Entrepreneur, bibliophile, patron of arts
He was a son of a wealthy industrialist from Prudnik, Józef Pinkus (1829-1909) and Augusta Fränkel (1838-1919). His younger sister Jadwiga (1864-1948 USA) at the age of 18 married the doctor Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915), the future Nobel laureate (1908) for achievements in the field of immunology.
Max’s mother was the daughter of Samuel Fränkel (1801-1881), who settled in Prudnik in 1838 and founded a linen and damask weaving mill there (on today’s Nyska Street). Over the years, the company became known all over Europe and was one of the largest textile companies in Germany. Thanks to Augusta’s marriage with Józef Pinkus, he became, along with Fränkel’s sons, a partner in the company and contributed greatly to its development [1]. After the death of his father-in-law, he became the de facto manager of the company.
Max’s family house was full of valuable art collections: Japanese bronzes, porcelain, Silesian glass, Jewish objects of worship, it was a cultural center of Prudnik, attracting many distinguished guests from the contemporary elites.
Max Pinkus attended a weaving school in Lyon, France, and interned at the textile industry centers of England and the USA. He went through all levels of his professional career in the family business, taking full responsibility for it after his father’s death in 1909. He contributed to the increase of its importance in the world, its products were exported not only to most European countries but also to the USA. Like his grandfather and father before him, Max financed many projects for the factory workers and city residents: he created a pension fund for the company’s workers, funded scholarships for the students of the Prudnik middle school, built a hospital, the maintenance of which he funded himself until 1918, when he handed it over to the city. The factory had its own gas plant, power plant, craft workshops, a vocational school, and numerous social facilities for the employees (a bathhouse, a canteen, and recreation rooms).
On May 13, 1888 he married Jadwiga (Hedwig) Oberländer (July 5, 1868 - August 17, 1920). They had 2 sons Hans Hubert (1891-1977), and the younger Klaus Valentin and a daughter Alice.
Like his father, Max took an active part in public life, and was a member of many associations and economic, political, and social organizations: in 1911 he was awarded the title of royal-Prussian trade adviser, he was an honorary member of the Zrzeszenie Śląskich Przemysłowców Tekstylnych (Association of Silesian Textile Industrialists), from 1923 he was the deputy chairman of the Chamber of Commerce in Opolea [2], for several dozen years he was a councilor in Prudnik, honorary chairman of the Bractwo Strzeleckie (Marksmen Brotherhood). In 1927, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, he became an honorary citizen of the city of Prudnik.
The death of his wife in 1920, and the economic crisis after the First World War caused a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide. A stay in a sanatorium in Berlin and a trip around the world restored his mental balance. He took care of his library, maintaining wide contacts with friends and conducting extensive correspondence with them.
In 1926, he handed over the management of the company to his older son. Hans Hubert run the factory until 1938, when the Nazis took the factory away from him and he himself left for England.
The work of Max Pinkus’ life was the creation of the Silesian Library, the aim of which was to collect works related to Silesia in all areas: history, legislation, folk studies, fiction, nature, religion. It was divided into two parts: the first one contained works on the history and culture of Silesia, including many historical documents, manuscripts, chronicles, monographs, magazines, geographic and biological collections. The second part contained first editions or manuscripts of Silesian belles-lettres, incl. Joseph von Eichendorff, Angelus Silesius, Martin Opitz, Jakub Böhme, to the contemporaries: Hermann Stehr and Gerhart Hauptmann.
The section on Gerhart Hauptmann was one of the most famous, as it contained, apart from all the poet’s works, collective editions with the author’s autographs (editions before 1933), prints from his youth (before 1889), letters, autographs, press articles both about him and those written by the Nobel Prize winner himself. Hauptmann’s bibliography, prepared by Wiktor Ludwig at the behest and expense of Max Pinkus, was based solely on the collection of the Silesian Library (first edition in 1922, second, extended in 1932) [3]. After Max’s death, the Silesian Library with about 25000 volumes was inherited by his younger son Klaus. In 1936, part of the collection was sold to the Upper Silesian National Library in Bytom, and some to the University Library in Wrocław. Most of the collection was lost during World War II.
The Silesian Library was the work of only one man, that’s what made it unique. Max Pinkus made it available for scientific research to scientists, writers, artists and students from all over the world. His numerous friends from home and abroad described him as a modest, kind, open-minded man, ready to help. He kept in touch with the whole world and conducted extensive correspondence. He was a great German patriot, proud of the scientific and spiritual achievements of his countrymen. The last two years of his life were all the more painful, when, after Hitler came to power, he faced discrimination, isolation, humiliation and persecution because of his Jewish origins.
One of Max's faithful friends was Hermann Stehr, who was a frequent visitor to his house in Prudnik, where he wrote, inter alia, his short story “Lutnik” (1926).
The friendship with Gerhart Hauptmann was particularly valued and sincere. They met several times a year in Raspallo, in Jagniątków, or at Hiddensee, at the premieres of the plays written by the Nobel Prize winner, Hauptmann also came to Prudnik. Max Pinkus advised and assisted Margaret Hauptmann in organizing Hauptmann Archives (with the help of secretaries Ludwik Jauner and then Elisabeth Jungmann). He financed the execution of frescoes in the so-called Hala Rajska in the Jagniątków willa of Gerhart Hauptmann (monumental frescoes were made by J.M. Avenarius in 1922). Hauptmann especially appreciated his friendship with Pinkus, he created his character in the dramas: Czarna maska [Schwarze Maske] 1928, Przed wschodem słońca [Vor Sonnenuntergang] 1931, Die Finsternisse 1937 (published only after World War II).
He died on June 19, 1934 of a heart attack at the age of 77 in his library. He is buried at the Jewish cemetery in Prudnik on Kolejowa Street. Due to the Nazis and the spreading anti-Semitism, the funeral ceremonies were held in a strictly family circles, without the participation of representatives of the city authorities. They were attended (as the only non-Jews) by Gerhart and Margaretha Hauptmann [4].