Willy Dreyfus

Willy Dreyfus (born 24 March 1885 in Frankfurt am Main; died 12 January 1977 in Montreux) was a Swiss banker of German-Jewish origin.

Life

Willy Dreyfus, son of partner Isaac Dreyfus (1848-1909) and grandson of the founder of the banking house J. Dreyfus & Co. with branches in Frankfurt and Berlin, Jacques Dreyfus-Jeidels (1826-1890), completed an apprenticeship in the family business in Berlin and London.^[1] After his father's death in 1909, he took over management. Active in the banking department of the German General Government in Brussels, he worked with Hjalmar Schacht, Hans Fürstenberg and Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, among others.

From 1924 onwards, Dreyfus brokered significant foreign loans for the German Reich and German industrial companies through his contacts with British as well as U.S. banks. He was a member of the board of the Jewish Community of Berlin and, from 1927, vice president of the Benefit Society of German Jews (Hilfsvereins der deutschen Juden).^[2]

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Dreyfus was persecuted as a Jew. His bank was Aryanized,^[3] that is transferred to non-Jewish owners in 1937 (Frankfurt branch) and 1938 (Berlin branch).^[4]

Dreyfus emigrated with his family to Switzerland in 1938. He attempted to recover some of the property looted by Nazis.^[5]

Willy Dreyfus, who died in 1977 at the age of 91, was the younger brother of the neurologist Georg Ludwig Dreyfus,^[6] who had already emigrated to Switzerland in 1933.

Art collection

Dreyfus collected art.^[7] and manuscripts.^[8]

Writings

Bankwesen und Bankpolitik, Teubner, 1924
Wirtschaftswende: Betrachtungen zur finanziellen Gesundung des Kontinents, Europa Verlag, 1945

Literature

Walther Killy und Rudolf Vierhaus (Hrsg.): Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie. Band 2. K.G. Saur Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, München 1996, ISBN 3-598-23163-6, Seite 620.
Köhler, Ingo (2005). Die "Arisierung" der Privatbanken im Dritten Reich : Verdrängung, Ausschaltung und die Frage der Wiedergutmachung. München: Beck. ISBN 3-406-53200-4. OCLC 61386413.
Werner Röder, Werner; Herbert A. Strauss, (Hrsg.), Biographisches Handbuch der deutschsprachigen Emigration nach 1933 Bd. 1: Politik, Wirtschaft, Öffentliches Leben, München 1980. S. 138

External links

Literature by and about Willy Dreyfus in the German National Library catalogue
Kurzbiographie in den Akten der Reichskanzlei

References

^ Heilbrunn, Rudolf M (1962). Das Bankhaus J. Dreyfus & Co., Frankfurt a. M., Berlin, 1868-1939 (in German). Place of publication not identified. OCLC 36908523.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ "Dreyfus | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
^ Feldman, Gerald D. (2006). "Review of Die "Arisierung" der Privatbanken im Dritten Reich: Verdrängung, Ausschaltung und die Frage der Wiedergutmachung [The "Aryanization" of Private Banks during the Third Reich: Repression, Exclusion, and the Question of Restitution]". The Business History Review. 80 (2): 404–406. doi:10.2307/25097218. ISSN 0007-6805. JSTOR 25097218.
^ "Leipzig Hotels Bar Foreign Jews; Berlin Bank "aryanized"". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 1938-03-08. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
^ "Willy Dreyfus v. August Von Finck and Merck, Finck & Co., 534 F.2d 24 – CourtListener.com". CourtListener. Retrieved 2022-02-19. Plaintiff, a Jew and former resident of Germany, was forced to emigrate from that country to Switzerland and sold defendants his interest in the banking firm of J. Dreyfus & Co., allegedly under duress and at a price which was one and one-half million dollars below its actual value. Following World War II, plaintiff sought additional compensation from the defendants, and, in 1948, settlement was agreed upon. This settlement was never consummated, allegedly because of wrongful repudiation by defendants; and plaintiff then sought relief in a Restitution Court, or "Chamber", established under the aegis of the United States Military Command in Germany. In 1951, while the decision of this tribunal was on appeal in the Court of Restitution Appeals, a second settlement agreement was reached in open court; and plaintiff's petition was thereupon dismissed. The consideration recited in this agreement, four hundred ninety thousand German marks, was paid.
^ "Prof. Dr. med. Georg Ludwig Dreyfus". geni_family_tree. 25 April 1879. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
^ "An Egyptian Bronze Figure of a Cat, 21st/26th Dynasty, 1075-525 B.C." sothebys.com. Provenance Willy Dreyfus (1885-1977) then by inheritance
^ "Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von". sothebys.com.

[1] Heilbrunn, Rudolf M (1962). Das Bankhaus J. Dreyfus & Co., Frankfurt a. M., Berlin, 1868-1939 (in German). Place of publication not identified. OCLC 36908523.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[2] "Dreyfus | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2022-02-19.

[3] Feldman, Gerald D. (2006). "Review of Die "Arisierung" der Privatbanken im Dritten Reich: Verdrängung, Ausschaltung und die Frage der Wiedergutmachung [The "Aryanization" of Private Banks during the Third Reich: Repression, Exclusion, and the Question of Restitution]". The Business History Review. 80 (2): 404–406. doi:10.2307/25097218. ISSN 0007-6805. JSTOR 25097218.

[4] "Leipzig Hotels Bar Foreign Jews; Berlin Bank "aryanized"". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 1938-03-08. Retrieved 2022-01-28.

[5] "Willy Dreyfus v. August Von Finck and Merck, Finck & Co., 534 F.2d 24 – CourtListener.com". CourtListener. Retrieved 2022-02-19. Plaintiff, a Jew and former resident of Germany, was forced to emigrate from that country to Switzerland and sold defendants his interest in the banking firm of J. Dreyfus & Co., allegedly under duress and at a price which was one and one-half million dollars below its actual value. Following World War II, plaintiff sought additional compensation from the defendants, and, in 1948, settlement was agreed upon. This settlement was never consummated, allegedly because of wrongful repudiation by defendants; and plaintiff then sought relief in a Restitution Court, or "Chamber", established under the aegis of the United States Military Command in Germany. In 1951, while the decision of this tribunal was on appeal in the Court of Restitution Appeals, a second settlement agreement was reached in open court; and plaintiff's petition was thereupon dismissed. The consideration recited in this agreement, four hundred ninety thousand German marks, was paid.

[6] "Prof. Dr. med. Georg Ludwig Dreyfus". geni_family_tree. 25 April 1879. Retrieved 2022-01-28.

[7] "An Egyptian Bronze Figure of a Cat, 21st/26th Dynasty, 1075-525 B.C." sothebys.com. Provenance Willy Dreyfus (1885-1977) then by inheritance

[8] "Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von". sothebys.com.

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