Her name stands for infinite wealth and power. However, the history of the widely ramified Rothschild family is always reduced to its male members. However, the picture is incomplete without some of their wives, as historian Natalie Livingstone shows.
Undoubtedly everyone knows the Rothschild name. For some, this widely ramified family, which had its roots in the Jewish ghetto in Frankfurt am Main, is a synonym for an admirable economic ascent from almost nothing into the absolute European moneyed nobility.
For others, the name is inextricably linked to the history of Europe and European Jewry. And for a diehard few, the name stands for an alleged pursuit of some sort of world domination in the name of a nonexistent “international Jewry.”
This is just as untrue as the alleged “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, which have long since been exposed as a forgery and which nevertheless caused a great deal of mischief. However, given their wealth, it is not surprising that the Rothschilds have repeatedly been the center of attention for centuries. That it is actually almost exclusively about the male Rothschilds, just as little. Because historiography is largely fixed on men, and at least until recently this was also true of the international financial world.
“Nearly everything about the Rothschilds – all the books and articles, the columns, the myths, the films and the plays – is all about the men of the family,” observed historian Natalie Livingstone. It’s a shame, the Brit thought, and set about researching and describing something that had hitherto largely sunk in the shadows of the past: the history of Rothschild women.
What she found out is amazing. Livingstone published the results of her research in her highly readable book The Rothschild Wives. The underestimated lineage of the most powerful dynasty in the world”.
The Rothschild wives: The underrated lineage of the world’s most powerful dynasty
Natalie Livingstone
The aim was not to retell the individual stories and biographies of all Rothschild women. That would have resulted in a kind of handbook that, at best, a few scientists would have put on the shelf. But Livingstone’s concern is unmistakable, to present at least a few of the most interesting female members of the family, who had such an impact on society and also played a role in the gossip columns of the newspapers, to the broadest possible public. The author’s focus on the British branch of the family makes sense. Otherwise the framework of a readable book would have been blown up.
It is actually quite obvious that the Rothschild women always played a role in the life and activities of the family. Because this family never limited them to the financial sector, but their influence went far beyond that into literature, education, sports, natural sciences, horticulture, music and also politics. And so the women were also active in all these areas – and during their lifetime this was also perceived in public. But later it was forgotten.
Livingstone herself came up with her subject through an essay by Miriam Rothschild (1908-2005) on her female family members. After reading, she was packed and set to work. Miriam in particular is one of the best examples of the role played by the women of the Rothschilds – and what even more important roles they might have played if they had not been women and had had other opportunities.
Miriam was, as Livingstone describes her, a typical polymath of the 20th century. She worked as a brilliant zoologist, who was referred to in professional circles as the “Queen of Fleas” because she dealt intensively and successfully with these wingless insects. She earned lasting merit, although she had not even studied the subject. She became a pioneer of the early environmental movement, becoming the first woman to sit on the board of directors of the Natural History Museum in London.
She also dealt with topics such as schizophrenia and horticulture. During World War II, the War Office remembered her skills and sent her to work at Bletchley Park, where experts deciphered German radio messages, making an important contribution to the victory over Nazi Germany. Every day she worked from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. the following day, decoding radio messages from the German Navy.
Two other Rothschild women, Dolly and Rószika, played significant roles in international politics years earlier. When the idea of Zionism found more and more followers during the First World War, the two supported Chaim Weizmann, an important representative of the Zionist world organization.
They worked the men of their family on his behalf, which was no easy task, because the Rothschilds had always rejected the idea of their own Jewish state and advocated assimilation of the Jews into the societies of their countries as far as possible.
Dolly and Rószika also used their connections to give Weizmann contacts in British politics. The government in London played a crucial role, as it held the League of Nations’ mandate for the territory in Palestine on which many Jews in Europe pinned their hopes for a state of their own.
Like Miriam, Nica Rothschild (1913 to 1988) was another Rothschild woman who worked for the Allies during the war. Among other things, she worked in Cairo in the supply department for the troops of the Forces francaises libres, i.e. the parts of the French army that had not surrendered after the capitulation in June 1940 but continued to fight against Germany.
She then moved to mainland Italy, where she assisted in the recovery and identification of bodies. The fact that Nica later became an important promoter of jazz music in New York shows the wide range of interests and abilities of many Rothschild women.
Without its female members, the Rothschild family could hardly have achieved the rise it has experienced. The fact that it was primarily men who were involved is because women were denied for far too long the opportunity to participate in the fate of society, politics, science, art or culture – but certainly not in their abilities.
Nevertheless, it makes no sense to inevitably put women in the foreground, because history can no longer be changed after the fact. However, Livingstone’s book on the Rothschild wives shows that there are a number of them who absolutely must still be brought out of the darkness of the past.
