Bethmann family

founded in 1748 and soon catapulted into the foremost ranks of German and European banks. Even after the bank's sale in 1976, there are von Bethmanns engaged in commercial real estate and forestry in the 21st century.

The most notable of the Bethmanns was Simon Moritz von Bethmann (1768–1826): banker, diplomat, politician, philanthropist and patron of the arts. His sister "Maria Elisabeth" was the mother of "Marie d'Agoult" and the grandmother of "Cosima Wagner"; his sister "Susanne Elisabeth", the great-grandmother of "Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg".

Beginnings in Goslar

The Bethmann family, which produced the famous Bethmann banking dynasty, resided in Frankfurt am Main from the early 18th century onward. [http://www.zeno.org/Herder-1854/A/Bethmann+%5B2%5D "Herders Conversations-Lexikon"] , p.517, volume 1] Earlier ancestors had come from the northern German town of Goslar. [http://www.retrobibliothek.de/retrobib/faksimile_526850.jpeg "Brockhaus' Konversationslexikon"] , p.899,] Helbing, p.27] Johann Philipp Freiherr von Bethmann, in Sarkowicz, p.58] [Klötzer 1994, p.62. Wolfgang Klötzer was the deputy head of the Frankfurt Historical Institute from 1960 to 1983 and served as its head from 1983 until 1991.] There – as burghers but not feudal nobility – the Bethmanns were among the upper crust of urban families. As such, they were entitled to delegate representatives to the town council and to bear a coat of arms; the earliest mention of the Bethmann name in Hanseatic Goslar – in the "registrum parochianorum", a compendium on wax tablets of the town's parishioners – dates back to a "Heinrich Bethmann" [Die Grenzboten, 1878, p.493] in 1416.Klötzer 1994, p.62] The surname "Bethmann" likely was an occupational name, like "Bäcker"/"Baker", given to collectors of the "bede penninc", a tax requested ("erbeten") from freemen in the Middle Ages. [ [http://answers.com/topic/bethmann Dictionary of American Family Names] at Answers.com]

Subsequently other Bethmanns – a "Tile", a "Bartold", a "Hans" and an "Albrecht" – appear in the records of Goslar, as owners of houses on Stonestrate and Korngasse, and as witnesses in the sale of houses. Another "Tile" buys a house on Knochenhauerstraße in 1492, serves on the town council, and is mentioned ten times between 1503 and 1520 as "Munteherr", the title of an official responsible for minting of specie and weighing the metals produced from mining.

In 1512 "Henning Bethmann", the great-great-grandfather of Konrad Bethmann, is accepted into the merchants' guild. In 1515 he is appointed "Tafelherr", i.e., the councillor responsible for the town finances; this is followed by appointments to the posts of "Munteherr" in 1528, "Kistenherr" in 1538, and in 1548 supervisor of the vitriol works that extract copper vitriol from ore. A Bartoldt Bethmann sold a house on Piepmäkerstraße in 1548 and another on Glockengießerstraße in 1566. [Magin, p.95]

Henning's grandson "Hieronymus" is recorded in 1590 as a member of the merchants' guild; four years later he marries "Ilsebey Drönewolf" in St. Stephan's church.Helbing, p.28] Hieronymus served as chairman of the merchants' guild, as "Kornherr" responsible for grain stocks, town councillor, member of the "Sechsmann" inner council and finally of the "Neuer" or governing council. Hieronymus died as the Swedes were entering Goslar. The town never fully recovered from the ransacking and pillaging of the Thirty Years' War, especially the three years of Swedish occupation.

Some of the 19th century literature incorrectly claimed that the family had originated in the Netherlands. [Dietz, p.621] The family assigned its archives in 1965 to the city of Frankfurt. [Klötzer 1985, p.60] The Bethmanns' archival materials occupy some 300 meters of shelf space, and the oldest document therein is a calligraphed agreement dated 29 May 1321, regulating traffic on the street between the Basler Hof property, which the Bethmanns purchased in 1762, and a neighboring house. [http://www.stadtgeschichte-ffm.de/abteilungen/abteilung_3/03701inhalt.html "Institut für Stadtgeschichte"] Bankhaus Gebrüder Bethmann, (W1/9)]

Blazonry

The Bethmann coat of arms can be traced to 1530. On the right-hand side of a split shield, half an eagle in black is displayed against a golden background, while the left-hand side displays two diagonal red bars against a silver background. [http://books.google.com/books?id=olIBAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA448&vq=Bethmann&hl=de#PRA1-PA387,M1 "Neues deutsches Adels-Lexicon"] , p.388] At a later date, the motto "tuebor" (Latin for "I shall protect") was added.

