Historical Timeline
Chronology
Over several centuries the Gunzburg family has left its mark on the history of Europe in numerous spheres. As renowned religious and intellectual figures and entrepreneurs, as patrons and philanthropists, Gunzburgs have played a prominent role down the generations. The first known bearer of the Gunzburg name, Rabbi Simon Gunzburg (1506–1585), came from Swabia in south-western Germany, a well-off merchant who was elected as the Jewish community’s representative to the Bavarian authorities. Succeeding generations of Gunzburgs followed him in playing important roles in the Jewish world and beyond, notably in the 18th century in Vilnius, then a flourishing city in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In the mid-19th century the banker Joseph Evzel de Gunzburg (1813–1878) established the Jewish community of St Petersburg, then the capital of the Russian Empire, where all Jews had previously been forbidden, along with Moscow and other major cities. At around the same time he set himself up as a banker in the France of the Second Empire, securing the Gunzburgs’ place in Parisian society. The Gunzburgs’ economic dynamism made them central to Russia’s modernisation throughout the 19th century, and they also became an important focal point of Franco-Russian cultural life, with close connections to well-known writers, painters, composers and thinkers such as Léon Bonnat, Auguste Ricard, Jules Massenet, Ivan Turgenev, Ivan Kramskoi, Vladimir Stasov, Modest Mussorgsky, Mark Antokolsky, Vladimir Soloviev and Serge Diaghilev.
When modern anti-Semitism took hold in tsarist Russia, the family made strenuous efforts to defend their co-religionists. In the 1880s Horace de Gunzburg (1832–1909) was a founder member of ORT, encouraging the widely deprived Jewish workers of Russia to become skilled farmers and craftsmen. After the revolution of 1917, as they fell victim to Soviet persecution, the Gunzburgs left Russia to find refuge in several European countries. Paris became the family’s new commercial base and home, with its banking traditions and philanthropic activity centred around ORT and OSE (whose original mission was to protect, feed and support Jewish children but which expanded its role in the 1930s and during the Second World War).
During the Second World War new ordeals had to be faced: under the German occupation of France and the Vichy regime anti-Semitic laws forced many family members into exile in Switzerland, the USA, South America and elsewhere. Others, such as Philippe de Gunzbourg (1904–1986), Alain de Gunzburg (1925–2004) and Yves de Gunzburg (1920–1945), joined the French resistance, Free French forces and SOE to fight against Nazism and its collaborators. Yves, who had joined the Foreign Legion, died in combat in Alsace a few months before the war’s end. Horace de Gunzburg’s granddaughter, Nanny Habig (1890–1942), was arrested in Nice, interned at Drancy and deported to be murdered at Auschwitz.
Over the generations a Gunzburg family spirit has emerged in which Judaism and its example, the value of culture and education, entrepreneurial pursuits, patronage and philanthropy have all left their mark.
Timeline
1543–85
Simon Gunzburg is representative of the Jewish population of Swabia to the kingdom of Bavaria.
1670
Aaron Gunzburg settles in Vilna, capital of the Grand Duchy Lithuania, where he is a delegate to the Council of the Four Provinces.
1750
Asher Gunzburg marries Yuta Klaczko in Vilna.
1760
In Vilna the Gunzburgs oppose the influence of Rabbi Shlomo ben Avigdor.
1772
First partition of Poland between Austria, Prussia, and Russia.
1783
Annexation of Crimea by Russia.
1791
Creation of the Pale of Settlement which defines the western territories of the Russian Empire in which the Jewish population is allowed to live.
1793 and 1795
Second and third partitions of Poland. Vilna is in one of the areas annexed by Russia.
1811
Jews are permitted to hold concessions for trade in alcoholic beverages in the Pale of Settlement.
1812
Gabriel Yakov Gunzburg marries Léa Rashkes in Vitebsk.
