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The Jacquier and Securius Bank was a prominent private bank founded in 1817 by August Jacquier and Henrich Securius. The bank's headquarters were located in central Berlin in a building nicknamed the Red Castle (German: Rotes Schloß). Originally under Jewish ownership, the bank was arayanised in 1931 at which point Richard Lenz and Robert Kraus became the majority stakeholders.

Founding
The Jacquier and Securius Bank was founded on August 11th 1817 Friedrich Wilhelm Jacquier and John August Securius. Jacquier and Securius had previously worked together at the Huguenot banking firm L. Guillemot and F.W. Jacquier, serving as senior partner and treasurer respectively. Initially, the bank's main clients were small and medium-sized businesses whose money was invested in fixed income securities. Yet by the turn of the century, the bank diversified by investing in industrial businesses.

Three "Self-Made" Men
In 1872, Hermann Frenkel was a senior manager of the Berlin Commercial and Exchange Bank, a subsidiary bank under the Jacquier and Securius umbrella. When this offshoot bank was liquidated on July 1st 1878, Frenkel, along with certain other members of staff was absorbed into Jacquier and Securius. Frenkel rose quickly; at the tender age of 28, he became one of the bank's three partners. By 1902, Frenkel had developed into the bank's leading figure; Jacquier's involvement had faded as he aged and Securius had long since ceded his share of the bank's assets to close friend, Sigismund Samuel. In November of 1902, Frenkel bought out his partners with a capital investment equalling some 900,000 German gold marks. Within the next year, Frenkel took on two junior partners - Albert Pinkuss and Eugene Panofsky. Pinkuss, Frenkel's brother-in-law was a pioneer of German soft coal mining with wealth estimated at 8,100,000 marks. Panofsky, started as a cashier at Jacquier and Securius in 1875. He was politically active and sat on the boards of a number of municipal committees. Impressed with his political clout, "Frenkel realised... his value as a potential partner and quickly promoted him."

Keeping it in the Family
Arthur Frenkel, the eldest son of Hermann Frenkel became a partner in 1918. A year later, together with his father and Eugen Panofsky, his brother Erich and family friend Max Landesmann were admitted as partners. In 1924, Alfred Panofsky assumed his father's position in the bank. After six years of middling success, in December 1925, Arthur Frenkel ceded his profit share to his younger and more talented brother.

The Involvement of Friedrich Minoux
In 1923, Friedrich Minoux, one of the most enigmatic figures of the Weimar period, invested one million German gold marks to buy a share of Jacquier and Securius in order to secure liquidity for his various business interests. "This sum comprised a quarter of the bank's capital." During his time as partner of the bank, Minoux took part in a 150 million German gold mark project to build canals in Constantinople. Led by Minoux and followed by a consortium of other banks, Jacquier and Securius secured a "majority of stock in cigarette maker August Batschari. On January 31st 1931, Minoux sold his stake in Jacquier and Securius, yet he retained his offices within the bank's headquarters.

Gleichschaltung
Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933 wrought serious political, economic and social changes within Germany. The process of Gleichschaltung (English: Bringing into line) implied systematic social and economic discrimination against jews. However, the need to maintain a sound banking system meant that Jacquier and Securius was not subject to serious discrimination until the mid-1930's. That said, even the 'reasonable' conditions required by Gleichschaltung were enough to convince Erich Frenkel that he "had no future in Germany."

'Aryan' Partners
In the summer of 1933, Jacquier and Securius was more or less assigned a new partner by the incumbent government. Gerhard Ueltzen, became the bank's newest partner though according to all accounts "turned out to be not very reliable." Max Landesmann, who had had an interest in the banking house since 1919, was told to leave the company and Alfred Panofsky, the son of former partner Eugene Panofsky was blocked from management for some months. Futhermore, the Reichsbank demanded that another 'Aryan' partner be integrated into the bank. However, this time the Jewish bankers were allowed to select this new partner themselves. The man chosen was Robert Kraus.

The Process of Aryanisation (1938)
Since the beginning of 1937, the remaining bankers had been trying to sell Jacquier and Securius, but had been unable to do so. Alfred Panofsky's intention had been to liquidate the banking house and emigrate. Finally, a deal was reached with Robert Kraus, one of the current partners and Richard Lenz. Lenz had prospered hugely in the five years following Hitler's takeover of power. He was a member of the Nazi Party and had used his connections with Friedrich Reinhart, the president of the stock exchange and avid supporter of authoritarian government to develop Richard Lenz and Co. into a prosperous business.

Alfred Panofsky and Co. in Liquidation
As of March 1st 1938, Richard Lenz and Robert Kraus took over accounts receivable and payable for 3,600,000 Reichmarks (RM) and the name of the formerly Jewish banking house. The bank itself, for all intents and purposes fully arayanised, changed its name to Alfred Panofsky and Co. in Liquidation.

Operations under Richard Lenz and Robert Kraus
The new Jacquier and Securius desperately needed start-up capital to stay afloat in the short term. This investment was provided by Deutsche Bank which contributed one million RM as silent investor. Another half a million RM came from the pockets of Richard Lenz himself. Negotiations on behalf of Deutsche Bank were conducted by Hermann Josef Abs and Eduard Mosler. The state participated through the Reich's commissioner for lending, Friedrich Ernst. Richard Lenz wasted little time in taking advantage of the situation he found himself in. He took over five other small Jewish banks under the name of Jaquier and Securius. Unfortunately for Lenz and Kraus, the vast majority of the acquired clients were also Jewish. As discrimination continued, even their most wealthy clients faced impoverishment. By 1938, a third of original equity had been lost. In 1945, the business was shut down and Deutsche Bank was repaid through release of equity capital.

Harbouring Jews?
From 1938 onwards, at least five Jewish employees worked for Jacquier and Securius under its 'aryan' ownership. One of them was 'in disguise' until 1943 - well into WWII. This habouring of jewish people on Lenz and Kraus' behalf bought with it the significant danger of being pilloried as a sympathizer.

Compensation Claims
Almost immediately after the Second World War ended, legal proceeding between Lenz' heirs and the heirs of the Jewish bankers began. Eventually, in 1964, a settlement was reached where Lenz' heirs paid 35,000 DM in compensation to the various families. After the reunification of East and West Germany, the heirs of Lenz and Kraus fought over a 100,000 DM payment that Kraus made back to the bank in 1941. Far more substantial claims than these are those relating to the private property of the three Jewish banking families. Of particular interest is compensation for the physical estate of Hermann Frenkel and a pair of paintings (one a Murillo and one a Adriaen van de Velde) that were said to be stored in the bank's headquarters at Rotes Schloss.