To Nassau and Aschaffenburg

Konrad Bethmann (sometimes spelled "Conrad") (1652–1701) was born in Goslar as the seventh child of the merchant "Andreas Bethmann", four years after the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War. [Helbing, p.26] Much of Germany then was a patchwork of small to medium-sized jurisdictions. While this factor impeded development towards a nation-state, it ensured plentiful job opportunities for ambitious bureaucrats and entrepreneurs.

Konrad left his hometown for an apprenticeship in Eisleben. [Helbing, p.26] He served as Münzwardein in Dömitz (Mecklenburg), [Joseph & Fellner, p.391] then was appointed in 1683 Münzmeister to the Princess of Nassau-Holzappel in Cramberg on the Lahn river, [See also [http://cgi-host.uni-marburg.de/~hlgl/atlas/id.cgi?nr=15a&origin=vs&current=1&page=0&ex=xs&id=28&shift=0&ex=xs&lines=10&ort=nassau%252C%2Bgrafschaft&x=110&y=63&magstep=2 Map] with Holzappel close to the left-hand edge, some 40 miles northwest of Frankfurt; [http://fabpedigree.com/s071/f079215.htm ancestry] of Princess Elisabeth Charlotte Melander von Holzapfel-Schaumburg; and [http://www.royaltyguide.nl/countries/germany/charlottenberg/charlottenberg.htm photographs of memorial] to the Princess in Charlottenberg, a small village near Holzappel.] followed by his appointment in 1687 as "Münzmeister" with the German Order of Knights in Friedberg, and in 1692 as "Münzmeister" for the Archbishopric and Electorate of Mainz [ [http://zoom.bib-bvb.de/StyleServer/calcrgn?cat=coburg&item=/70_Kt_B_1472.sid&wid=500&hei=400&style=bsb/coburg1.xsl&plugin=false&rgn=0.184455058302,0.372676213135,0.325608280125,0.557110001405&cmd=zoomin Aschaffenburg on French map dated 1681] , within " [ARCHEVESCHE ET] ESLECTORAT DE M [AYENCE] "] in Aschaffenburg.

Among the oldest items pertaining to the Bethmann family in the (online) archives of the city of Frankfurt is the file of a criminal complaint brought by Konrad in 1685 while he was in the employ of the House of Nassau. [Under the rubric "Jew "v." Out-of-towner", the archive summarizes the case as follows:

Conrad Bethmann, master of the mint for the Princely House of Nassau-Schaumburg, "versus" Mencke and Abraham zum Hecht (father and son), for theft of Schaumburg hellers in Schwalbach near Königstein and resale of stolen property. Defendants claim to have acquired the stolen coins in good faith. Arrest of Abraham, release on posting of 304 Reichsthalers bond. Out-of-court settlement of Abraham with bursars of Nassau-Schaumburg.
Contains: Medical opinion on state of health of arrestee Abraham zum Hecht; Legal opinion of the jurists.

Source: Website of "Institut für Stadtgeschichte". The ISG website does not give URLs to individual items. To verify the item in the original German language, start [http://www.ifaust.de/isg/ here] , then click on "Personen II (Sammlungen)". On the next page, click on the blue button labeled "Suche", in the search mask enter "Conrad Bethmann" (without inverted commas) next to "Stichworte". Leave "Laufzeit" empty and click on "Start". The first hit will be the complaint file.] He bequeathed a substantial fortune on "Anna Elisabeth" (1654–1727), whom he had married in 1678. [Helbing, p.123] "Anna Elisabeth Bethmann" was a native of the northern German town of Minden, where the church of St. Simeon, Protestant since 1529, and the Catholic monastery St. Mauritius stand side by side to this day. [ [http://www.amtage.de/minden/simeon/simeonskirche_minden.html Article by Dr. Hans Nordsiek] , former director of the municipal archives of Minden] This may explain why in subsequent generations, there was always one son named "Simon Moritz". [In contrast, Helbing (p.123) quotes Bethmann family lore to the effect that the frequency of "Simon Moritz" in the family was to remember a religious foundation in Minden dedicated to Saints Mauritius and Simon]

As a Protestant, the widowed Anna Elisabeth and her children left behind the Archbishopric for Lutheran Frankfurt am Main; there she found it easier to comply with her religious obligations and benefited from the presence of relatives. Three of her daughters married citizens of Frankfurt. Her son Simon Moritz (1687–1725) served the House of Nassau-Weilburg as an Amtmann, i.e., official administrator, in Bergnassau on the river Lahn.

