The Cassirers were a remarkable German Jewish family – highly successful in business and leaders of European culture. Their circle included intellectuals, artists and scientists from Einstein and Van Gogh to Thomas Mann, Max Beckmann and Delius. Major collectors and patrons of the arts, they introduced the Impressionists to Germany, founded a famous progressive school attended by Thomas Mann’s son Klaus and Raymond Klibanksy and were instrumental in the foundation of the Warburg Library in Hamburg. Ernst Cassirer, the philosopher, is perhaps the best-known member of this generation, but Richard Cassirer the neurologist, and Paul and Bruno Cassirer, the art publishers, also made a significant mark on society. The Second World War and the Holocaust fragmented the family, driving most of its members from Germany to Britain, Sweden and America and much of the family’s wealth and art collections were stolen. But even in exile, the family continued and continues to have an impact, particularly in the arts and in academia.
This talk by Dr. Juliet Sychrava gives a brief overview of the family, touching on its origins and focusing on some of the influential individuals who lived and worked between the end of the 19th century and WW2. In particular, it looks at some of the paintings, photographs and other objects that were significant in the family’s life, and what they reveal both about the Cassirers and their times. It is a personal view from a Cassirer descendant which draws on family memories as well as published and unpublished material to look back from England today to the family’s heyday in early 20th century Germany.
Dr Juliet Sychrava holds a D Phil (English, Philosophy) from Corpus Christi College, Oxford. She is the author of Schiller to Derrida: Idealism in Aesthetics (Cambridge University Press 2010). She had a career as a financial journalist, in corporate communications, and in sustainability; she is now retired and is working on a book about her family.
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