Shaul Nehemia Eisenberg ( he, שאול אייזנברג; 22 September 1921 – 27 March 1997) was an Israeli
businessman
A businessperson, businessman, or businesswoman is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial or industrial) for th ...
and billionaire tycoon.
Biography
Shaul Eisenberg was born in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
to a religious
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
family from
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, being the fifth out of six children born to Sophie (née Katz) and David Eisenberg. His mother was from
Krakow and his father was from
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
. Shortly after the uprising of 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 ...
in the government, he fled to Shanghai. While in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, Eisenberg met and married Leah Freudlsperger, a half-Japanese woman who was the daughter of an Austrian painter, and the couple had five daughters and a son.
Eisenberg died in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
in 1997, two years before the expiration of the Eisenberg Law.
After his death, the family fought over the inheritance, valued at around 1 billion
dollar
Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, U ...
s. His son continued to operate the family business. Eisenberg's brother, Rafael, who was a
Hasidic
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...
scholar, died in 1976, leaving twelve children.
Business career
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
he worked with industrial factories, associating with the
Axis Power
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were Na ...
countries. After the war ended, he began working with
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
businesses, importing iron products for the Japanese steel industry, when at the same time exporting a variety of Japanese-made products to
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
At the start of the 1950s, Eisenberg expanded his business to other countries in the Far East, especially
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, where he invested money while mediating between the local authority to manufacturers from the East that were also doing business there. Among them were:
British Electric,
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
,
MAN SE
MAN SE (abbreviation of ''Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg'', ) was a manufacturing and engineering company based in Munich, Germany. Its primary output was commercial vehicles and diesel engines through its MAN Truck & Bus and MAN Latin Ame ...
, and
Fiat Automobiles
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
. Within a decade, he managed to mediate a vast variety of projects, such as developing production lines for recycled paper and purchasing airplanes and trains. He got an award from the Korean government for his actions. Until the mid-1960s, Eisenberg was the primary factor and catalyst in the commerce between South Korea and Japan to Western countries.
Eisenberg founded the company
Israel Corporation
Israel Corporation ( he, החברה לישראל) (also Israel Corp) is Israel's largest holding company. It was founded in 1968 by the Government of the State of Israel.
50% of its manufacturing activities and 70% of its consolidated revenues ...
, and a new law was enacted for him, allowing the company to have a tax break for 30 years. The law, which got its nickname from Eisenberg, was meant to encourage
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
s. Upon getting these benefits, Eisenberg began mimicking his international actions and do them in Israel as well, which led him to settle in
Savyon
Savyon ( he, סַבְיוֹן) is an affluent local council in the Central District of Israel, bordering the cities of Kiryat Ono and Yehud. Ranked 10/10 on the Israeli socio-economic scale, it is one of the wealthiest municipalities in Israel. ...
, Israel. With Israel Corporation he began purchasing some holdings in the companies
Zim Integrated Shipping Services
Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd., commonly known as ZIM ( he, צים, ''tsim''; a biblical word meaning "a fleet of ships", Numbers 24:24), is a Public company, publicly held Israeli international List of largest container shipping ...
,
Oil Refineries
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, liquefie ...
, and others.
At the same time he took advantage of his connections to do
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
transactions between the Far East and Israel, and also became an exporter of weapons from Israel to countries in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
. Later on he was the first person to do commercial business between Israel and
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
Eisenberg was a significant donor to political parties, influencing the
Israeli politics
Israeli may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel
* Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel
* Modern Hebrew, a language
* ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008
* Guni Israeli ...
.
In 1979, Eisenberg founded "
Beit Asia" in
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, where he located his stock market investments'
headquarter
Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top ...
, owned by Eisenberg's Group. Jonathan Zohovsky, his daughter's husband, as well as Michael Albin, who was the manager of the group, assisted him. After the
Israeli 1983 stock market crash, the group had significant losses, and later on the
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
found that the company had been hiding information from its stockholders. He later died in tragic reasons, and Eisenberg disconnected his relationship with his daughter and her husband. In the 1990s, his business activity began to slow down, due to involvement of other markets in the Far East and other factors.
Others
He worked as secret envoy to escape
Lee Dae-yong -
minister of Embassy of the South Korea in
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
.
“이대용 공사 구출, 각하가 눈물로 내린 명령이다”
/ref>
References
External links
Beneath the Surface of ‘Formal’ Economy: Eisenberg, the Go-between for South Korea and the World
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisenberg, Shaul
1921 births
1997 deaths
German emigrants to Japan
German Jews
German people of Polish-Jewish descent
Israeli billionaires
20th-century Israeli Jews
Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent
Arms traders
20th-century Israeli businesspeople
Immigrants to Israel
Japanese emigrants
German expatriates in China