This Simon Moritz had three sons:
# "Johann Philipp Bethmann" (1715–1793),
# "Johann Jakob Bethmann" (1717–1792) and
# "Simon Moritz Bethmann" (1721–1782)

Founding of the bank

Upon the death of Simon Moritz in 1725, his widow "Elisabeth Bethmann née Thielen" (1680–1757) returned to Frankfurt, where she became a housekeeper in the household of her brother-in-law, the merchant "Jakob Adami" (1670–1745). [According to most sources. In contrast, Klötzer names a Johann Adami as the uncle, but that appears unlikely (see, for example, [http://www.peterskirchhof.de/historie11.htm this webpage on the Adami family] maintained by the Peterskirchhof cemetery in Frankfurt where Adamis and Bethmanns lie buried; clearly Jakob Adami was the uncle who made the bequest to his nephews and Johann was a cousin of Jakob.)] In his will, he bequeathed on his nephews one-half of his fortune. Johann Philipp and Simon Moritz took control of the trading enterprise "Jacob Adami", out of which arose in 1748 the banking enterprise of "Gebrüder Bethmann", which eventually became the House of Bethmann. [http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/bsb00008360/images/index.html?id=00008360&fip=79.221.57.128&no=2&seite=577 "Allgemeine deutsche Biographie"] , vol. 2, pp.574-576] Johann Jakob – the middle brother – established a trading branch in Bordeaux. Later he became the imperial consul in Bordeaux and founded the Bordeaux branch of the family, which continues to this day.Klötzer 1994, p.63]

Within a short span of time, the Bethmann bank developed into one of Frankfurt's leading (Christian-owned) banks, on a scale comparable only to its younger rival, the House of Rothschild. The bank's fortunes began to rise in 1754 based on its business in imperial, princely and municipal bonds and skyrocketed from 1778, thanks to the bank's innovation of breaking the amount borrowed by the Austrian emperor [200,000 guldens according to Wanner (2005) in [http://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/banken-versicherungen/die-bank-die-goethes-reisen-finanzierte;851888 Handelsblatt] , 20,000 according to Ferguson (1995)] down into "sub-bonds" ("Partialobligationen") at 1000 guldens each [Ferguson, p.40; in contrast to German writers, who cite this as a Bethmann innovation, Ferguson writes that the method was imported from Amsterdam.] offered to the public, [Wanner 2005] which made them tradeable in secondary markets. This transformed the bank from a lender to an underwriter of bond issues. At one point, the profits of "Gebrüder Bethmann" exceeded those of all its Frankfurt competitors together, and it ranked first among all German banks.

Simon Moritz, a major donor to Frankfurt's "Citizens' Hospital", died without issue, but the 1762 marriage between his elder brother Johann Philipp and "Katharina Margarethe Schaaf" (1741–1822), daughter of the Frankfurt notable "Anton Schaaf", produced six children, four of whom survived to adulthood:

# "Susanne Elisabeth" (1763–1833) was married in 1780 to the Frankfurt merchant Johann Jakob Hollweg (1748–1808), who changed his name to "Bethmann-Hollweg" upon marriage. Her son Moritz August would become a Prussian minister of state, and his grandson in turn was Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, who served as Imperial German Chancellor from 1909 to 1917.Klötzer 1994, p.66]
# Simon Moritz (1768–1826) was among the most notable of Frankfurt's bankers, statesmen and philanthropists.
# "Maria Elisabeth" (1772–1847) was married in 1790 to the banker "Johann Jakob Bußmann" (1756–1791). Widowed only a year later, she remarried, this time to emigré French aristocrat "Alexandre Victor Francois Vicomte de Flavigny" (1770–1819). Her daughter from the second marriage was Marie d'Agoult (1805–1876), who in turn gave birth to several children, among them -- from her liaison to Franz Liszt –- Cosima Wagner (1837–1930).
# "Sophie Elisabeth" (1774–1862).

