2025-11-07 09:34:PM <br/> Tags: #AmericanJewry #people #Donor ![[image-169.png|322x426]] # Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) - Julius Rosenwald was a prominent Jewish financier and organizer in the early 1900s. - Rosenwald was a co-founder, president, and primary force behind the success of Sears, Roebuck & Co., the department store known as just 'Sears.' - Rosenwald was born in Illinois, moving to New York City as an adolescent. - Rosenwald's is the father of [[William Rosenwald]], who is the father of [[Nina Rosenwald]]. *All three are relevant to this project.* - At the time of his death in 1932, Rosenwald was "believed to be the richest Jew in the world." #### Professional Career - Sears - During Rosenwald's time in New York City as a young adult, he befriended both [[Henry Goldman]] and [[Henry Morgenthau Sr.]]. - Goldman's father Marcus Goldman founded the Jewish investment bank [[Goldman Sachs]]. - Morgenthau was an influential Jewish-American politician who served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during WWI. *The Ottoman Empire included Palestine during this time, making Morgenthau a crucial point-man for early Zionist activity.* - In 1895, Alvin Curtis Roebuck offered to sell his 50% share in Sears, Roebuck, & Co., to Aaron Nusbaum, Rosenwald's brother-in-law. - Nusbaum brought Rosenwald on and they acquired Roebuck's 50% share. - This acquisition was financed by Rosenwald's longtime friend [[Henry Goldman]]. - In 1903 Nusbaum's share was bought out by Rosenwald and Richard Warren Sears, the original co-founder with Roebuck. - Rosenwald's buyout of Roebuck's share was brokered by Albert Henry Loeb (1868-1924), a Jewish Chicago attorney. - Albert Henry Loeb was the father of Richard Loeb (1905-1936). - Richard Loeb was in a homosexual-Jewish relationship with Nathan Leopold Jr (1904-1971). - In 1924, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb famously [abducted and murdered 14 year old Bobby Franks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb). >[!info] Sears Initial Public Offering (IPO) - 1906 >- In 1906, Sears became the first department store to go public. >- Sears did not have substantial tangible assets; the IPO was based on assumed future growth, an oddity for the time. >- The IPO was managed and underwritten by [[Goldman Sachs]] through its senior partner, namesake, and close associate of Rosenwald, [[Henry Goldman]]. > - Henry Goldman employed to services of his longtime business partner [[Philip Lehman]], founder and namesake of the infamous Jewish firm [[Lehman Brothers]], for the IPO. >- Rosenwald's Sears stock made him exponentially richer, becoming one of the richest Americans by the time of his death in 1932. > - Rosenwald had a ~$80 million net worth in 1932, equal to ~$1.8 billion today. - Rosenwald became president of Sears in 1908. - He later became chairman, a position he held until his death. #### Organized Jewry - Rosenwald attended Chicago's Sinai synagogue. - Sinai's congregation was led by Reform rabbi [[Emil G. Hirsch]], who was a considerable influence on Rosenwald's activity within organized Jewry. - Rabbi Hirsch, a founding member of the [[NAACP]], strongly influenced Rosenwald's proclivity to fund black causes. - Rosenwald was a founding member of the [[American Jewish Committee (AJC)]]. - Rosenwald was a member of the elite AJC executive committee. - At the time of his death Rosenwald was vice president of the AJC. - Rosenwald was an early backer of the [[ADL]]. - The ADL was founded in 1913 to defend and to (attempt to) exonerate Jewish rapist-pedophile-murderer, Leo Frank. - Rosenwald was active in the coalition of powerful Jews working to defend Frank. - Rosenwald was not a Zionist, yet his wife gave large donations to the Women's Zionist Organization of America - [[Hadassah]]. - Rosenwald was a major early backer of the [[American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)]]. - The JDC was founded during WWI. - Rosenwald was the largest single JDC donor during its 1917 fundraising campaign. - Rosenwald continued strong financial backing of the JDC through the 1920s, at times working closely with its founder, [[Felix Warburg]]. - After [[Louis Marshall]]'s death in 1929, Rosenwald contributed $500,000 to the [[Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS)]] in his honor. - Marshall was the founder of the [[American Jewish Committee (AJC)]]. - Rosenwald was not a Zionist, but neither was he an anti-Zionist. - Like many Jews of the era, Rosenwald was cautious of the Zionist project, favoring Jewish prosperity in philosemitic countries like the U.S. - Rosenwald still donated to Jewish welfare initiatives in Palestine including the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, [[Hadassah]], etc. - Rosenwald opposed purposeful mass immigration of Jews to Palestine, putting him completely at odds with the Zionist project. *Zionism during this period can be described as a mass Jewish-immigration operation. The Arab-British-Jewish conflicts of the Palestine Mandate period teetered on Jewish immigration policy.