Julius Cassirer

Julius Cassirer was the second oldest son of ten children of Marcus Cassirer (1809-1879) and his wife Jeannette, née Steinitz (1813-1889). He was born in 1841 in Schwientochlowitz, today Świętochłowice. He married Julie (Julcher) Cassirer (1844-1924), the daughter of his uncle Siegfried Cassirer (1812-1897), and had three children with her: the writer and musician Fritz Leopold Cassirer, the publisher Bruno Cassirer, and Elise Cassirer.[1][2][3]

From 1866, Julius, together with his brother Louis, was authorized signatory of the Marcus Cassirer & Co. Liqueur Factory in Breslau.[4] His father retired as a partner of the liqueur factory now managed by his sons, he died on October 20, 1879 in Breslau and left his property equally to his nine children still living.

Julius went to Görlitz, where he ran the Cassirer and Sons company together with his brother Isidor Cassirer until the 1870s. In the early 1880s, Louis and Julius Cassirer moved to Berlin, where there was a great demand for lumber due to construction activity, and became lumber merchants and suppliers with the Gebr. Cassirer Bau- und Naturholzhandlung. Since they were often awarded the houses they had already started as creditors in the event of non-payment for lumber already delivered, and were financially able to complete them, they additionally came into possession of numerous tenement houses in Berlin, which greatly increased in value, especially until 1900. Gradually, the brothers Eduard, Salo and Isidor, and Max also came to Berlin and settled in Charlottenburg, which was still independent at the time. Together with his nephews Alfred and Hugo, who had worked in the cable factory of his uncle Otto Bondy in Vienna after receiving his doctorate in chemistry, Julius Cassirer founded the cable factory Dr. Cassirer und Co. in the backyard of Schönhauser Allee 62 in 1896, in which Louis Cassirer later also became a partner.[5]

The cable works moved its production to Hakenfelde at Keplerstraße 5-6 and continued to grow as one of the first companies in its sector. In 1912, the Cassirers employed 150 workers and salaried employees here; by 1914, the workforce had grown to 630 people and the working capital amounted to 5 million marks with annual sales of 10 million marks. Julius Cassirer was also a partner in the sales office of Vereinigter Fabriken isolierter Leitungsdrähte Berlin GmbH, the Linear Gummiwarenfabrik and the Oberschlesische Telefongesellschaft, he lived in a villa at Fasanenstrasse 12 in Charlottenburg and was regarded as a "well-appointed, respected man.“

Schwanenkükenbrunnen von August Gaul, 1908

In addition to his business activities, Julius Cassirer was a member of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and the Commission for Customs, Tax and Trade Issues, the Commissions for Legal and Traffic Issues, on the Stock Exchange Board and, from 1904 to 1908, a commercial judge. In addition, charitable activities are documented, including donations his workers affected by invalidity and old distressed women and the conclusion of accident insurance for his workers. In 1910, he donated to the city of Charlottenburg the Swan Chick Fountain made by August Gaul in 1908, which is located at Kurfürstendamm 61. In 1914 he was appointed a Royal Commercial Councillor.[5]

• Sigrid Bauschinger: Die Cassirers. Unternehmer, Kunsthändler, Philosophen. C.H.Beck, München 2015. ISBN 978-3-406-67714-4.