12 June : Napoleon’s Grand Army enters Russia and occupies Vitebsk.
7 October : Napoleon leaves Moscow; the retreat begins.
1813
4 January: birth of Joseph Evzel Gunzburg in Vitebsk.
1825
1 December: death of Alexandre I.
14 December: Decembrist uprising in St Petersburg.
1827
Jewish communities are obliged to provide “cantonists” (child conscripts) for the Russian army.
1830
State Jewish schools open. Joseph Evzel Gunzburg marries Rosa Dynin in Orsha.
1831
Birth of Alexandre Gunzburg in Orsha.
1832
Birth of Horace Gunzburg in Zvenigorodka.
1833
Joseph Evzel Gunzburg becomes a merchant of the First Guild.
1835
Regulation of the Jews.
1839
Joseph Evzel is an alcoholic beverages concessionaire for Khotin.
1840
Birth of Ury Gunzburg in Khotin.
1844
Birth of Mathilde Gunzburg in Kamenets-Podolsk.
1846
Moses Montefiore’s first visit to St Petersburg.
1848
Birth of Salomon Gunzburg in Kamenets-Podolsk.
1849
Gabriel Yakov Gunzburg becomes a merchant of the First Guild and an honorary citizen. Joseph Evzel becomes an honorary citizen.
1853-56
Crimean War. Joseph Evzel Gunzburg is alcoholic beverages concessionaire in the combat zone.
1853
Death of Gabriel Yakov Gunzburg in Simferopol.
1856
July: Joseph Evzel Gunzburg petitions the tsar to authorise certain categories of Jews to live outside the Pale of Settlement (petition signed by 18 merchants).
1857
Joseph Evzel Gunzburg and his family move to Paris; Senior Sachs enters the Gunzburgs’ service as a librarian.
1858
May: The Gunzburgs give a ball at the Hôtel des Trois-Empereurs in Paris.
1859
15 March: Tsar Alexandre II gives Jewish merchants of the First Guild the right to live outside the Pale of Settlement. The Gunzburgs take up residence in St Petersburg.
15 November: Foundation of the J. E. Gunzburg Bank in St Petersburg.
1860
In France the Alliance Israélite Universelle is founded.
1861
Tsar Alexandre II abolishes serfdom. Joseph Evzel Gunzburg buys 55,000 hectares of land in Bessarabia (region of Bender).
1862
Joseph Evzel Gunzburg submits to the Russian administration a memorandum on the development of agricultural work among Jews and requests the right for Jewish artisans to live outside the Pale of Settlement.
1863
Establishment of Jewish community authorities in St Petersburg, presided over by Joseph Evzel Gunzburg. Foundation of the Society for the Promotion of Culture among the Jews of Russia.
1864
Judiciary reform, educational reform, the creation of zemstva. The Jewish sculptor Mark Antokolsky enters the St Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts.
1865
Jewish artisans obtain the right to live outside the Pale of Settlement.
1867-69
Construction of the Gunzburg town house at 7 Rue de Tilsitt in Paris.
1867
October: opening of the J. E. Gunzburg Bank’s Paris branch.
1868
The Gunzburgs help found the Kiev Private Commercial Bank and the Discount and Lending Bank of St Petersburg.
1869
The tsar authorises the building of a synagogue in St Petersburg. Start of a lengthy construction project.
1870
During the Franco-Prussian War the Gunzburg town house at 7 Rue de Tilsitt serves as a military hospital.
1871
The Gunzburgs help found the “Russian Bank of Foreign Commerce”.
Joseph Evzel Gunzburg purchases the headquarters of the Imperial Guard in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
The Gunzburgs take part in the foundation of the Siberian Bank of Commerce. Joseph Evzel Gunzburg buys a perpetual burial plot in the Montparnasse cemetery.
1873
Joseph Evzel Gunzburg buys the gold mining company of the Lena.
15 May: letter from Joseph Evzel Gunzburg to the heads of Jewish communities in Russia promoting Jews’ participation in military service.
