Jewish Nobles and Wealthy Jews in Imperial Russia

[jsl]

I am doing research on assimilated Jewish families of Europe,. While I understand that in light of the pale of settlement and other severe restrictions, the number of successful Jews in imperial Russia must have been quite small, I have come upon the name of Baron de Gunzburg, alternatively spelled Baron Ginzburg, who seems to have been a wealthy Jewish merchant/entrepreneur in imperial Russia. Does anyone know more about him, or other wealthy Jews in imperial Russia? Were there any nobles of Jewish descent, and were any of them of Russian nobility? Thank you.


JSL

[Ema1]

I am doing research on assimilated Jewish families of Europe,. While I understand that in light of the pale of settlement and other severe restrictions, the number of successful Jews in imperial Russia must have been quite small, I have come upon the name of Baron de Gunzburg, alternatively spelled Baron Ginzburg, who seems to have been a wealthy Jewish merchant/entrepreneur in imperial Russia. Does anyone know more about him, or other wealthy Jews in imperial Russia? Were there any nobles of Jewish descent, and were any of them of Russian nobility? Thank you.


JSL

Yes, Baron Gunzburg (also spelled Ginzburg) was one of three Jewish Barons. The Ginzburg Family tree can be viewed via The http://JewishEncyclopedia.com http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view_page.jsp?artid=502&letter=G&pid=1

[David_Pritchard]

An Essay on Barons Guenzburg Genealogy

Anatoliy Vorobiev (Russia, Moscow)

The topic of this report is the Barons Guenzburg - one of the most famous Jewish families of the post-reform Russia.

According to the family legend the Guenzbugs are descended from an exile, who was forced to move from Portugal to Bavaria at the end of the 15th -beginning of the 16th c.

The Guenzbugs became rich due to wine leases.

In 1848 they became hereditary honorary citizens.

In 1859 the “I.Ye.Guenzburg” Banking-house was opened in Petersburg. The family owned sugar factories, shares in gold-mining joint-stock companies and in a steamship company. Several joint-stock banks and insurance associations were founded with their financial support.

“I.Ye.Guenzburg” enjoyed special confidence of the Court circles. The Banking-house managed the finances of Alexander II's brother-in-law - Grand Duke of Hessen. Horace Ossipovitch was appointed the Grand Duchy's consul general in Petersburg. It was the first occasion when a Jew acted as a consul with approval of Russian Government. In 1870 the Grand Duke of Hessen granted Horace Guenzburg the title of Baron. Horace's father, Iosef-Yevzel received the same title four years ago. The Imperial permission to transmit these titles to the heirs followed in 1879. It was the only occasion when Israelites were allowed to use a noble title in Russia.

Barons Guenzburg remained faithful to the religion of their ancestors up till now.

The “I.Ye.Guenzburg” Banking-house was one of the biggest institutions of this kind in Russian Empire. It had broad business (and family) connections with banks of Hamburg, Berlin, Paris and other financial centres.

Some scientific Institutions were founded with the help of this family in Petersburg. Famous writers, sculptors and musicians enjoyed the support of the Barons Guenzburg. The Barons personally knew famous people of the time among whom - artists and statesmen. The outstanding scientist Baron David Horacievitch was a general editor of “Evrejskaya entsiklopediya” (“The Jewish Encyclopaedia”), published in Petersburg at the beginning of the century.

The Banking-house had close connections with the Jewish Community. The defence of Jewish rights became a family tradition of the Guenzburgs. They took part in the elaboration of the legislation in the 1860-s. “The Society of the Spreading of Enlightenment between Jews” was founded by Iosef-Yevzel, and “The Committee of the Help to the victims of the Pogroms” was founded by his son Horace Ossipovitch. He was also chairman of “The Jewish Colonisation Association” and an honorary member of “The Society for the Improvement of the Condition of Sick Children of Petersburg”.

Among descendants of hereditary honorary citizen Gabriel-Yakov Guenzburg (near 1793-1853) there are the present head of the Paris Rothschilds, some representatives of the Sassoon family, the Foulds (relatives of the Finance Minister of the Second Empire), the Warburgs, the Dukes de Grammont.

This report is an attempt to continue the work on a full descending genealogical scheme of the family. The beginning was done by D. Maggid in the book Toldoth Mishpekhoth Ginzburg (“A Pedigree of the Families Guenzburg”), published in 1899.

