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Baron Maurice von Hirsch, born in a noble family. Maurice's father was banker to the Bavarian king. For generations, the family occupied a prominent position in the German Jewish community. In 1855, working with the banking house of Bischoffsheim & Goldschmidt, of Brussels, London and Paris, he amassed a large fortune, by purchasing and working railway concessions in Austria, Turkey and the Balkans, and by speculating in sugar and copper. After the death of his only son, Lucien, Baron and Baroness de Hirsch initially devoted his large fortune to helping Russian Jews by raising emigration and to create a 'back to the soil movement' of Jewish Farmers. He dedicated his fortune, worth $2.2 billion in today's money to philanthropy, mostly Jewish. He took a deep interest in the educational work of the Alliance Israelite Universelle, based in Paris.
About the author
Author of twenty books and hundreds of professional articles, Arthur L. Finkle teaches on the graduate and undergraduate faculty of Kean University. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Rotary Club, and Trenton-Princeton-Bucks Jewish Historical Society and the Greater Jewish Cemetery Project.
