Adolph Salomonsohn (19 March 1831 – 4 January 1919) was a German lawyer and banker. He was a proprietor of the

Disconto-Gesellschaft The Disconto-Gesellschaft (full name: Direktion der Disconto-Gesellschaft), with headquarters in Berlin, was founded in 1851. It was, until its 1929 merger into Deutsche Bank, one of the largest German banking organizations. History It was fou ...

and influenced the establishment of the stock market in Germany.

Biography

Salomonsohn was born in Inowrazlaw,

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (german: Provinz Posen, pl, Prowincja Poznańska) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920. Posen was established in 1848 following the Greater Poland Uprising as a successor to the Grand Duchy of Posen, w ...

(now Inowrocław, Poland) to Gedalia Salomonsen (1799–1837), a merchant born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, and Ernestine (née Levy, 1801–67), a native of Inowrazlaw. His grandfather, Salomon Abraham Gedalia (1776–1844), was a rabbi in

.biography
in

Deutsche Biographie ''Deutsche Biographie'' ( en, German Biography) is a German-language online biographical dictionary. It published thus far information about more than 730,000 individuals and families (2016).Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie ...

Salomonson attended school in

Bromberg Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

(Bydgoszcz). After studying law he worked at the local court in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. He rejected

David Hansemann David Justus Ludwig Hansemann (12 July 1790 – 4 August 1864) was a Prussian politician and banker, serving as the Prussian Minister of Finance in 1848. Life Hansemann was born in Finkenwerder, Hamburg, the son of a Protestant minister. Aft ...

's offer to work for the

in Berlin and instead started to practice as a lawyer and notary in Ratibor (

Racibórz Racibórz (german: Ratibor, cz, Ratiboř, szl, Racibōrz) is a city in Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the administrative seat of Racibórz County. With Opole, Racibórz is one of the historic capitals of Upper Silesia, being t ...

). After being publicly insulted by the Prussian minister of justice, Leopold zur Lippe-Biesterfeld-Weißenfeld, Salomonsohn closed his law office to return to Berlin and started to work for the

in 1863. He was given

procuration Procuration () is the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency. The word is applied to the authority or power delegated to a procurator, or agent, as well as to the exercise of such authority expressed frequently by procurati ...

in 1866 and became proprietor in 1869. In 1868 he married Sara Rinkel (1851–1929) from Landeshut,

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

(Kamienna Góra); they had three daughters and one son,

Georg Georg may refer to: * Georg (film), ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker See also

* George (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

(1869–1957), who also became a banker. His nephew was German banker

Arthur Salomonsohn Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

. Next to

Adolph von Hansemann Adolph von Hansemann (27 July 1826 – 9 December 1903) was an German Empire, Imperial German businessman and banker. Life Born in Aachen in 1826 to German banker and railroad entrepreneur David Hansemann, Adolph Hansemann developed an early int ...

Salomonsohn was influential in the nascent stock market activities in German banking. He was especially active in the funding of the

Gotthard railway The Gotthard railway (german: Gotthardbahn; it, Ferrovia del Gottardo) is the Swiss trans-alpine railway line from northern Switzerland to the canton of Ticino. The line forms a major part of an important international railway link between no ...

and remained a member of the administrative board of the Gotthard railway society until 1909. Salomonsohn was also a member of the administrative board of the

Norddeutsche Bank The Norddeutsche Bank was a German bank that existed from 1856 to 1929. It was established by Berenberg Bank, H.J. Merck & Co. and the bank house of Salomon Heine and private founders such as Robert Kayser as the first joint-stock bank in norther ...

, the "Union AG für Bergbau" (

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

), the potash works

Aschersleben Aschersleben () is a town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approximately 22 km east of Quedlinburg, and 45 km northwest of Halle (Saale). Geography Aschersleben lies near the confluence of the r ...

and the "

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies ...

er Bergwerks-AG", whose director Emil Kirdorf was a close friend. Salomonsohn retired from the active management of the Disconto-Gesellschaft in 1888 but remained a member of the supervisory board until his death on 4 January 1919 in Berlin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salomonsohn, Adolph 1831 births 1919 deaths People from Inowrocław German people of Danish descent People from the Province of Posen 19th-century German Jews German bankers