[Stanczyk]

I am doing research on assimilated Jewish families of Europe,. While I understand that in light of the pale of settlement and other severe restrictions, the number of successful Jews in imperial Russia must have been quite small, I have come upon the name of Baron de Gunzburg, alternatively spelled Baron Ginzburg, who seems to have been a wealthy Jewish merchant/entrepreneur in imperial Russia. Does anyone know more about him, or other wealthy Jews in imperial Russia? Were there any nobles of Jewish descent, and were any of them of Russian nobility? Thank you.


JSL

This id comparably difficult to find Jewish � noble families in Russia but I suppose you can find � something in Poland in Lodz (it was Russian Empire, in any case). I was much impressed by palace of Israel Poznanski in Lodz. � I think, he was very wealthy person ))))

(some information here, but don't click, use "copy"
 
http://www.uml.lodz.pl/index.php?menu2=2&zapytanie=2,15,05&id=112



http://www.rotwl.pl/?t=galeria&pow=lodz � 

[renate]

My grandfather, Maximilian Studencki (1849-1900) a Polish assimilated Jew, whilst not a noble, rose to be a privy counsellor in St Petersburg.  His daughterJadwiga, however, did make a marriage to a Bojar, Sascha Alexandr Tschelistcheff Krasnoselski, whose godmother was Aunt Ella, the Grand duchess who was murdered with the Tsar and family. Their marriage was arranged by their friend, the Minister of Justice, Murawjow, in the absence of their parents.  However, as both were underage, my grandmother had the marriage annulled except that Jadwiga was already with child.  She was quickly remarried to a German Industrialist, Karl Lindenberg, and my cousin Wolodja was given the Lindenberg name.  During the WWI Jadwiga and Sascha reunited again, but he contracted typhus and died.

Wolodja survived in Germany, became a neurologist, artist and writer, married Dolina Graefin van Rodern.  He maintained his connection with his Russian family and also the Hohenzollern part of the family, particularly with his aunt Ella, Princess of Hesse.  Since his death his house has been turned into a museum.  He was a well known writer and amongst his books are five biographical volumes.  More information is available at http://www.wladimirlindenberg.de/

[David_Pritchard]

There are many grades of the rank of Privy Counselor and State Counselor all of which rank above a Colonel, the rank which conferred hereditary nobility within the Russian Empire. If you are correct about the rank held by this gentleman, then he and his legitimate offspring would be Russian Nobles.

David

[miller99]

Many , many karaims in Russia were hereditary nobles.

Karaim, from the Hebrew word קראים, meaning "readers", refers in the literal sense generally to practitioners of the Karaite sect of Judaism. In customary usage, however, it is often used to refer to the distinct Turkic-speaking Karaite community of Crimea and the related community of Karaites living in Lithuania and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, as well as to their language

 Karaite Judaism is a Jewish denomination characterized by the sole reliance on the Tanakh as scripture, and the rejection of the Oral Law (the Mishnah and the Talmud) as halakha (Legally Binding, i.e. required religious practice). The word "Karaite" comes from the Hebrew word קְרָאִים (Standard Hebrew Qəraʾim; Tiberian Hebrew Qərāʾîm), meaning "Readers (of Scripture)." This name was chosen by the adherents of Karaite Judaism to distinguish themselves from the adherents of Rabbinic Judaism.Because the Karaims were judged to be innocent of the death of Jesus, they were exempt from many of the harsh restrictions placed on other Jews in Russia.

[David_Pritchard]

I have never heard of this distinction between those of the Jewish faith. Could you tell us more please?

David

[Ortino]

You could have just asked me then, David. A most interesting topic! Judaism is truly a way of life--there are many ethnical and religious divisions. If you're interested in information on either of these vast topics, feel free to PM me. I didn't really know that Karaites still existed at that time--the last mention my teachers made of the Karaites as a group in school was during my study of the Geonic period! They were indeed a group of people who lived entirely by Scripture, not the Oral law as halakha. During the 18th century, the Russian karaites spread myths which freed them from most anti-Semitic laws. For example, people forged tombstones in the Crimea claiming that the dead were descendants of the Tribes of Israel or claimed that they themselves were of Khazar origin. These were intended to convince the Russian czar that they could not have killed Jesus and thus their descendants were free of familial guilt. A very smart group of people I gather. The was another group of karaites in the Crimea. They originated there and were a community of ethnic Turkic adherents to Karaite Judaism. 

By the way, how did you get Hebrew text, miller? I didn't even know the AP site supported it. 

[David_Pritchard]

Thank you Ortino. As you can see below, this board can support many different alphabets:

Arabic .ڛ ۇڛڞۼ


Central Asian Turkic Cyrillic ҚҒџҗґұөҹҢӘ


Hebrew

אבזץשכעךפףבסה

[Ortino]

Thank you David. It is unfortunate then that my computer does not support Hebrew characters.