About the Mosse Foundation

The Mosse Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring the philanthropic legacy of the Mosse family by supporting innovative cultural and academic institutions around the world. Led by brothers Roger and Hans Strauch, descendants of the Mosses by marriage, the foundation continues the family’s long history of charitable works, academic achievements, patronage of the arts and sciences, and defense of democratic ideals.

The Mosses were a German-Jewish family, and their patriarch Rudolf Mosse led a phenomenally successful publishing empire that boasted over 130 newspapers and journals at its peak in the early 20th century, including their flagship publication, the Berliner Tageblatt, known as “the New York Times of Germany.” Rudolf and his wife, Emilie, were proud supporters of the German arts, most notably through the massive Mosse Art Collection, and they funded numerous charitable ventures that cared for orphans, the sick, and the underprivileged in Berlin.

Rudolf and Emilie’s daughter Felicia inherited the empire in the 1920s, and her husband Hans Lachmann-Mosse ran the business. His newspapers strongly opposed the rise of fascism in Germany, advocating for democratic ideals, and the Mosses were exiled when Hitler came to power, their assets seized and sold off by the Nazis.

Hans and Felicia’s children found success in America. Hilde Mosse was a noted doctor and psychiatrist who dealt with children’s mental health and learning issues, Rudolf was an analyst for the US State Department, George Mosse became a world-renowned historian and scholar of the Third Reich, and Hans’ stepson from his second marriage, Karl Strauch, was a noted particle physicist and Chairman of the Harvard Physics Department.

Karl’s sons, Roger and Hans, are co-Trustees of The Mosse Foundation, and continue to build on their family’s work. They partner with institutions that champion individual liberty and expression while also nurturing and implementing innovations to provide collective security for all, holding to their family’s dedication to democratic ideals, embrace of the sciences, and commitment to philanthropy and the arts.

The Mosse Foundation looks to the future, supporting the next generation of scientists, engineers, artists, architects, technology entrepreneurs, educators and social service providers through partnerships with leading universities and the endowment of several academic positions. Their partners create and apply new knowledge to address society’s aspirations and challenges as it relates to individual liberties and collective security. The Global Mosse Lecture Series encompasses the arts, sciences, and more with a multidisciplinary program of talks at prominent universities around the world where innovative thinkers address the pressing issues of the day. The Mosse Art Restitution Project works to find and recover the vast Mosse Art Collection stolen and sold off by the Third Reich, and has restituted dozens of pieces in what has been the world’s largest and most successful recovery project of stolen Nazi artifacts. The foundation also supports children’s education and mental health, democratic advocacy groups, trailblazing theater work, and public broadcasting at institutions across America.

Roger and Hans hold to the values that have epitomized the Mosses across generations, and The Mosse Foundation continues the family’s varied and impactful work to honor their inspirational legacy.

A Note on the Logo

The Mosse Foundation logo incorporates
the herald of the Berliner Tageblatt, the
Mosses’ flagship newspaper. The
publication was a bastion of democratic
values, standing strong against the rise
of fascism in Germany in the 1920s and
1930s, and The Mosse Foundation
embraces this symbol of dedication to
individual liberty and expression.