Dr. phil. Bethel Henry (Bartel Heinrich) Strousberg

• Bethel Henry Strousberg Wikipedia
• Barthel Heinrich Strausberg German Wikipedia

Bethel Henry Strousberg (20 November 1823 – 31 May 1884) was a Jewish industrialist and railway entrepreneur in Germany during its rapid industrial expansion in the 19th century. He cemented his social standing with the construction of The Palais Strousberg in Berlin's Wilhelmstrasse designed by August Orth. Orth was Strousberg's favoured architect and was also responsible for the Görlitzer Bahnhof and renovation work at Schloss Zbirow (now Zbiroh), the centre of the Fiefdom of Zbirow in Bohemia which Strousberg had bought in 1868. The castle is now an hotel and conference venue with guided tours of the restored building.

Strousberg was born in Neidenburg, East Prussia, as Baruch Hirsch Strousberg which he changed to Barthel Heinrich whilst at Gymnasium (Secondary School) in Königsberg in Prussia. After the death of his father he moved to London in September 1839 where he initially lived with his mother's brother Peter Gottheimer who jointly owned a fancy goods business with his brother Lesser. A third brother, Berton Gottheimer, was also in London in the same business.

Strousberg Anglicized his name to Bethel Henry and converted to Christianity. On 13 March 1845 he married Mary Ann Swan at St. Bride's parish church in Fleet Street.

In July 1847 Strousberg was working as an agent for several building societies and entrusted to handle member's payments. For some reason, he took an amount of money and booked a passage to America, but was found out when the steamer had to return to Southampton having loaded the wrong grade of coal. Strousberg was tried, found guilty, and served six months imprisonment with hard labour. A year after his release the Strousberg's first son, Bethel Henry Jun., was born; and in January 1849 the three of them travelled to the USA returning in April 1850. Their second son Arthur was born in the autumn of that year.By 1854 Strousberg had become a successful publisher and journalist and was also a manager of an insurance company. Socially he was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

By the early 1860s he had gone back to Germany and embarked on a second career as a railway entrepreneur (including founding the Hanover-Altenbeken Railway Company and the Halle-Sorau-Guben Railway Company) and industrialist. From 1867 to 1871 Strousberg was a member of the North German Reichstag for the constituency Königsberg 9, also including Allenstein and Rössel. Though a member of the Prussian Conservative Party he did not join any faction in the Reichstag.

His business empire began a terminal decline during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). In 1872, he was forced into liquidation after a ruinous settlement with the Romanian government on account of unfulfilled railway contracts. Strousberg was declared bankrupt in 1875, with Adolph von Hansemann and Gerson von Bleichröder snapping up the majority of his railways for fractions of their worth. After standing trial in Russia for alleged fraudulent transactions with a bank in 1876, he was deported and returned to Berlin, dividing his time between London and the castle in Bromberg whilst attempting his social rehabilitation with various projects and writing his memoirs. He died in Berlin. His Mausoleum is preserved on the Protestant Old St. Matthew's Cemetery in Schöneberg, Berlin.

Bibliography

• Der europäische Eisenbahnkönig Bethel Henry Strousberg, Joachim Borchart, C.H. Beck, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-406-35297-9
• Der Eisenbahnkönig Bethel Henry Strousberg, Manfred Ohlsen, Verlag der Nation, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-373-00003-3
• Der Eisenbahnkönig, oder, Rumänien lag in Linden : Materialien zur Sozialgeschichte des Arbeiterwohnungsbaus, Wolfgang Voigt, AG SPAK, München SPAK, 1982, ISBN 3-923126-15-8
• Hanomag Lokomotiven, Lothar Spielhoff, Podszun Motorbücher, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-86133-352-X
• Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947, Christopher Clark, Allen Lane, London, ISBN 0-7139-9466-5
• Aufstieg und Fall des "Eisenbahnkönigs" Bethel Henry Strousberg (Nº 5 in the series Miniaturen zur Geschichte, Kultur und Denkmalpflege Berlins), Horst Mauter, Interessengemeischaft für Denkmalpflege, Kultur und Geschichte der Hauptstadt Berlin, Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 1981
• The Amazing Dr. Strousberg, Richard Hunt, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9561604-0-9

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STROUSBERG, BETHEL HENRY (BARUCH HIRSCH): German railway contractor; born at Neidenburg, East Prussia, Nov. 20, 1823; died at Berlin June 1, 1884. After an unsuccessful business career in London he emigrated to America, and for some time taught languages at New Orleans.