* - Rosenwald was involved in the coordinated Jewish takedown of American industrialist Henry Ford in the mid 1920s. - The [[American Jewish Committee (AJC)]] and the [[ADL]] led the charge to smear and destroy Ford. - Ford had been publishing works critical of international Jewry, most notably in his series *The International Jew*, published in the *Dearborn Independent*. - Rosenwald was a strong opponent of the Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the Johnson-Reed Act. - Essentially all of the American-Jewish leaders at the time opposed the restrictive 1924 immigration act. ---- - Rosenwald's major Jewish associates included: - [[Felix Warburg]] - Financier and Jewish organizer - [[Henry Goldman]] - Financier - [[Henry Morgenthau Sr.]] - Statesman - [[Louis Marshall]] - Major lawyer and Jewish leader - [[Jacob Schiff]] - Major financier - [[Emil G. Hirsch]] - Rabbi #### Rosenwald - Black Benefactor ![[image-170.png|527x329]] - Rosenwald was a prolific donor and backer of black-American causes. - Rosenwald was an early backer of the [[NAACP]], the pro-black advocacy and 'civil rights' organization. - Rosenwald's rabbi and mentor, [[Emil G. Hirsch]], was a co-founder of the NAACP. - Rosenwald funded thousands of black schools through a project he founded called the "Rosenwald School Project." - Over 5,000 schools, shops, and related buildings were built in the south for blacks in the 20th century by the project. - The project was a partnership of Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington, a close friend of Rosenwald's. - Rosenwald was a quiet but effective lobbyist for black advancement in the early 1900s. - Rosenwald corresponded with many presidents through his life including: - T. Roosevelt - 1901-1909 - Taft - 1909-1913 - Wilson - 1913-1921 - Coolidge - 1923-1929 - Hoover - 1929-1933 - Rosenwald's massive funding of black schools led pro-Hitler publications in Germany to criticize Rosenwald for creating a ["Jewish-Negro army"](https://www.jta.org/archive/julius-rosenwald-on-point-of-death-friends-fear-his-days-are-numbered-children-called-to-his-bedsi#:~:text=Mr.%20Rosenwald%E2%80%99s%20work,to%20the%20Jews.) for the purpose to "create a Negro army to protect Jewish interests in the event of the 100 percent Americans attempting to liberate themselves from the dictatorship of Jewish capital." #### References - “Sears.” _Wikipedia_. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears). - Deutsch, Stephanie. “Preserving Julius Rosenwald’s Profound Story.” _Washington Jewish Week_, April 27, 2022. [https://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/preserving-julius-rosenwalds-profound-story/](https://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/preserving-julius-rosenwalds-profound-story/). - Altschuler, Glenn. “Julius Rosenwald Didn’t Repair The World - But He Tried Harder Than Most.” _Forward_, March 25, 2018. [https://forward.com/culture/397236/julius-rosenwald-didnt-repair-the-world-but-he-tried-harder-than-most/](https://forward.com/culture/397236/julius-rosenwald-didnt-repair-the-world-but-he-tried-harder-than-most/). - JTA. “Julius Rosenwald on Point of Death: Friends Fear His Days Are Numbered; Children Called to His Bedsi.” _Jewish Telegraphic Agency_, January 1, 1932. [https://www.jta.org/archive/julius-rosenwald-on-point-of-death-friends-fear-his-days-are-numbered-children-called-to-his-bedsi](https://www.jta.org/archive/julius-rosenwald-on-point-of-death-friends-fear-his-days-are-numbered-children-called-to-his-bedsi). - Deutsch, Stephanie. “Julius Rosenwald.” _Immigrant Entrepreneurship – German-American Business & Economic History_. [https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entries/julius-rosenwald/](https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entries/julius-rosenwald/). - Cook, Eli. “Henry Goldman: Immigrant Outsider as Empire Builder (1857-1937).” _Immigrant Entrepreneurship – German-American Business & Economic History_. German Historical Institute. [https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entries/henry-goldman-immigrant-outsider-as-empire-builder/](https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entries/henry-goldman-immigrant-outsider-as-empire-builder/). *Covers Henry Goldman, Philip Lehman, and the Sears IPO in 1906. *