The Ephrussi family (French pronunciation:[ɛfʁysi]) 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 (1792–1864), from
Berdichev,
Ukraine. He made a fortune controlling grain distribution beginning in the
free port of
Odesa (then
Russian Empire, now Ukraine)[1] and later controlled large-scale oil resources across
Crimea and the
Caucasus. By 1860, the family was the world’s largest exporter of
wheat.[1]
Charles Joachim's eldest son, Leonid (d. 1877), founded a bank in Odesa, while his brother Ignaz (1829–1899) 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 (1845–1914) and
Maurice Ephrussi (1849–1916), 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.[2] Leonid's son
Charles Ephrussi (1849–1905), 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 Samuel1:1, a
Hebrew family name attested in the 14th century in the
Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) as Efrati and later in central Europe and Russia as Ephrati or Ephrussi.[3]
Alexander de Waal (born 1963), 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
Thomas de Waal (born 1966), British journalist (BBC, The Moscow Times and The Times), Caucasus expert, Caucasus editor at Institute for War and Peace Reporting, senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace