Georg Arnhold

Georg Arnhold was born to a Jewish family in Dessau, Saxony, in 1859. His father, Adolph, was a physician and his mother, Mathilde Arnhold (née Cohn), was a bankierstochter (banker's daughter).^[1] His brother, Max, had co-founded a private bank in 1864.^[2] In 1875 Arnold left school and joined the bank as an apprentice, becoming co-owner alongside his brother in 1881.^[3]

The firm started as a boutique investment bank, funding industries that were overlooked by larger banks. It became one of the largest stakeholders of brewery and porcelain companies in the Dresden region.^[4] Arnhold became president of the Dresden stock market, and in 1907 opened a Berlin branch.^[2] After World War 1, it was among the first German banks to heavily invest in the U.S. capital markets.^[5] By 1920 it was one of the five largest banks in Germany; all were Jewish owned. The bank internationally expanded, with offices in Vienna, New York City, Zurich and Amsterdam, and became heavily in volved with municipal and government bonds.^[6]

Around 1900 Arnhold became a dedicated pacifist. He was involved in the founding of German Peace Society and established a local group. He attended multiple European pacifist congresses and for several years funded the academic international peace journal Die Friedenswarte. He participated in the establishment of the pacifist organization Band Neues Vatertland in November 1914, along with Albert Einstein and Lilli Jannasch, among others. He was a strong supporter of Esperanto, as part of his pacifist ideals. By 1920, "in keeping with older socially conservative pacifism," he became convinced that the German pacifist movement had become too radical.^[7]

With his brother Max, he supported non-profit organizations without regard to religion or political opinion, with an emphasis on youth development and the arts.^[8] His family has been called an "important patron" of Dresden and Technische Universität Dresden; The university bestowed the title of Honorary Senator to him. In 1924 he donated 300,000 Reichsmarks for a bathing establishment in the city.^[9].