MOSENTHAL

MOSENTHAL
MOSENTHAL, South African family, who, in successive generations, played a major part in the 19th-century development of the country's commerce, banking, and, especially, agricultural export trade. The family came from Hesse-Cassel, Germany, and the first to immigrate was JOSEPH MOSENTHAL (1813–1871), who settled at the Cape in 1839. He was joined by his brothers ADOLPH (1812–1882) and JULIUS (1819–1880), and the three set up in business in Cape Town as Mosenthal Brothers. The firm continued to flourish under family control until well into the 20th century. From their main business centers in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Graaff Reinet, the Mosenthals spread their activities throughout the Cape Colony, and later through the Transvaal. They established numerous trading posts in the interior and organized transport to and from the coast. Their first interest was the marketing of wool and hides, but they gradually expanded their activities to embrace gold and diamond mining, industrial enterprises, and banking. In the early years they issued their own banknotes, which were widely circulated but were withdrawn by the firm with the development of the colony's commercial banking system. The Mosenthals made a special study of ostrich farming and opened up export markets for its products. They introduced merino sheep from France and Angora goats from Turkey; Adolph Mosenthal himself went to the Black Sea to arrange for the importation of the goats after earlier attempts had failed. This was the beginning of South Africa's staple mohair industry. In 1857 Julius Mosenthal was the first professing Jew to be elected to the Legislative Council of the Eastern (Cape) Province, and Joseph Mosenthal was elected to the same body in 1861. A fourth brother, salomon hermann mosenthal , became well known as a Viennese dramatist. Other leading members of the family were HARRY (1850–1915) and WILLIAM (1861–1933), both sons of Adolph. In the 19th century, the Mosenthals helped a number of German-Jewish immigrants to settle in South Africa. Joseph Mosenthal, like his brothers, was a conforming Jew and was one of the founders of the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation in 1841. In later years the Mosenthals, like many of the other early Jewish families in South Africa, married out of the faith, and their descendants were no longer identified as Jews. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: L. Herrman, History of the Jews in South Africa (1935), index; G. Saron and H. Hotz, The Jews in South Africa… (1955), 349–52; I. Abrahams, Birth of a Community (1955), index. (Lewis Sowden)

Encyclopedia Judaica. 1971.

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  • Mosenthal — Mosenthal,   Salomon Hermann Ritter von (seit 1871), österreichischer Schriftsteller, Pseudonym Friedrich Lehner, * Kassel 14. 1. 1821, ✝ Wien 17. 2. 1877; studierte Naturwissenschaften, war ab 1843 Hauslehrer in Wien, trat 1850 in den… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Mosenthal — Mosenthal, Salomon Hermann von, dramatischer Dichter, geb. 14. Jan. 1821 in Kassel, gest. 17. Febr. 1877 in Wien, israelitischer Abkunft, studierte in Marburg, kam als Erzieher nach Wien, ward 1850 Offizial im Unterrichtsministerium und erhielt… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Mosenthal — Mosenthal, Salomon Herm., Ritter von, dramat. Dichter, geb. 14. Jan. 1821 in Cassel, israel. Abkunft, seit 1851 Archivar im österr. Unterrichtsministerium, gest. 17. Febr. 1877 in Wien; am bekanntesten seine Volksschauspiele »Deborah« (1850) und… …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Mosenthal — Salomon Hermann Mosenthal Salomon Hermann Mosenthal (* 14. Januar 1821 in Kassel; † 17. Februar 1877 in Wien) war ein zu seiner Zeit beliebter Dramatiker und Librettist. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • MOSENTHAL, SALOMON HERMANN — (1821–1877), German playwright. Mosenthal, who was born in Cassel, was a member of the mosenthal family. While studying engineering in Karlsruhe, he published his first poems under the pseudonym Friedrich Lehner, bringing him into contact with… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Mosenthal — Herman Otto, American physician, 1878–1954. See M. test …   Medical dictionary

  • Mosenthal, Solomon Hermann von — (1821 1877)    German author. He was born in Kassel. He wrote poems, stories, melodramas and opera libretti. His works include the play Deborah and a volume of stories about Jewish life …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Salomon Hermann Mosenthal — Salomon Hermann Mosenthal, Stahlstich von J. Axmann nach Josef Kriehuber, 1850 Salomon Hermann Mosenthal …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Salomon Hermann Mosenthal — Salomon Hermann Mosenthal. Salomon Hermann Mosenthal (born in Kassel, 14 January 1821; died in Vienna 17 February 1877) was a writer, dramatist, and poet of German Jewish descent who spent much of his life in Austria. He was also known for his… …   Wikipedia

  • Hermann Salomon Mosenthal — (born at Kassel, 14 January 1821; died at Vienna 17 February 1877) was an Austrian dramatist and poet also known for his opera libretti. His name is also sometimes written as Hermann Salomon von Mosenthal, Solomon Hermann Mosenthal, or Solomon… …   Wikipedia

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