1874
The prince of Hesse grants the title of baron to Joseph Evzel and his descendants.
Joseph Evzel receives the title of “commercial counsellor”.
The law establishing compulsory military service in Russia does not exempt Jews.
1875
David de Gunzburg is a student at the Faculty of Oriental Languages in St Petersburg.
9 December: death in Paris of Anna de Gunzburg, Horace‘s wife.
1877
The J. E. Gunzburg Bank participates in a loan granted by the syndicate of Paris bankers; marriage of Salomon de Gunzburg to Henriette Goldschmidt in Paris.
Mark Antokolsky sculpts a posthumous bust of Anna de Gunzburg.
10 December: Foundation of the Society of Russian Artists in Paris.
1878
12 January: death of Joseph Evzel Gunzburg in Paris.
3 March: Russian victory over Turkey; peace of San Stefano.
June–July: Berlin congress.
Posthumous portrait of Anna de Gunzburg by Léon Bonnat.
1879
The Gunzburgs help found the Discount Bank of Odessa.
Alexandre II authorises the Gunzburgs to use the title of baron in Russia.
Ury de Gunzburg purchases the Château de Chambaudoin; he organizes a hunt there in honour of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolayevich.
1880
Lev Levanda publishes in Russian the novel Confession of a Businessman, inspired by the Gunzburgs.
30 September: foundation of the “Craftsmanship Fund”, the future ORT (Obshchestvo Remeslennovo i zemledelcheskovo Truda, Society for Artisanal and Agricultural Work).
1881
Horace de Gunzburg takes up residence in St Petersburg in the palace at 17 Konnogvardeysky Boulevard.
1 March: assassination of Alexandre II.
5 April (27 April new style): pogrom in Elisavetgrad, the first of a long series.
11 May: Alexandre III receives a Jewish delegation that includes Horace de Gunzburg.
1882
May: Ignatyev’s “anti-Jewish laws”.
Léon Bonnat’s portrait of Henriette de Gunzburg.
1883-85
Pahlen Commission on the Jewish Question. Abrogation of the law of 1865 authorising Jewish artisans to live outside the Pale of Settlement.
1883
18 December: David de Gunzburg marries his cousin Mathilde de Gunzburg in Paris.
1884
Creation of the Russian Hibat Tsiyon society for the promotion of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
Ivan Kramskoy paints Louise de Gunzburg’s portrait.
1886
Appearance of Edouard Drumont’s anti-Semitic essay La France juive.
1887
Sale of the Gunzburg town house at 7 Rue de Tilsitt in Paris.
1890
16 May: letter from Horace de Gunzburg to Alexandre III about the rights of Jews.
1891-92
Economic crisis and famine in Russia.
1891
In London Baron Hirsch creates the Jewish Colonisation Association (JCA).
1892
As a Jew Horace loses the right to sit on the St Petersburg municipal council.
March: bankruptcy of the J. E. Gunzburg bank in St Petersburg and its branch in Paris.
1893
December: inauguration of the St Petersburg synagogue.
Exhibit devoted to the works of Mark Antokolsky at the St Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts.
1894
In France Captain Alfred Dreyfus is arrested on a charge of treason.
1896
Herzl publishes L’Etat juif.
1897
Russia adopts the gold standard.
First Zionist congress in Basle.
1898
Foundation of the Russian Social-Democratic Party.
David de Gunzburg moves his library to Vasilyevsky Island, line 1, no. 4.
1902
Marriage of Pierre de Gunzburg to Yvonne Deutsch de la Meurthe in Paris.
1904-05
Russo-Japanese War
1904
Pogrom in Kishinev.
1905
9 January: Red Sunday in St Petersburg.
14 September: Salomon de Gunzburg commits suicide in Paris.
18–20 October (31 October–2 November new style): pogrom in Kiev.