First families of Frankfurt

In Frankfurt, the beginnings of an independent polity date back to the grant of privileges to its citizens by then king Friedrich II in 1217. [http://www.frankfurt.frblog.de/frankfurt-lexikon/die-macht-der-patrizier Die Macht der Patrizier] , "Frankfurter Rundschau Online"] Not long after, an upper crust of burgher families began to constitute itself. To them were reserved seats on the town council, which were passed on by inheritance to the sons of the council members. This clique of generally wealthy families was called Patrizier, after the "patricii" ruling families in ancient Rome. Some of the "Patrizier" families, like the Holzhausens, had an unbroken run of 16 generations on the town council from the 13th to the 18th century. As the daughter of a Kaiserlicher Rat and Schöffe, Katharina Margarete Schaaf gained her husband Johann Philipp access to "Patrizier" society; she was on familiar terms with the mother of Goethe and, even after she was widowed, maintained a respected salon where she received Madame de Staël in 1808.

By 1816, when Frankfurt's new constitution abolished the privilege of heritable office for the "Patrizier", the cachet of belonging to one of their societies had already become much less significant.

A man in full – pragmatic and enlightened

Upon the death of Johann Philipp Bethmann in 1793 his son Simon Moritz became head of the House of Bethmann. His peers called him "Frankfurt's premier citizen", while in France some called him "le roi de Francfort". His financial dealings gained him entrance to nearly all the royal families of Europe, and he exploited these contacts on numerous diplomatic missions on behalf of his hometown. In 1802 he negotiated successfully with France for a reduction of her demand for contributions to the cost of war. In the negotiations on the German mediatisation, he bargained for and achieved the secularization of ecclesiastical assets within the territory of Frankfurt for the benefit of the imperial city. In 1807 he was appointed Russian Consul General, followed by his receipt of the patent of an Austrian nobleman out of the hands of Francis I of Austria in 1808. Thenceforth, he and his descendants would be named "von" Bethmann. On 31 October 1813 the Emperor Napoleon spent the night as a guest in the Bethmanns' garden house. Bethmann's negotiating skills brought about the peaceful withdrawal of the French Army from Frankfurt.

Besides promoting commerce, Simon Moritz von Bethmann was an ardent supporter of the arts and sciences in the city of Frankfurt. He was a major donor and co-founder of secondary schools (Musterschule in 1803, Philanthropin in 1804, "Weißfrauenschule" in 1806); his efforts on behalf of the "Philanthropin" were particularly noteworthy, for in supporting this Jewish school and promoting its cause among his Christian brethren, Simon Moritz was ahead of his time. In 1687 when "Anna Elisabeth Bethmann" named a son "Simon Moritz", it may have been that she wanted to show her support for ecumenicism or it may simply have been that she fondly remembered a hometown landmark. For her great-grandson -- the third Simon Moritz -- there was nothing accidental about what he set out to do: support the Jews in their struggle for equality.

In this respect, Simon Moritz was not unique. A generation earlier, Enlightenment figures like Gotthold Ephraim Lessing had begun militating for Jewish emancipation. Unusually, however, at the same time that Simon Moritz was helping the Jews of Frankfurt to secure greater freedoms for themselves, he was carrying on a fierce business rivalry with the Rothschilds in which no quarter was ever given. [Nor could Simon have contemplated the least letup in this competition: many other rivals of the Rothschilds were not as able to keep up and eventually fell by the wayside.]

On Christmas Day 1826 he suffered a stroke in a box seat of Frankfurt's municipal theater, an institution which he had co-endowed, and succumbed two days afterward.Klötzer 1964, p.64] Bethmann was buried in the cemetery of the Church of Peter in Frankfurt, where his grave is preserved to this day.

Simon Moritz von Bethmann had married "Louise Friederike née Boode" (1792–1869), daughter of a respected Dutch family, granddaughter of a Huguenot named Martin [Helbing, p.125] and a native of British Guiana, in 1810. The Louisa park off a major carriage route in the southwest part of Frankfurt is named after "Louise von Bethmann". [Pfeiffer-Belli, p.80]

Four sons issued from this marriage:
# Moritz von Bethmann (1811–1877) [ [http://www.zeno.org/Meyers-1905/K/meyers-1905-002-0768 "Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon 1905"] , p.768]
# "Carl Ludwig Caesar von Bethmann" (1812-1871)
# "Alexander von Bethmann" (1814-1883)
# "Jacob Heinrich Friedrich von Bethmann" (d. 1845 without issue)

Because Bethmann's sons had not yet achieved the age of majority upon their father's death, the bank's partners stepped in as pro tem directors of the bank. In 1828 his widow remarried to "Matthias Franz Joseph Borgnis" (1798–1867).

