VEIT

VEIT , family of German bankers active also in politics and arts. judah veit (singer; 1710–1786), the son and grandson of rabbis, settled in Berlin in 1738. He married the daughter of Hirsch David, a Potsdam textile manufacturer, and himself went into the textile business. In 1780 three of his five sons – solomon veit (1751–1827), david veit (1753–1835), and simon veit (1754–1819) – established the banking partnership Gebrueder Veit. The business was a small one, specializing in money market and securities arbitrage, but it enjoyed the highest reputation both in Germany and abroad. It existed for 150 years, until the depression of 1931 forced its liquidation, but it was not until 1927 that anyone outside the family was admitted into the partnership. The eldest of the three founders of the firm, Solomon, represented the Berlin association of Bankers and Merchants of the Jewish Religion within the United Stock Exchange Corporation in 1803. He was a city councilor from 1809 to 1822, and an elder of the Jewish community. Simon married Moses *Mendelssohn 's daughter, Dorothea, but they were divorced. An older brother, joseph (1745–1831), who worked as a clerk in the family enterprise, contributed German translations from the Bible to the Mendelssohn-inspired periodical, *Ha-Me'assef. Simon's sons, johannes (1790–1854) and philipp (1793–1877), both of whom were baptized, were artists of the Nazarene school, specializing in religious paintings and portraits. Another philipp, the son of Joseph, looked after the Berlin interests of the brothers Joseph and Abraham Mendelssohn while they were residents of Hamburg between 1804 and 1811. In this same generation, one of Judah Veit's (Singer) grandsons, Moritz *Veit (1808–1864), was a publisher, liberal politician, and prominent communal leader. Three generations of Veit descendants served as board members and presidents of the Lehranstalt fuer die Wissenschaft des Judentums.

bibliography:

T. Zondek, in: blbi, 4 (1961), 171–220, index; S. Wenzel, Juedische Buerger und kommunale Selbstverwaltung in preussischen Staedten 1808 – 1848 (1967), index; E. Hamburger, in: ylbi, 9 (1964), index; idem, Juden im oeffentlichen Leben Deutschlands (1968), index.

[Hanns G. Reisnner]