Martin Aufhäuser
Martin Aufhäuser | |
|---|---|
| Born | Error: Invalid birth date for calculating age Munich, Germany |
| Died | 1944 Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Occupation | Banker |
| Known for | Managing Bankhaus H. Aufhäuser; fleeing Nazi persecution |
Martin Aufhäuser (born May 26, 1875, in Munich; deceased 1944 in Los Angeles, California) was a prominent German banker who managed and expanded the private banking institution Bankhaus H. Aufhäuse. During the Nazi regime, the bank was subjected to Aryanization, prompting Aufhäuser to flee to the United States.
Life
Martin Aufhäuser was born to Heinrich Aufhäuser (1842–1917), a banker who established Bankhaus Aufhäuser & Scharlach in Munich in 1870. By 1894, after acquiring his partner’s share, the bank adopted the name Bankhaus H. Aufhäuser. The institution rapidly expanded, securing notable clients such as Duke Luitpold of Bavaria and influential families including those of Thomas Mann, Neuberger, and Alfred Einstein. By 1913, its balance sheet had grown beyond 10 million gold marks.
After completing his banking apprenticeship in Frankfurt am Main, Martin joined the family bank in 1891. Upon his father’s passing, he and his brother Siegfried Aufhäuser assumed leadership, with Martin becoming senior partner in 1918.
That same year, Berlin-based S. Bleichröder became a limited partner, signaling further consolidation within the banking sector. Consequently, the firm was renamed H. Aufhäuser Kommandite von S. Bleichröder in Berlin.
Starting in 1921, Martin acquired shares in Bankhaus S. Bleichröder, establishing mutual ownership ties between these two Jewish banking houses. Ernst Kritzler, a partner at S. Bleichröder since 1917, also joined Bankhaus H. Aufhäuser. Martin held a position on the supervisory board of Golddiskontbank, founded in 1924 as a subsidiary of the Reichsbank to aid German foreign trade recovery following hyperinflation.
He served on the boards of both the Munich Stock Exchange and the Munich Chamber of Commerce and was honored with the title Privy Councillor of Commerce in 1926.
Nazi era persecution
Following Adolf Hitler’s accession to power in 1933, the Aufhäuser family encountered persecution due to their Jewish background. The bank suffered intense pressure amid anti-Jewish boycotts and racial legislation, losing many clients as Jewish customers either fled abroad or were deported. After the Kristallnacht events, Bankhaus H. Aufhäuser was forcibly "Aryanized" in November 1938; by December, control had passed to Friedrich Wilhelm Seiler. This marked it as one of the last major private banks to be Aryanized under Nazi policies.
In June 1941, Martin Aufhäuser escaped Europe by boarding the Portuguese vessel Mouzinho from Lisbon to New York. He died three years later in Los Angeles in 1944.
Literature
- Herrmann A. L. Degener: Degeners Wer ist’s? Berlin 1935, p. 42.
- Aufhäuser, Martin. In: Werner Röder, Herbert A. Strauss: Biographisches Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933. Volume 1. K. G. Saur, München 1980.
- Felix Höpfner et al.: Unabhängig – Persönlich – Unternehmerisch. Eine Chronik von Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers. München 2012, ISBN 978-3-937996-31-8 (Digitalisat).