Ginzburg Family, bankers, entrepreneurs

Categories / Economy/Personalia
GINZBURG FAMILY, bankers, entrepreneurs, public figures. Progenitor Evzel Gabrielovich Ginzburg (1812-78), first-guild merchant from Vitebsk and hereditary honorary citizen, opened a banking house in St. Petersburg in 1859, which became one of the largest banks in the capital in the 1860-80s. He took an active part in founding a number of industrial enterprises, insurance companies, and ten joint-stock banks, including the St. Petersburg Discount and Loan Bank. The business passed to his son Goratsi Evzelevich Ginzburg (1832-1909, died in St. Petersburg, buried in Paris) in 1878 who was renowned as a Hebraist. He participated in building St. Petersburg Archaeological Institute and the Institute of Experimental Medicine and paid for construction of a Choral Synagogue in St. Petersburg. In 1879 the Ginzburg family received the Emperor's permission to use the baronage, which had been granted to G. E. Ginzburg by Duke Ludwig III of Hessen-Darmstadt in 1870. After the Ginzburg Banking House ceased its operations in 1892, the family mostly focused on industry and gold mining. The Ginzburg family played an important role in forming a Jewish community in St. Petersburg and organising and financing Jewish charitable and educational institutions. They also took part in founding the Educational Society of Russian Jews in 1863, which they headed over a long period of time. G. E. Ginzburg's son David Goratsievich (1857-1910, St. Petersburg) was an Eastern Studies scholar and founding member of the Jewish Historical and Ethnographic Society, organiser of Oriental Studies Courses. He was buried at the Jewish Cemetery.

Reference: Ананьич Б. В. Банкирские дома в России, 1860-1914 гг. Л., 1991. Б. П. Ginzburg David Goratsievich
Ginzburg Evzel Gabrielovich
Ginzburg Horace Evzelevich
Louis III, Grand Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt
the Ginzburgs
Ананьич Б. В. Банкирские дома в России, 1860-1914 гг. Л., 1991 St. Petersburg Discount and Loan Bank
Archaeological Institute
Institute of Experimental Medicine
Synagogue Grand Choral
Jewish Historical and Ethnographic Society
Jewish Cemetery