The two references below give us some important information about Max Cassirer, his career and his family.  First there is a good deal of detail about Max Cassirer in the Biography, including his early schooling at High School in Kattowitz, and university study in Breslau and Berlin.  Then the beginnings of his business career: the 1881 startup of his wood export firm in Danzig, his move to Charlottenburg in Berlin, the establishment of the Gebr J (Julius) and M (Max) Cassirer timber company in 1890 and then his election as a member of the Charlottenburg town council in 1893, a post he held until 1909.  His home addresses are given in Lutherstrasse 51, Rankestrasse 5, Joachimstaler Strasse 9 and what is now Bundesallee 182.  He held a number of senior business posts (including Chairman of the Boards of Directors of the cellulose factory in Ziegenhals, Upper Silesia and the Dr. Cassirer & Co cable works AG Berlin, and he was made a member of the National Federation of German Industry).  Consistent with his commitment to his country he raised money for the military, and also played a role with the Technical University of Charlottenburg. Finally he was a benefactor, promoting the Odewaldschule, providing support for the arts, and donating the Gaul scuplted Duck Fountain.   All of this speaks of a career of considerable public service, sadly rewarded under Hitler by the takeover of his businesses and his forced emigration around 1938 to Great Britain, where he lived until his death in 1943 in Wales.  Beyond this valuable biographical picture we may also observe the following details: (i) There is a grave with a monument sculpted by August Gaul in the Friedhof Heerstrasse cemetery in Berlin. The grave is now occupied by the remains of Hans Maria Wingler a historian of the Bauhaus movement.  According to the note, prior to Wingler being interred there “In 1928 Hedwig Cassirer and the (her) son Franz who died young in 1912 were burried here.”  Max and his wife Hedwig Freund had a son Franz, so this fits.  There is a record that one son Franz committed suicide.  This could explain the reference to “Franz who died young”. The note goes on to say: “Das Monument erinnerte später auch an den 1943 in der englischen Emigration verstorben Max Cassirer. Trotz seiner großen Verdienste um die Stadt Charlottenburg wurde das Grabmal 1984 neu vergeben; die Inschriften der Familie Cassirer wurden zerstört.” (Later the monument was also supposed to remember Max Cassirer, who in 1943 emigrated to England and died there. In spite of the great services he rendered to the city of Charlottenburg the tomb was reused; the inscriptions of the Cassirer family were destroyed.“) So Max was ”remembered“ for less than 20 years.   <http://www.bildhauerei-in-berlin.de/_html/_katalog/_details.php?id=2303> The reference to  ‘Oberschlesien’ is open to confusion: in 1857 there was only Silesia as a Prussian province and after 1920 Schwientochlowitz was in Poland, reunited with Germany and then in Oberschlesien for the years 1939-45. (ii) According to the Ellis Island Shipping records, Franz, age 24, arrived in 1910, to visit a friend Dr. F. Grumbacher and stayed at the Astor.  His next of kin at home was listed as father, Stadtrat [Town Councellor] Cassirer of Charlottenberg, Augsburgerstr. 54. The next year, Friedrich Wilhelm Cassirer, age 23, who gave his next of kin as I. M. Cassirer (Isidor) also of 54 Augsburgerstr, Berlin W 50 arrived also at Ellis Island.  Franz was 5’4”, fair, brown hair, gray eyes. http://www.ellisisland.org; see also F. Grumbacher: <http://fecalgram.com/site/about> The reference to Stadtrat (Town Councelor) strongly suggests the father was Max Cassirer, who indeed had a son Franz who died ‘young’ in 1912.  This suggests that the Franz referred to here was Max Cassirer’s son but that he lived at the same place as Isidor Cassirer’s son Friedrich.  (The alternative but less probable explanation is that this young Franz was one of Isidor Cassirer’s sons.  It is less probable, because Max is famous as the brother who was active in municipial politics, whereas there is no suggestion that Isidor played any such role.) (iii) We may understand the common location of Franz and Isidor from the following.  Max Cassirer and Isidor Cassirer had a common business , situated at a timber yard at  Nürnberger, Augsburger and Geisbergstrasse (south of Wittenbergplatz, KaDeWe) (“J. & M. Cassirer befand sich ab 1890 auf einem Holzplatz Nürnberger, Augsburger und Geisbergstraße.” (J. & M. Cassirer since 1890 was situated on a timber-yard at N., A. and G.strasse.) This is from: <http://www.berlingeschichte.de/Lexikon/Chawi/c/Cassirer_Max.htm> . There’s also a date about Max being Charlottenburg councillor: “M. wurde 1893 Mitglied der Stadtverordnetenversammlung Charlottenburg und am 6.1.1909 zum Stadtrat gewählt.” (In 1893 Max became member of the councillor’s assembly of Charlottenburg and as of Jan. 6 1909 he was elected Town Councillor.) But Max Cassirer didn’t live at the Augsburgerstrasse (“M. wohnte um 1890 Lutherstraße 51, 1895 Rankestraße 5, 1900 Joachimstaler Straße 9 und danach bis 1936 Kaiserallee (heute Bundesallee) 182.” (He resided in 1900 at Joachimsthaler Strasse 9 and from then on till 1936 at Kaiserallee - today Bundesallee - 182.) The above suggests that if the  councillor was Max Cassirer, and Isidor and Max had their business together perhaps also they had some sort of dwelling house somewhere at the Augsburger Strasse.  If so, this explains why it is possible that the young Friedrich Cassirer lived there with his cousin Franz at the same place. [with thanks to Expat* and Irene Newhouse for assistance with this research]

			German original of note

			Modified automatic translation to English (from Google)

			Original in German

			Modified automatic translation to English (from Google)

			Duck Fountain German Text

			Duck Fountain rough English Translation

			Pictures of the Duck Fountain