Ephrussi & Co. was a private bank in Vienna 9, Wasagasse 2, which was Aryanized in 1938 and continued to be run by the Aryanizer under a different company name, as Bankhaus Steinhäuser, vorm. Ephrussi & Co.

The Ephrussi company was founded in 1856 by Ignaz Ephrussi (1829–1899), who was ennobled as Ignaz Ritter von Ephrussi in 1871. Originally established as a wholesale company in Vienna, it was registered as a retail wholesaler in 1882. Born in Russia, Ephrussi was involved in founding several banks in Odessa before moving to Vienna in 1856, allegedly due to anti-Semitic incidents. He established his own bank with branches in Paris and London, focusing on trade with Eastern Europe, particularly Russia. Ephrussi gained prominence with a successful grain trade in 1867, capitalizing on a strong harvest in Ukraine amid poor yields in Western Europe. In 1869, he acquired property in Vienna, and in 1871, he was ennobled and married into the Porges family. Palais Ephrussi, designed by Theophil Hansen on Vienna's Ringstrasse, symbolized his social ascent.^[1].

Ignaz von Ephrussi intended for his son Stefan to succeed him, but disowned him after Stefan became involved with the wife of a business associate, who had also been Ignaz's mistress. As a result, Victor Ephrussi, the next younger son, took over the business, which was now a private bank.^[2] Initially focused on banking, particularly in Eastern Europe and Russia, the company earned a strong reputation in Vienna, especially on the stock exchange. By 1921, however, it had only one employee and functioned primarily as the Ephrussi family's asset management company. When Victor took over in 1899, the business mainly handled asset management, with banking transactions still listed in the commercial register. Around 1910, he ranked 258th among Vienna's 926 millionaires. After investing his substantial fortune in war bonds in 1914, inflation devalued his assets.^[3]

The Ephrussi name remained respected in the business world, and in 1921, the German bank Disconto-Gesellschaft, a predecessor of Deutsche Bank, showed interest in Ephrussi through a connection with the Gutmann family. To make the investment viable during the crisis, Disconto-Gesellschaft sought someone who could identify potential opportunities, and found Alexander Weiner (1876–1956), a former banker at Wiener Bankverein and Allgemeine Österreichische Bodencreditanstalt. After a dispute with Bodencreditanstalt's president, Weiner was appointed head of Ephrussi & Co. in 1923. In 1933, after the Nazis came to power in Germany, Disconto-Gesellschaft merged with Deutsche Bank and withdrew from Austria. Weiner, along with two partners, acquired the company, owning 60 percent, while Victor Ephrussi and Carl August Steinhäusser held 20 percent each. Ephrussi & Co. continued as a general partnership and remained active in international business until 1938.^[4]

In 1938, following the annexation of Austria by the National Socialist German Reich, the Jewish partners Alexander Weiner and Victor Ephrussi were forced out of the business and had to sell their shares to the remaining third partner, the “non-Jewish” Carl August Steinhäusser.^[5] At this time, the company employed four authorized signatories and was the third highest valued private bank in Vienna (after S. M. v. Rothschild and Bankhaus Rosenfeld & Co.)..

Ephrussi died in Great Britain in 1945^[6] and his heirs received a modest sum as part of a restitution settlement. Alexander Weiner, on the other hand, succeeded in obtaining a much larger sum for his share in a restitution settlement concluded in 1954. After 1945, Carl August Steinhäusser, the Aryanizer, became Vice President of the Bankers' Association, Vice President of the Stock Exchange Chamber and was appointed Kommerzialrat. He did not want to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ephrussi & Co.

In 1970, after Gustav Schickedanz & Co. became a shareholder in 1969, the bank was transformed into Quellebank. Around 2000, this company was merged into “Entrium Direktbank Austria”^[7].

Edmund de Waal, a great-grandson of Victor Ephrussi, published a family novel in the UK in 2010, which was also published in German in 2011 under the title The Hare with Amber Eyes. The Hidden Legacy of the Ephrussi Family. This book lovingly and sensitively traces the history of the Ephrussi family. The bank is also mentioned in detail, as is the Aryanizer, “Mr. Steinhäusser”.

• Peter Melichar: Neuordnung im Bankwesen. Die NS-Maßnahmen und die Problematik der Restitution, (= Veröffentlichungen der Österreichischen Historikerkommission 11). Wien und München 2004.
• Peter Melichar: Bankiers in der Krise: Der österreichische Privatbankensektor 1928–1938. In: Geld und Kapital, Bd. 7 (= Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für mitteleuropäische Banken- und Sparkassengeschichte. Privatbankiers in Mitteleuropa zwischen den Weltkriegen 2003), Stuttgart 2005, S. 135–191.
• Peter Eigner, Peter Melichar, Das Ende der Boden-Credit-Anstalt 1929 und die Rolle Rudolf Siegharts. In: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaften 3/2008, S. 56–114 doi:10.25365/oezg-2008-19-3-4.
• Edmund de Waal, Der Hase mit den Bernsteinaugen – Das verborgene Erbe der Familie Ephrussi. Übersetzt von Brigitte Hilzensauer. Zsolnay, Wien 2011, ISBN 978-3-552-05556-8.
• Gabriele Kohlbauer-Fritz, Tom Juncker (Hrsg.): Die Ephrussis. Eine Zeitreise. Zsolnay, Wien 2019, ISBN 978-3-552-05982-5.
• Peter Melichar: Wer war Alexander Weiner? In Edmund de Waals Erinnerungsbuch über die Familie Ephrussi fehlt einer für die Geschichte bedeutende Person. Eine Ergänzung, in: Wiener Zeitung, 30./31. Oktober 2021, S. 33;

Ephrussi family

The Holocaust in Austria

Unser Wien

References

[[Category:Companies acquired from Jews under Nazi rule]] [[Category:Companies established in 1856]]