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Hitler vs. Rothschild: The National Socialist Targeting of the Rothschilds.
After the National Socialists came to power in 1933, they implemented “Aryanization” policies to expropriate Jewish-owned businesses and properties, often portraying the Rothschilds as part of a Jewish conspiracy undermining Germany’s economy.
Although the family’s original bank in Frankfurt had closed in 1901, the regime targeted lingering Rothschild-associated assets.
Streets and landmarks were renamed or altered: Rothschildallee became Karolingerallee, and plaques on Luisenplatz and Mathildenstrasse honoring family members were removed.
Properties such as the Mathilde von Rothschild Paediatric Hospital, the Georgine Sara von Rothschild Foundation, and the Rothschild residence at Grosser Wollgraben 26 were confiscated by the Gestapo.
The A.M. von Rothschild Sanatorium for Lung Diseases in the Black Forest was also seized.
At least four other Rothschild-founded institutions suffered the same fate.
Family members, including Albert, Rudolf, and Erich, sold homes in Grüneburg and Königstein under pressure and emigrated.
Albert von Rothschild later died by suicide in Switzerland.
Following the National Socialist annexation of Austria in March 1938 (known as the Anschluss), the regime seized Rothschild holdings as part of Aryanization efforts.
This included the S.M. von Rothschild bank, the influential Creditanstalt bank, Palais Rothschild properties, extensive art collections, and other financial assets, which were redistributed to National Socialist supporters with public backing.
Baron Louis de Rothschild was arrested and held for ransom at the Hotel Metropole, converted into a Gestapo headquarters.
During his detention, he encountered former Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg.
Louis was released after over a year; only after lengthy negotiations between the family and National Socialists did they agree to release him upon payment of what today is the equivalent of a (speculated) $21,000,000 ransom, believed to have been the largest bail bond in history.
With the National Socialist occupation of France in 1940 and the collaborationist Vichy regime, de Rothschild Frères banking operations, the Château Lafite vineyard, other real estate, art collections, and financial assets were confiscated or looted.
Family members like Robert and Edouard fled or went into hiding.
Philippe de Rothschild learned that the Gestapo had arrested his wife, Elisabeth de Rothschild, on charges of attempting to cross a line of demarcation with a forged permit; they deported his estranged wife in 1941 to Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she died—the cause of her death remains unresolved—on 23 March 1945.
Élisabeth reportedly died of epidemic typhus on 23 March 1945 at Ravensbrück, though Philippe’s memoir states that she was thrown into a concentration-camp oven, alive.
The Rothschilds are still suing Vienna to this day, trying to reclaim what was taken from them.
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