Salomon Oppenheim

Salomon Oppenheim Jr. ( born June 19, 1772 in Bonn, † November 8, 1828 in Mainz ) was a German banker. He was the founder of the major private bank Sal Oppenheim Jr. & Cie. ..

Family

The father was the merchant in Bonn Hertz Salomon Oppenheim. The mother was Helene (nee Seligmann ).

Oppenheim Deigen Levi (1775-1842) was married to Therese later stone called. She was the daughter of a businessman from Dülmen. With her he had twelve children. The heirs were the sons of Abraham Oppenheim and Simon Oppenheim, which significantly extensions the bank. The son Dagobert Oppenheim was co-editor of the Rheinische Zeitung and railroad operator. His daughter Betty Oppenheim married Henry David Hertz of Hamburg. Together with her husband she converted from Judaism to Christianity. This marriage comes from Gustav Ferdinand Hertz, the physicist Heinrich Hertz and the Nobel laureate Gustav Hertz was thus great-grandchildren and great-great grandson of Salomon Oppenheim.

Life

In 1789 he established a commission and exchange house in Bonn. The relative Samuel Wolff resigned as a silent partner in the business. By his marriage with the daughter of a wealthy merchant family Oppenheim was able to improve its financial base.

In 1798, after the end Kurkölns and the end of Bonn moved as the residence Oppenheim the seat of his company to Cologne. He was one of the first Jews who settled for a four hundred year old settlement ban in the city. He was among the founders of re Jewish community in Cologne.

Economically Oppenheim was very successful. First, monetary and commercial transactions were still closely connected. Was of great importance that the French occupation authorities he transferred the collection of the Jewish tax. He also participated, albeit to a limited extent, in the real estate business. Already in 1810 he was behind Abraham Schaaffhausen as the most important banker in Cologne. He was the most heavily taxed member of the Jewish community. In 1816, his company was the first time as " Sal Oppenheim jr ", respectively.

Together with Bankhaus Mendelssohn in Berlin Oppenheim was charged with the organization of the French war indemnity to Prussia since 1818. In gratitude, he later received the honorary title of Royal Prussian Oberhof agents.

As the first Jew he became in 1822 a member of the Cologne Chamber of Commerce. In the early 1820s he began increasingly to finance the emerging industrial turn. This included its commitment to developing the steam navigation on the Rhine and in the establishment of marine insurance.