Hermann Armin Groedel von Gyulafalva und Bogdán

death notice in the Neue Freie Presse - http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nfp&datum=19301202&seite...

The Groedel family tree is fairly well documented from 1782 through the mid 1900s. Born in Friedberg, Hessen, Germany in 1856 to Zadyk Groedel and Fanny Ahl, Hermann and his two younger brothers, Bernhard and Albert, built an empire their father founded called the “Groedel Brothers” which included several large holdings including the Transylvanian Forest Industry Joint Stock Company (also known as the Transylvanian Forestcraft shareholder group), exporting lumber throughout the world. The Groedel family had immigrated to Transylvania from Germany in the middle 1870s while Hermann acquired citizenship in 1890. Considered “nouveau-riche,” they owned large tracts of property throughout the greater portion of Central Europe, including Romania, Hungary, Poland, and other countries.

The business started in 1874 when they won a 10-year contract with the Transylvanian government to harvest and sell the lumber on publicly owned lands. In 1879, there was a major flood in Szeged that destroyed much of the city, and Zadik sold the city the timber for the reconstruction work, which began the family’s fortune. The following are locations where they owned land and the quantities: • Skole was their business headquarters and had 36000 hectares, • Poland; Bogdán: 2500 hectare, • Czechoslovakia; the colony of Gyulfalva with the woodlands Zágon: 8000 hectare and Kalabucs: 2000 hectare, • Transylvania; Musa Mare, Miklaos and Balescu (all together 6000 hectare), • District of Buzeu, Romania (size unknown) • Master of Wetlina (5000 hectare), joint owner of Wygoda-Weldzirz (all together 33000 hectare) • Maramarossziget. (size unknown)

In 1903 and 1904, the family built and registered their own shipping line in England to transport the material throughout Europe and beyond. They had built four ships of which three of them were named after each of the brothers’ wives, Melanie, Margit, and Gizella. Although all four steamers were built and registered in England, and its headquarters officially stated to be in London, the Groedel Brothers Steamship Company Ltd., was really a Hungarian concern. This caused some interesting political angst, as, during World War I, the British Admiralty had "requisitioned" the fleet and paid the going rate into a public trust. Once it was discovered that the ships were enemy owned, the British government confiscated and auctioned off the fleet. It's not clear whether the Groedel family ever received any of the proceeds.

Hermann married Caroline Melanie Weiner (b. 1865), daughter of Adolph and Nina Hertzfeld, in Budapest's Doheny Temple in 1885 by Rabbi Samuel Kohn. Melanie's father owned a very successful tailoring business in Budapest called “Weiner and Grunbaum” and was proclaimed tailor to the king. The Groedels were Jewish but several family members, primarily several of the brothers' children, converted to a variety of Christian faiths. It appears, however, that Hermann continued to practice Judaism.

In 1903, the Groedel brothers and their families were ennobled with the title of von Gulyafalva by King Franz Josef and in 1905 upgraded to Baron von Gulyafalva und Bogdan. Paula Groedel, the eldest daughter of Hermann and Melanie, married into the Lonyay family whose members consisted of the former prime minister, Menyhert Lonyay. Hermann, Melanie, and two of their children, Arthur and Paula, visited the US in 1910 to socialize, visit relatives that had emigrated to the US, and learn how the American lumber industry worked.

After they returned to Hungary, Hermann's eldest son, Arthur, became a diplomat. On March 8, 1914 Emperor Franz Joseph appointed Baron Arthur his honorary consul in the Vancouver, British Columbia consulate. Baron Groedel, the only Austro-Hungarian honorary consul in Vancouver, handed over caretakership of the office on July 4, 1914 to his cousin Egon Ulrich and left for Europe. On August 12, 1914 Great Britain declared war on Austria-Hungary. Baron Arthur Groedel, a lieutenant in an I. & R. artillery regiment, was killed in action in July 1917 near Troy in Turkey.

Baron Hermann died in 1930 and much of the land was sold off in 1944. However, Baron Albert Groedel's sons, Victor and Hans, appear to have had their personal holding confiscated by the Nazis. After the war, the majority of the family moved to Vienna, Switzerland and Australia where they lived out their lives. Only a few remained in Budapest.