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Elie RothschildBanker and industrialist
Date of Birth: 29.05.1917
Country:  Austria |
Content:
- Biography of Eli Rothschild
- World War II and Imprisonment
- Marriage and Family
- Post-War Life and Accomplishments
- Later Life and Death
Biography of Eli Rothschild
Early Life and FamilyEli de Rothschild was born on May 29, 1917, as the youngest son of Baron Robert Philippe de Rothschild and Nelly Beer. His father, along with his cousin Baron Edouard Alphonse de Rothschild, owned a share in the family banking enterprise. Eli's mother Nelly was the daughter of Edmond Beer and a relative of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. His younger sister, Marie-Louise Beer, continued the family tradition and married into the English branch of the family, Lionel Nathan de Rothschild. Eli, along with his brother Alain and sisters Diana and Cecile, grew up in Chateau de Laversine in Chantilly and the family mansion on the Rue Marigny in Paris, near the Elysee Palace.
World War II and Imprisonment
In 1940, when Nazi Germany invaded France, Eli de Rothschild and his brother served in a cavalry regiment. They were both captured near the Belgian border. Eli was sent to a prisoner of war camp near Hamburg. When it was discovered that the prisoners were planning an escape, Rothschild was transferred to Colditz Castle, located between Dresden and Leipzig. During the war, Colditz served as a prison for particularly important captives. He was later transferred to Lubeck, one of the strictest POW camps, where he reunited with his brother. They were fortunate to be treated as officer prisoners rather than Jewish individuals who were targeted for extermination in concentration camps.
Marriage and Family
While still in captivity at Colditz, Eli de Rothschild married Lilian Fuller-Springer by proxy, much to the dismay of Lilian's mother, who disapproved of her daughter marrying a Jew during the Nazi occupation of France. The couple had three children: Nathaniel, Elizabeth, and Nelly.
Post-War Life and Accomplishments
After the war, the Rothschild brothers and their wives returned to the family mansion on Rue Marigny, which had been used as the headquarters of the Luftwaffe during the occupation. In the 1950s, Eli and his wife moved to a house on Masseran Street, where they assembled a magnificent art collection that included works by Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Dubuffet, and Picasso. Part of this collection was later donated to the Louvre and other museums.
Through the efforts of the Rothschild brothers and their cousin Guy de Rothschild, the family bank and the Northern Railroad Company were restored. Eli was able to regain control of the family's winemaking business, which produces the renowned wines Château Lafite-Rothschild and Carruades de Lafite, in partnership with Alain, Guy, and their English cousin Jimmy de Rothschild. He also led the family-owned railway company and a network of hotels, motels, and restaurants.
Eli Rothschild was friends with race car enthusiast and Prince Ali Khan, as well as Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli, the founder of Fiat. In 1954, he almost entered into a romance with socialite and beauty Pamela Churchill, who had a habit of marrying wealthy and influential men, but Lilian quickly put an end to the rivalry.
Later Life and Death
In 1974, Eli handed over the management of the vineyards to his nephew Eric de Rothschild, Alain's son. Eli de Rothschild passed away on August 6, 2007, from a heart attack at his hunting lodge in the Sharnitz estate near Innsbruck, Austria, a place he loved to visit for hunting. Baroness Lilian de Rothschild had passed away in 2003.
