an old Frankfuter family.  Jakob Goldschmidt had founded an antique dealership in Frankfurt in 1853 and 4 years later his brother Selig joined him.  (Firma J & S Goldschmidt)  After the death of their father, Julius Goldschmidt became the owner and after his uncle’s death, sole owner of the firm.

Julius Goldschmidt operated the firm with great care.  He had good knowledge in many fields of the art business and often attained the admiration from learned specialists.  He possessed a phenomenal memory.  He understood the work of the finest museum articles in Gothic and Renaissance silversmiths. He was a buyer of large public art sales and he also liked to donate valuable art to museums.  The firm J & S Goldschmidt ranked with the famous antique businesses of London, Paris and New York and it was the royal purveyor to the Tsar of Russia before WWI. 

Julius Goldschmidt followed in the footsteps of he uncle Selig, whose connection to Mayer Carl and Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild made Frankfurt am Main a significant international place for the art trade.  Julius Goldschmidt was the confidant of the German and foreign Rothschild families and was always asked for advice by the Rothschild establishment.  From time to time, Julius spent much time at Guneburg and at the Rothschilds’ summer residence in Konigstain; after Mathilde von Rothschilds death.  A few years earlier, Julius had installed the Jewish Altertumer Museum in the former Bankhaus in Frankfurt.  After Charles Hallgartens death, Julius became the head of the organization (founded by Heinrich Frauberger and Charles Hallgarten in 1897) doing research on the Jewish art monuments . He was successful in this but did not live long enough to see it open.

 Julius Goldschmidt was involved in great philanthropic and social work. He ran the Gumperschen Siechenhauses and the Minka von Goldschmidt-Rothschild Stiftung Foundation, and he was head of the Israelischen Communal, he was president of Achawa, one of several who founded the Bne-Bris-Loge, active in Pro-Falascha-Komitee, a member of Deutch-Israelitischen Kinderheimes in Diez and der Lahn.  (children’s homes)  He was head of the Antique Dealer’s organization in Germany.  Julius Goldschmidt is buried in the Jewish Friedhof Eckenheimer Landstraffe.  This establishment is now connected with his name.

 Translated by Renate Anderson

Harry Fuld, born 3 February 1879 in Frankfurt. Died 26 January 1911.

Anyone who uses a mobile naturally uses the latest generation model and all the communication options it offers. The mobile telephone comes with a contract.  This in itself is a rental business, in which products and services are used in return for defined, regular payment- is not a new idea.  It was first introduced 100 years ago and heralded the start of a successful piece of telecommunications business. In 1899, the young Frankfurt based entrepreneur Harry Fuld recognised the huge potential there was, ands still is, in the renting out of infrastructure and services relating to telephone systems.  At the tender age of 20, he founded the private German telephone company H. Fuld & Co.  The grandfather of the present day TENOVIS thus became the first successful "sneaker businessman" of the nascent 20th Century.

Shortly after the foundation of the first telecommunication start-up in Germany, banks, factories, hotels, lawyers and doctors, and private households as well, belonged to the customer base of the still young company.  It was offering a complete telephone infrastructure-the only thing that could not be rented was the telephonist on the switchboard.

Peter Fuld, born 12 February 1921 in Frankfurt. He married Marina Von Bernus. He was the son of Harry Fuld and Ida Felsmann. His father Harry Fuld was the founder of the company H. Fuld & Co. German private-telephone company, now known as Tenovis.  As a "half Jew" he had to leave 1939 Germany. With beginning of war he was interned  as a German in England and in Canada, before was dismissed at the end of of 1941 from the internment in Toronto, he studied and received a "Bachelor OF Law" degree. In the meantime he became Canadian citizen then at the end of  1945 he returned to Europe, in order to live in London and Frankfurt.  Peter Fuld got sick 1959 with a brain tumor and died finally 1962 in Frankfurt/Main. As his time of interned in Toronto his study was overshadowed by his experience with discrimination. As a "half Jew" he was avoided both by his Jewish and German co-refugees, and as German by his Canadian student colleagues. These personal experiences and the observation of the fates of other minority fellow students aroused special sympathy in Peter towards others experiencing race and ethnic discrimination. Sensitized by the human wrongdoing, he helped many non-white refugees while he lived in postwar England. His wish was to create non-profit foundation in Germany for talented young people who experience discrimination. He could not implement his plan because of his illness and early death. He therefore bequeathed a part of his fortune to his lawyer and friend Philip H. Hartley with the purpose to bring his foundation into being and is now known as the Peter Fuld Stiftung.