Samuel Fränkel (; 22 November 1801 – 28 July 1881) was a German

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

Life

Samuel Fränkel was born 22 November 1801 in Zülz (currently Biała,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

). In 1827 he moved to Neustadt O.S. (currently

Prudnik Prudnik (, , , ) is a town in southern Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the administrative seat of Prudnik County and Gmina Prudnik. Its population numbers 21,368 inhabitant ...

). He founded a linen and terrycloth factory in 1845, at the shore of Prudnik river. It quickly became one of the biggest terrycloth factories in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Fränkel opened a few branches in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

. The company was confiscated from the Fränkel family by

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

in 1938, under the

Nuremberg Laws The Nuremberg Laws (, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. The two laws were the Law ...

that prohibited

German Jews The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

from owning property. Post-war, the company reopened under the name

Zakłady Przemysłu Bawełnianego "Frotex" Zakłady Przemysłu Bawełnianego "Frotex" S.A., based in Prudnik, was a manufacturer of textiles which were exported to a number of countries including Italy, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, Slovenia, Croatia, the United Kingdom, the United States, ...

Family

He was a grandfather of Max Pinkus.

Death

Samuel Fränkel died 28 July 1881 in Neustadt O.S.

References

1801 births 1881 deaths Businesspeople from the Kingdom of Prussia German industrialists 19th-century German Jews 19th-century German businesspeople People from Biała, Opole Voivodeship {{Germany-business-bio-stub