17 October: imperial manifesto promising a constitution.
1906
7 April–8 July: first Duma.
1907
20 February–2 June: second Duma.
1 November–9 June 1912: third Duma.
1908-09
David de Gunzburg provides financial support for Marc Chagall in St Petersburg.
1908
Vladimir Stasov and David de Gunzburg publish L’Ornement hébreu.
1909
19 February: death of Horace de Gunzburg in St Petersburg.
Dimitri (Berza) de Gunzburg becomes Serge Diahilev’s associate.
1910
22 December: death of David de Gunzburg in St Petersburg.
1911
Creation of the Jacques de Gunzburg & Cie Bank in Paris.
1912-15
Ansky organises the Baron Horace de Gunzburg ethnographic expedition.
1912
April: repression of the strike at the Lena gold mines.
23 April: appearance of the first issue of Pravda.
1913
Sasha and Rosa de Gunzburg move into 13 Millionnaya Street in St Petersburg.
23 September–28 October: Beilis trial in Kiev. A Jew accused of a ritual murder, Beilis is acquitted by the jury.
1914
10 June: letter from Sasha de Gunzburg to Ivan Goremykin, Chairman of the Council, about military service.
19 and 24 July (1 and 6 August new style): Germany, then Austria-Hungary declare war on Russia. St Petersburg becomes Petrograd.
October: Foundation of the Jewish Committee for Aid Reconstruction (EKOPO) in Petrograd.
1917
23–27 February (8–12 March new style): revolution in Petrograd.
2 March: formation of the provisional government. Theodore (Fedia) de Gunzburg a member of the Russian diplomatic mission sent to the United States.
3 March: abdication of Nicholas II. Abolition of the Pale of Settlement.
18 June: beginning of the Kerensky offensive on the front.
25 October (7 November new style): Armed insurrection of Bolsheviks in Petrograd.
25–27 October: Second Soviet pan-Russian conference. Decree regarding peace, land and formation of a Soviet government.
1918
Dimitri (Berza) de Gunzburg, an officer in the Savage Division, disappears in the Caucasus.
1 August: Sasha de Gunzburg is arrested in Petrograd, freed a few weeks later.
December: Sasha de Gunzburg and his family leave Russia.
1921
Gino de Gunzburg, an officer in the White Army, dies at Gallipoli from typhus.
1922
Creation of Nansen passports for refugees.
1925
France recognises the USSR.
1931
Nicky de Gunzburg gives a “bal champêtre” in the Bois de Boulogne.
1934
Aline de Gunzburg wins the French women’s golf championiship.
Nicky de Gunzburg acts in Vampyr, or the Strange Adventure of Allan Gray by Carl Theodor Dreyer.
1939
May: the Ippens, descendants of Horace de Gunzburg, leave Austria to take up residence in Nice.
1941
2 June: in France the second Jewish statute comes into force, notably prohibiting Jews from exercising the profession of bankers.
1942
“Operation Furniture” (“Möbel Aktion”) by Reichsleiter Rosenberg’s Einsatzstab (ERR) installs its offices in the home of Pierre and Yvonne de Gunzburg at 54 Avenue d’Iéna.
Many members of the Gunzburg family flee Vichy to live in the United States or in Switzerland.
Philippe de Gunzbourg organises the Resistance network in the southern Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne for the British SOE (Special Operations Executive).
26 August: Lucia Ippen is arrested in Nice and interned in the camp at Drancy.
Nanny Habig is arrested in Nice, interned at Drancy and deported to Auschwitz where she is murdered.
1943
19 January: in New York Alain de Gunzburg signs up to fight for Free France.
7 February: Monique de Gunzburg enters Switzerland with her two children.
1944
June: Alain de Gunzburg, having completed his training in the class of 18 June at the Ecole des Cadets de la France libre, is assigned to
2nd Armoured Division as a liaison officer.
1945
30 January: Yves de Gunzburg, fighting for Free France, dies in combat at Elsenheim in Alsace.