Magnates of the industrial revolution

In 1833 Moritz von Bethmann succeeded to the directorship of the bank. He financed the construction of numerous railways in Germany. In 1854 he became Prussian Consul General in the Free City of Frankfurt and was granted the heritable title of Freiherr, a rank of minor nobility, in the Grand Duchy of Baden. In 1863 he hosted the German princes convening to discuss constitutional reform in his garden house. Following in the footsteps of his father, he too was a generous patron of the arts in Frankfurt and contributed heavily to philanthropic causes. He was married to Marie von Bose. [Helbing, p.124]

Moritz' brother Carl Ludwig Caesar von Bethmann purchased the castle of Fechenbach in 1842, earning him the title of a Bavarian Freiherr. His oldest son Karl Moritz "Charly" von Bethmann proved a spendthrift and got himself in hock to a loan shark charging 6 per cent interest a week. Karl Moritz was hoping for a rescue from the House of Bethmann but Moritz von Bethmann was unfazed: he said that total ruination was the best cure for his profligate nephew Charley.

The last male descendant of this line, Karl Alexander Moritz Freiherr von Bethmann died in 1942. Fechenbach castle was sold to a private buyer named Wissler but confiscated by the Nazis a year later. Following the end of WWII and after a decade as an orphanage the property was restituted to the Wissler family who completed its renovation in 2006.

Ludwig Simon Moritz Freiherr von Bethmann (1844-1902) married Baroness Helene von Wendland [Helbing, p.124] Son of Philipp Heinrich Moritz Alexander von Bethmann

Simon Moritz Henning August Freiherr von Bethmann (1887-1966) married Countess Schimmelpenninck [Helbing, p.125] Son of Ludwig Simon Moritz Freiherr von Bethmann

Gadfly author and last of the bankers

born 1924, died 2007Johann Philipp Freiherr von Bethmann

[http://wissen.spiegel.de/wissen/dokument/dokument.html?id=14321091&top=SPIEGEL Zu wenig studiert: Privatbankier von Bethmann empfiehlt der Bundesbank ein unorthodoxes Rezept gegen die Inflation: Die Zinsen müssen runter.]

Albrecht Freiherr von Bethmann (1956- )Commercial real estate [http://www.pb-roehrig.de/_seiten/_09/ref_09.html Co-principal] , renovation of commercial building in Frankfurt]

Christian Freiherr von Bethmann (1958- )Forestry owner and consultant [ [http://www.hr-online.de/servlet/de.hr.cms.servlet.File/05-032.rtf?ws=hrmysql&blobId=57966&id=4831998 Transcript] of radio feature] and commercial real estate

Eponymous sites, Bethmännchen

In Frankfurt, the Bethmann family name is honored in "Bethmannstraße", a short street in Frankfurt's old part of town; the Bethmann park in Frankfurt's Nordend district; and the "Bethmannschule", a vocational school for office careers. A statue of Simon Moritz von Bethmann (1768-1826) by sculptor Eduard Schmidt von der Launitz was erected on the centenary of his birth in the Friedberger Anlage, a landscaped portion of the razed city ramparts.

According to a popular story, the Bethmännchen, a marzipan confection, was created in 1838 by the Paris pastry chef "Jean Jacques Gautenier", then the head cuisinier in the Bethmann household. The four almond halves stuck onto the Bethmännchen were said to represent each one of the four sons, with one of the four almond pieces left off following the death of Heinrich in 1845.

Notes

External links

*
* [http://www.zeno.org/Herder-1854/A/Bethmann+%5B2%5D "Herders Conversations-Lexikon"] , page 517, volume 1 De icon

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=olIBAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA448&vq=Bethmann&hl=de#PRA1-PA387,M1 "Neues deutsches Adels-Lexicon"] , incl. citations, page 388, vol. 1 De icon

* [http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/bsb00008360/images/index.html?id=00008360&seite=577 "Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie"] , pages 574-576, signed entry by "Stricker" De icon

* [http://www.retrobibliothek.de/retrobib/faksimile_526850.jpeg "Brockhaus' Konversationslexikon"] , page 899, vol. 2 De icon

* [http://www.zeno.org/Meyers-1905/A/Bethmann "Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon 1905"] vol. 2 De icon

