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Biography

The Forgotten Patron

James Simon, ca. 1930, ibid., Fig. p.6
James Simon, ca. 1930, ibid., Fig. p.6

Biography of a philanthropist and Patron

"The countenance he presented to the world is known by all. Nefertiti's image was buried deep in Egyptian sand for almost three and a half thousand years before exposed once again to the light of day in 1912. She entered the twentieth century in a triumphal march which would forever impress her features into the visual memory of an entire world. But the man who rendered this possible has remained obscure to almost everyone, with the mention of his name drawing blanks from even the culturally interested. The man doomed to oblivion, James Simon, is perhaps the greatest patron Berlin has ever seen.

Who were the Simons? The family history is a success story straight from the picture-book of the Jewish emancipation era. The grandfather begins as a textile peddler in West Pomerania and later founds a company in the small town of Pyritz. His son, Isaak, becomes a successful tailor in Prenzlau, marries the daughter of a rabbi, and leaves for Berlin in 1838 with his brother Louis. During the city's expansion boom the Simons quickly establish themselves as textile dealers and, due to their clever strategy, are able to gain a dominant position on the market within a short time. (...)

James Simon,

was born in 1851 and grew up in a world of security, affluence, and the strict Prussian-Jewish ethic of duty. The family occupied a magnificent villa on Tiergartenstraße. James Simon's love of classical philology and antique culture was awakened while attending the elite Gray Cloister High School, which Bismarck had also attended. All dreams of an academic profession quickly vanished, however, for the family would not tolerate any path which did not lead to the succession of the Simon Brothers. At the age of twenty-five he became a partner, having learned the business from the ground up in Germany and England, and under his direction the Simon Brothers rose to European prominence. His cultural leanings proved to be no obstacle to a committed and successful entrepreneurship: in 1911 James Simon ranked sixth on Berlin's annual income list.

His first Rembrandt

The young Simon began collecting art as soon as funds became available, beginning with Dutch painting and purchasing his first Rembrandt in 1885. His preoccupation with art, however - at first perhaps an attempt to make up for the liberal arts education denied him - was not the focal point of his activity; Simon's interest lay in the Res publica, the public welfare. He thought of becoming politically active in the ranks of liberalism, thus following a good, Jewish tradition established after the failed democratic revolution of 1848, but after careful consideration decided against it. The fate of such Jewish parliamentarians as Ludwig Bamberger, a friend of the Simons', was simply too disappointing. Bamberger, a democratic revolutionary in 1848 and later one of Germany's greatest parliamentarians and economic reformers, failed in his lifelong battle for a democratization of the German Empire. He was exposed to anti-Semitic hostility for the rest of his life. James Simon discreetly aided the Liberals but concentrated mainly on the civic areas of professional committees and trade associations. But the pragmatist's real enthusiasm was for the problem areas of social policy which the state, overwhelmed by the wave of social change, could not and would not acknowledge (...)"

(ibid., p. 10-11)