In 1849 he returned to London with money made by trading in damaged goods, and became identified with the publication of "The Chess Player," "Lawson's Merchants' Magazine," and "Sharpe's London Magazine."

In 1855 he settled in Berlin as agent for an insurance company, and in 1861 obtained for English capitalists the concession of building East-Prussian railways. After acting for some time as agent for different companies, he established himself as an independent contractor and built several railway lines, chiefly in northern Germany, Hungary, and Rumania.

He became the owner of vast establishments for producing all the requisite materials, as well as of various factories and mines. His holdings were enormous; at one time he employed more than 100,000 persons, and was engaged in speculations involving nearly £100,000,000.

During the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71) he met with serious reverses, and in 1872, after a ruinous settlement with the Rumanian government on account of unfulfilled railway contracts, he was forced into liquidation. He was declared bankrupt in 1875, and, after standing trial in Russia for alleged fraudulent transactions with a bank, he returned to Berlin, where he lived in partial retirement until his death. He embraced Christianity while young. Source

• The Palais Strousberg
• Görlitzer Bahnhof
• Dr. Bethel Henry Strousberg
• Bethel Henry Strausberg Sztetl Nidzica
• Barthel Heinrich Strausberg "Eisenbahnkönig" Pruesschronik
• Meet the Gottheimers Project Mother, Caroline Gottheimer

Joachim Borchart, Der europäische Eisenbahnkönig Bethel Henry Strousberg, München 1991

Manfred Ohlsen, Der Eisenbahnkönig Bethel Henry Strousberg. Eine preußische Gründerkarriere, Berlin 21987.

בתל הנרי סטרוסברג

''''''(באנגלית: Bethel Henry Strousberg;‏ 20 בנובמבר 1823 - 31 במאי 1884) היה תעשיין ויזם בינלאומי ממוצא יהודי, מי שכונה בארצות הגרמניות "מלך מסילות הברזל", הדמות המרכזית בפרשת סטרוסברג, בעל ארמון סטרוסברג.

ארמון סטרוסברג, בברלין, ב-1890. ביוגרפיה בתל הנרי סטרוסברג נולד בנידנבורג שבפרוסיה המזרחית בשם ברוך הירש סטרוסברג (Baruch Hirsch Strousberg) ובצעירותו התנצר ונשא את השם ברתל היינריך סטראוסברג (Barthel Heinrich Strausberg), שם ששונה לפי הנוסח האנגלי, כששהה בלונדון, אנגליה, שם ניהל עסקים שלא צלחו. הוא היגר לארצות הברית, שם לימד שפות בניו אורלינס. הוא שב ללונדון ב-1849 עם כסף שהרוויח בעסקיו בארצות הברית ופנה לעסקים שונים. ב-1855 התיישב בברלין, כסוכן של סוכנות ביטוח וב-1861 סגר עבור בעלי הון אנגליים חוזה שכלל זיכיון לבניית מסילות רכבת בפרוסיה המזרחית. לאחר שקנה לו שם בארצות הגרמניות ביוזמות עסקי מסילות ברזל, עד כדי קבלת הכינוי "מלך מסילות הברזל", פנה אל סטרוסברג גם הדומניטור של רומניה, קרול הראשון, כדי שייזום בניית קווי רכבת ברומניה. סטרוסברג קיבל זיכיון לבניית קווי רכבת ברומניה, הקים ב-1868 קונסורציום למימון המפעל והנפיק איגרות חוב.

בעקבות מלחמת צרפת–פרוסיה נקלעו רבים מעסקי סטרוסברג לקשיים והתמוטטו. סטרוסברג לא הצליח לעמוד בתשלום התלושים של איגרות החוב, שמימנו את הרכבות הרומניות ולבסוף, ב-1871, איבד את הזיכיון.

בתקופה בה עסקיו פרחו בנה לעצמו את ארמון סטרוסברג בברלין, אך לאחר שעסקיו כשלו נאלץ למכור אותו.

קישורים חיצוניים מיזמי קרן ויקימדיה ויקישיתוף תמונות ומדיה בוויקישיתוף: בתל הנרי סטרוסברג STROUSBERG, BETHEL HENRY ב-JewishEncyclopedia

(באנגלית) "אוטו פון ביסמרק והרומנים", מאמר של מאורה ג'יורה ולוצ'יאן ג'יורה

(ברומנית) Henry Bethel Strousberg

(בגרמנית) Der Eisenbahnkönig Strousberg

(בגרמנית) https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%91%D7%AA%D7%9C_%D7%94%D7%A0%D7%A8...