* [http://cgi-host.uni-marburg.de/~hlgl/atlas/id.cgi?nr=15a&origin=vs&current=1&page=0&ex=xs&id=28&shift=0&ex=xs&lines=10&ort=nassau%252C%2Bgrafschaft&x=110&y=63&magstep=2 Portion of map] showing the various principalities of Nassau up to 1800

* [http://zoom.bib-bvb.de/StyleServer/calcrgn?cat=coburg&item=/70_Kt_B_1472.sid&wid=500&hei=400&style=bsb/coburg1.xsl&plugin=false&rgn=0.184455058302,0.372676213135,0.325608280125,0.557110001405&cmd=zoomin Aschaffenburg on French map] dated 1681

* [http://www.untermain.de/nachrichtensicht.asp?nachricht=17768&ausgabe=1-7-2008 Carl Ludwig Caesar von Bethmann] and his descendants De icon

* [http://www.abnamroprivatebanking.com/de/delbethmaff#delbethmaff/geschichte ABN AMRO Private Banking webpage] showing timeline of Bethmann bank up to and past its merger into ABN AMRO De icon

* [http://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/banken-versicherungen/die-bank-die-goethes-reisen-finanzierte;851888 "Die Bank, die Goethes Reisen finanzierte"] by Claudia Wanner, article in Handelsblatt, first published 27 January 2005 De icon

* [http://www.frankfurt-nordend.de/index.htm Photographs of Bethmann park] and Chinese gardens therein De icon

Bibliography

* "Herders Conversations-Lexikon", vol. 1. Freiburg im Breisgau 1854
* "Neues deutsches Adels-Lexicon", Ernst Heinrich Kneschke (ed.), vol. 1. Leipzig 1859
* "Allgemeine deutsche Biographie", vol. 2, Leipzig 1875
* "Die Grenzboten: Zeitschrift für Politik, Literatur und Kunst", F. L. Herbig (publisher), 1878
* "Brockhaus' Konversationslexikon", Leipzig, Berlin and Vienna, 14th edition 1894-1896
* Paul Joseph, Eduard Fellner: "Die Münzen von Frankfurt am Main nebst einer münzgeschichtlichen Einleitung und mehreren Anhängen", 1896 De icon
* "Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon", vol. 2, Leipzig 1905
* Claus Helbing: "Die Bethmanns. Aus der Geschichte eines alten Handelshauses zu Frankfurt am Main". Gericke, Wiesbaden 1948. De icon
* Alexander Dietz: "Frankfurter Handelsgeschichte", Glashütten 1971, reprint of 1925 edition De icon
* Fritz Stern: "Gold and Iron". Vintage, 1979, ISBN 978-039-474034-8
* Wolfgang Klötzer: "Das Familienarchiv der Bethmanns", in: "Wahrlich eine schöne Stadt. Kleine Schriften zur Frankfurter De icon Kulturgeschichte", Verlag Waldemar Kramer (publishers), Frankfurt am Main, 1985, ISBN 3-7829-0300-5 De icon
* Erich Pfeiffer-Belli: "Junge Jahre im alten Frankfurt", Wiesbaden and Munich, 1986, ISBN 3-8090-2240-3 De icon
* Wolfgang Klötzer (ed.): "Frankfurter Biographie. Erster Band A-L". Verlag Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-7829-0444-3 De icon
* Hans Sarkowicz (ed.): "Die großen Frankfurter", Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig, 1994, ISBN 3-458-16561-4 De icon
* Ralf Roth: "Stadt und Bürgertum in Frankfurt am Main", doctoral thesis, University of Frankfurt am Main, 1996 De icon
* Christine Magin: "Die Inschriften der Stadt Goslar", L. Reichert (publishers), 1997, ISBN 9783895000409 De icon
* Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich: "Finanzplatz Frankfurt", Munich, 1999, ISBN 3-406-45184-5 De icon:* Carl-Ludwig Holtfrerich: "Frankfurt as a Financial Center: From Medieval Trade Fair to European Banking Centre", Munich, 1999, ISBN 3406456715, [http://books.google.de/books?id=UAY9ugffPXQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Holtfrerich&lr=lang_en&num=100&as_brr=0&sig=ACfU3U3GUl3UXxX23JE9JovtYdoIqZdJoA Google Books Preview]
* Niall Ferguson: "The House of Rothschild. Volume 1, Money's Prophets: 1798-1848". Penguin, 1999, ISBN 978-0140240849
* Patrick Hanks (ed.): "Dictionary of American Family Names". Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 9780195165579