Arnold Bernstein

Arnold Bernstein was born on January 23, 1888, to a German-Jewish family in Breslau, which was at that time the capital of the Prussian province of Silesia (today Wroc & 322; aw, Poland).[[2]]( Max and Francisca Bernstein, his parents, who were members of an evolving Jewish middle class, wanted to give their children Else, Arnold, Alice, and Rose the best available general education.[[3]]( Thus, they followed the path of acculturation, which many German Jews had taken, and felt reassured by the final emancipation of the Jews in the German Empire in 1871.[[4]]( In his memoir, Bernstein recounted that “morality, love, good manners and hospitality”[[5]]( were key elements of the parents’ household in Silesia. In contrast to the family values of Bildung and Kultur (education and culture), however, Bernstein described himself in his memoir as a “lazy, unruly and obstante [sic!]”[[6]]( child, who was interested neither in learning nor in a good education. Due to this fact, his school years were not a success story and led to his appointment as an apprentice in the business of his father. Max Bernstein, who had worked for the company Jacob Hamburger & Sohn, which bought and sold alcohol, founded his own business in the same field of expertise in 1902 and introduced Bernstein junior to this business world.[[7]]( This new atmosphere of strict work ethics and an honor code changed Arnold’s attitude towards life and work. Even though he later thought that the early years of his career could have been much more effective, he successfully finished his apprenticeship and established himself as a salesman in the Silesian setting. But his free spirit and eagerness to create something new eventually conflicted with the limited opportunities and restricted personal freedom in his hometown of Breslau. Consequently, in 1909 he decided to move to the vibrant Hanseatic port city of Hamburg, starting there as a young and promising, but relatively poor and inexperienced businessman all over again. As an intern at the German branch of the U.S. company Quaker Oats in Hamburg, he established important business contacts and started his own business career. When he realized that his prospects at the Quaker Oats Company were limited, he decided to leave for London in order to gather international working experience and forge connections. In 1911, he returned to Breslau and joined the family business again, which, to his surprise, was ill-managed, misguided, and in severe financial difficulties. It eventually went bankrupt, which for young Arnold made his father and family appear in a different light.[[8]]( Until then my father had been the great business man, and working under him I felt safe and protected. Suddenly I became aware that he was a weak man, and I cannot describe how depressed this made me feel. I felt naked, just as an inexperienced sailor must feel if he suddenly has to take the wheel.[[9]]( The financial disaster of the family’s business spurred Bernstein’s decision to become an independent businessman. He left Breslau once more and restarted his career in Hamburg, where he already had some business contacts and friends.[[10]]( Despite the financial and personal difficulties, his move to Hamburg emerged as an important step for Bernstein. In the free atmosphere of Hamburg, he celebrated his first economic successes and made the acquaintance of Lilli Kimmelstiel (born June 20, 1896, in Hamburg), who became his wife a few years later.[[11]]( Lilli came from a well-to-do bourgeois Jewish family in Hamburg and symbolized the successful integration of Jews into the society of the Hanseatic port city.[[12]]( She gave Bernstein a new sense of home and belonging, which he had neglected or even dismissed as unimportant up until then.[[13]]( The engagement of Arnold and Lilli Bernstein —the marriage took place shortly after the First World War (April 30, 1919/May 1, 1919)—laid the basis for a specific perception of home based on traditional f