Otto Moritz Schiff CBE (8 May 1875 in Frankfurt – 15 November 1952 in London) was a British Jewish banker and philanthropist. For his work with refugees and for public services, he successively received the OBE (1920), MBE (1924) and CBE (1939). He was posthumously recognised as a

British Hero of the Holocaust The British Hero of the Holocaust award is a special national award given by the government of the United Kingdom in recognition of British citizens who assisted in rescuing victims of the Holocaust. On 9 March 2010, it was awarded to 25 individ ...

Life and activity

Otto Schiff was the son of a banker and a nephew of Jacob Schiff (1847–1920), a German-born New York investment banker. In 1896, at the age of twenty-one, he immigrated to London, where he became a partner in the merchant banking firm Bourke, Schiff and Co. His younger brother Ernst followed. Together, in the First World War, the brothers ran shelters for

Belgian refugees Following the creation of Belgium as a nation state, Belgian people have sought refuge abroad on several occasions. From the early days of independence and the threat of The Netherlands or France, to two World Wars and the Independence of Congo, B ...

. Ernst Schiff received an MBE as manager of the Poland Street Refuge for Belgian Refugees in 1918. From 1927 to 1948, Schiff was president of the

Jews' Temporary Shelter The Jews' Temporary Shelter is a charity in London which helps homeless Jews. Around 1879, a Polish immigrant baker, Samuel Cohen, began to shelter Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe (particularly Poland and Russia) in his bakery in Whitecha ...

in City of London. This originally served as the first port of call for Jews from Eastern Europe who fled from there to Great Britain to avoid political persecution by the Russian Tsarist regime and later by the Bolsheviks. From 1933 Schiff served as chairman of the

Jewish Refugees Committee The Central British Fund for World Jewish Relief, which operates under the name World Jewish Relief, is a British Jewish charitable organisation and is the main Jewish overseas aid organisation in the United Kingdom. World Jewish Relief was for ...

, which was created in March of that year (German-Jewish Aid Committee from 1938, operating under the original name again from 1939). He helped numerous Jewish refugees to settle in Britain. He convinced the British government to allow the entry of Jewish refugees in return for the assurance that any costs would not be borne by the state, but would be borne by the Jewish communities and organizations.Gottlieb, Amy Zahl. ''Men of Vision: Anglo-Jewry's Aid to Victims of the Nazi Regime, 1933–1945''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998, p.12 In 1920 Otto Schiff became a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his work with war refugees. In

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

he became an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for public services. He, as chairman of the German Jewish Aid Committee, became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the

1939 Birthday Honours The King's Birthday Honours 1939 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate the of ...

. In 1940, Schiff was placed on '

the Black Book Black Book, Black book or Blackbook may refer to: Film * ''Black Book'' (film), a 2006 Dutch thriller film by director Paul Verhoeven ** ''Black Book'' (soundtrack), soundtrack of the 2006 film * ''The Black Book'' (serial), a 1929 American ...

' ( "Special Search List Great Britain"), a list of 2,820 persons who were to be arrested by the SS in the event of a German occupation of Britain. In 2018 Schiff was posthumously awarded the medal of a

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schiff, Jacob 1875 births 1952 deaths British philanthropists Businesspeople from Frankfurt Commanders of the Order of the British Empire German emigrants to the United Kingdom Otto Schiff British investment bankers Rescue of Jews during the Holocaust British Heroes of the Holocaust

Life and activity

See also

References