The Mosse family patriarch, Rudolf Mosse, was born in a small town in Prussia in 1843, the sixth of fourteen children in the German-Jewish family. He moved to Berlin as a young man and launched an advertising firm, revolutionizing the underdeveloped field with innovative ideas like newspaper advertisement supplements. Rudolf then moved into the newspaper game directly, founding theBerliner Tageblatt in 1971, and quickly found phenomenal success. His business grew into one of the largest publishing empires in Germany, and by the early 20th century he published over 130 newspapers, journals, and periodicals. The Berliner Tageblatt remained the empire’s flagship title, a well-respected liberal newspaper that was known as “the New York Times of Germany.” 

Rudolf married Emilie Lowenstein in 1874, and the couple adopted a daughter, Felicia, in 1889. Felicia was Rudolf’s illegitimate daughter with another woman, but she was welcomed into their home and became the sole heir of the Mosse empire.

The Mosses were patrons of the arts and education, and used their fortune to fund a wide array of charitable endeavors. They founded a home for children of impoverished families, the Emilie und Rudolf Mosse-Stiftung, and financed several hospitals and educational institutions throughout Germany, including the Kaiser- und Kaiserin-Friedrich-Krankenhaus in Berlin. Rudolf and Emilie took care of their hundreds of employees as well, establishing a social security insurance fund to support them. 

Rudolf received an honorary degree from the University of Heidelberg for his philanthropic work, while Emilie was awarded the Wilhelmsorden (Wilhelm Medal) from Kaiser Wilhelm II, an unprecedented honor for a Jewish woman. Emilie was the driver of many of the Mosse’s charitable endeavors, and in 1884 she co-founded the Mädchenhort, an association that supported working mothers and young girls with hostels and educational programs. The Mädchenhort proved popular and soon expanded its operations, and Emilie supplemented the association’s government grants with her own money to fund this growth.

The Mosses were part of Berlin’s high society and believed in the importance of integrating Jewish citizens into German life, but they never forgot their roots. Rudolf published several Jewish newspapers, and the Mosses funded a variety of Jewish children’s homes and educational institutions. The Mosse family was also recognized as leaders of the Berlin Jewish Reform Community, and Rudolf backed the Deutsche Freisinnige Partei (German Freethinking Party), which advocated for the establishment of a constitutional democracy that would give everyone a voice in government.

Rudolf and Emilie’s home in Berlin, the Mosse-Palais in Potsdamer Platz, was erected between 1881 and 1885 and housed the distinguished Mosse Art Collection. An avid art collector, Rudolf was passionate about supporting contemporary German artists, and he opened his collection to the public so they could experience everything that German art culture had to offer. Paintings made up the bulk of the collection, which also included sculptures and antiques, and all of the artwork at the Mosse-Palais could be viewed for a small fee. The money collected was donated to charity. Rudolf believed in showcasing the beauty of German life, and sharing that beauty with all.

Rudolf passed away in 1920, one of the richest men in Germany. Emilie followed a few years later, and the empire passed on to Felicia, whose husband Hans led the company through Germany’s darkest days.

Additional German Resources:

Die Familie Mosse: Deutsch-jüdisches Bürgertum im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert by Elisabeth Kraus

Die Mosse-Frauen: Deutsch-jüdische Lebensgeschichten by Elisabeth Wagner