Louis Nathaniel, Baron de Rothschild (german: Ludwig Nathaniel, Freiherr von Rothschild) was an Austrian

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

from the famous

Rothschild family The Rothschild family ( , ) is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of F ...

. He was born in Vienna on 5 March 1882 and died of heart failure while swimming in

Montego Bay Montego Bay is the capital of the Parishes of Jamaica, parish of Saint James Parish, Jamaica, St. James in Jamaica. The city is the fourth-largest urban area in the country by population, after Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Spanish Town, and Por ...

, Jamaica on 15 January 1955.

Early life

He was the son of Baron Albert Salomon Anselm von Rothschild and Bettina Caroline de Rothschild (1858–1892). He owned a spectacular palace in Vienna, the Palais Rothschild, that housed an exquisite art collection and

antique An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

Banker

After the death of his father, Albert Rothschild, in 1911, he took over the management of the Creditanstalt bank and industrial companies owned by the Austrian branch of the Rothschilds.

Held for ransom by Nazis

After the

Anschluß The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "Greater Germany") ...

of Austria to Nazi Germany in March 1938, he was arrested at the airport at Aspern and held for ransom by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

. He was released only after lengthy negotiations between the family and the Nazis and upon payment of $21,000,000, believed to have been the largest bail bond in history for any individual. While imprisoned he was visited by Heinrich Himmler. Rothschild apparently impressed the SS leader, who subsequently ordered that Rothschild's prison conditions be improved with better furniture and sanitation facilities. Despite appeals from Queen Mary of the United Kingdom and possibly the Duke of Windsor, Rothschild was held in Vienna's Hotel Metropole while the German government attempted to expropriate his business concerns. He was imprisoned at least through July 1938, and his property placed under control of a German "commissioner". Felix Somary, in his memoirs, recalls that, soon before the Anschluss, he phoned to the baron repeatedly, in a desperate attempt to convince him to leave Austria. The day before the Anschluss, Louis's brother Alphons and his wife were visiting him in Switzerland, wanting to go back into Austria; he persuaded them to remain there, and to get his children Francesca de Rothschild and Heidi de Rothschild away from Austria to the Netherlands. Finally allowed to leave Austria, Louis survived the Holocaust and Second World War.

Aryanisations and seizures

All of the Rothschild possessions were plundered and subsequently " Aryanised". The city-palace of the family was destroyed after the war. The baron never received most of his former belongings back, since most of the paintings were taken over by the Austrian state, which did not allow the paintings to leave the country. In 1998, over 200 art works were returned to the Rothschild heirs by the Austrian Government, and were placed at Christie's in London for auction in 1999.

Personal life

In 1946 he married the Countess Hildegarde Karoline Johanna Maria von Auersperg (1895–1981), the only daughter of Count Anton von Auersperg (1858-1924) and his wife Valerie Schenk von Lédecz (1875-1931). They lived in East Barnard, Vermont (United States) and England. He died childless in 1955.

Postwar

In 2020, in one of the largest ever restitution claims filed, Rothschild heirs sued Vienna over a trust seized by Nazis.

Notes

External links

AEIOU , Louis Nathaniel Freiherr von Rothschild

Die Rothschild'schen Gemäldesammlungen in Wien
register of Louis and Alphonse Rothschild's art collection seized by the Nazis, on OAPEN Foundation {{DEFAULTSORT:Rothschild, Louis Nathaniel von Louis Nathaniel Austrian bankers 1882 births 1955 deaths Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss Jewish art collectors