Ephrussi family
The Ephrussi family is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family. The family's bank and properties were seized by the Nazi authorities after the 1938 "Anschluss", the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany.
History
The Ephrussi family progenitor was Charles Joachim Ephrussi from Berdichev, Ukraine. He made a fortune controlling grain distribution beginning in the free port of Odesa and later controlled large-scale oil resources across Crimea and the Caucasus. By 1860, the family was the world's largest exporter of wheat.Charles Joachim's eldest son, Leonid, founded a bank in Odesa, while his brother Ignaz moved to the Austrian capital, Vienna, where he established the Ephrussi & Co. banking house in 1856. In 1872, he was elevated to the noble rank of Ritter by Habsburg emperor Franz Joseph I. In 1871, Leonid, together with his younger half-brothers Michel and Maurice Ephrussi, founded a branch in Paris, followed by subsidiaries in London and Athens.
During the 19th century, the family possessed vast wealth and owned many castles, palaces, and estates in Europe. The family members were known for their connoisseurship, intellectual interests, and their huge collections of art. Leonid's son Charles Ephrussi, a well-known art historian, collector and editor, became a model for the character of Charles Swann in Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time.
The family name is considered to be a variation of Ephrati, as a reference to "Ephraim" in 1 Samuel, a Hebrew family name attested in the 14th century in the Iberian Peninsula as Efrati and later in central Europe and Russia as Ephrati or Ephrussi.
Notable members
Notable members of the Ephrussi family include:- Ignace von Ephrussi, Austrian banker
- Michel Ephrussi, French banker
- Jules Ephrussi, French banker
- Charles Ephrussi, art historian, proprietor of the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, an inspiration for Charles Swann in Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu
- Maurice Ephrussi, French banker
- Viktor von Ephrussi, Austrian banker
- Béatrice de Rothschild-Ephrussi, member of the Rothschild family and wife of Maurice Ephrussi
- Fanny Reinach
- Elisabeth de Waal
- Gisela von Ephrussi
- Ignace von Ephrussi
- Rudolf von Ephrussi
- Robert de Waal
- Victor de Waal, British Anglican priest, former Dean of Canterbury
- Constant Hendrik de Waal, became Sir Henry de Waal, First Parliamentary Counsel 1987–1991
- Hendrik de Waal, real estate developer
- Anne Ephrussi, group leader at EMBL since 1992, head of the Developmental Biology Unit since 2007
- John de Waal, British barrister
- Alexander de Waal, British writer and journalist, executive director of World Peace Foundation, founder of human rights organisations African Rights and Justice Africa, director of Social Science Research Council on AIDS New York
- Edmund de Waal, British potter, author of The Hare with Amber Eyes
- Thomas de Waal, British journalist, Caucasus expert, Caucasus editor at Institute for War and Peace Reporting, senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Properties
Notable properties of the family included:- Palais Ephrussi, a Ringstraßenpalais in Vienna
- Hôtel de Breteuil, 12 avenue Foch, Paris
- Hôtel Michel Ephrussi, 81, Paris
- Hôtel Jules Ephrussi, 2 place des États-Unis, Paris
- Hôtel Charles Ephrussi, 11 avenue d'Iéna, Paris
- Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the Côte d'Azur
- Villa Kerylos in Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the Côte d'Azur
Other Ephrussi
Descendants of the Kishinev banker Joseph Ephrusi :- Boris Ephrussi — Russo-French geneticist, Professor of Genetics at the University of Paris.
- – Russian economist and journalist, member of the Russkoye Bogatstvo monthly magazine, brother of Perla Ephrussi and.
- Perla Ephrussi – Russian educational psychologist.
- — Soviet pediatric researcher.
- Yakov Ephrussi — Soviet engineer, innovator in the field of television technology, nephew of and.