Karl Otto Clemens Wittgenstein

http://faculty.frostburg.edu/phil/forum/KarlWittgenstein.htm by Jorn K. Bramann, Frostburg State University and John Moran, Manhattan College added by Pam Karp October 2014

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Wittgenstein

Karl Wittgenstein (April 8, 1847 in Gohlis, now part of Leipzig – January 20, 1913 in Vienna) was a steel tycoon. A friend of Andrew Carnegie, with whom he was often compared, at the end of 19th century he controlled an effective monopoly on steel and iron resources within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and had by the 1890s acquired one of the largest fortunes in the world. [1] Contents [show] [edit]Family background and origins

Karl's father, Hermann Wittgenstein 1802-1878

Karl's parents Hermann and Fanny Wittgenstein, with their eleven children. Karl is second to the left The grandfather of Karl Wittgenstein, estate manager Moses Meyer, came from Laasphe in the former Wittgenstein kreis (county). He moved to Korbach before 1802, where he opened a dry goods store. The Napoleonic effort of equality before the law for all Jews in the kingdom of Westphalia in 1808 decreed that all people should take a surname within three months. Moses Meyer took the name of his birthplace and thereafter was known as Moses Meyer-Wittgenstein. At first, Meyer-Wittgenstein's business became the biggest and most successful enterprise in the city of Korbach, but also shortly thereafter began to decline. He had a son, Hermann Christian (b. September 12, 1802 in Korbach; d. 1878 in Vienna) who moved the business to Gohlis at the end of the 1830s. From there, the family continued to prosper financially. In 1938, to escape Nazi racial laws and to be reclassified as half Jewish, his descendants claimed that Herman Christian was not the son of Moses Meyer-Wittgenstein but rather the illegitimate offspring of a prince of the House of Waldeck. Although the claim was probably made up, it was somewhat substantiated by the princely protection enjoyed by the Wittgensteins when they were living in Hesse. After Hermann Christian converted to Protestantism he married Fanny Figdor in 1839. She came from one of the most important business families in Vienna. Karl, born in 1847, was the sixth of eleven children of Hermann and Fanny. Three years later the family moved to Vösendorf (Mödling district) in Austria, where his four younger siblings were born. One of his brothers, Paul Wittgenstein (1842-1928), was the father of Dr Karl Paul Wittgenstein who married Hilde Köchert, daughter of renowned Viennese jeweller Heinrich Köchert: their son Paul Wittgenstein (1907-1979) was "Wittgenstein's Nephew", the central character of a book by his friend Thomas Bernhard. [edit]Life and Children

Karl Wittgenstein 1847-1913 Hermann Christian's family moved in 1860 to Vienna, where he was involved in the furniture industry, and was financially extremely successful. In 1865, the young Karl secretly left home and sought his fortune in the U.S., with a violin as his only possession. There he earned a living as a musician and a waiter in bars. In 1867 he moved back home with a great deal of self confidence. In Vienna, Karl studied at the technical university and became a draftsman and engineer. He began at a steel mill in Teplitz, where he eventually became director in 1877, continuously expanding the business, building factories and taking over rival mines and mills, and then a few years later he became principal shareholder, and was one of the leading industrialists in 19th century Europe. Karl married Leopoldine Kallmus in 1873. They had the following children: Hermine "Mining" (b. December 1, 1874 in Teplitz; d. February 11, 1950 in Vienna) unmarried Dora (b. 1876 in Vienna; died at birth) Johannes "Hans" (b. 1877 in Vienna; d. 1902 in Chesapeake Bay, probable suicide), a musical prodigy Konrad "Kurt" (b. May 1, 1878 in Vienna; d. October/November 1918, suicide) Helene "Lenka" (b. August 23, 1879 in Vienna; d. April 1956 in Vienna) married to Dr. Max Salzer Rudolf "Rudi" (b. June 27, 1881 in Vienna; d. May 2, 1904 in Berlin, suicide) Margaret "Gretl" (b. September 19, 1882 in Vienna; d. September 27, 1958 in Vienna) married to Jerome Stonborough in 1904, divorced in 1923 Paul (b. May 11, 1887 in Vienna; d. March 3, 1961 in New York), concert pianist Ludwig "Lucki" (b. April 26, 1889 in Vienna; d. April 29, 1951 in Cambridge), philosopher

Sterbematrikel:

https://data.matricula-online.eu/de/oesterreich/wien-evang-dioezese...

Parte und Nachruf in Neues Wiener Tagblatt vom 21. Jänner 1913:

http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=nwg&datum=19130121&query...