Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe
Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe | |
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![]() Deutsch c. 1903 | |
Born | Salomon Henry Deutsch Missing required parameter 1=month! , 1846 |
Died | 1919 | (aged 72–73)
Known for | Petroleum businessman |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Alfred_LeBlanc_congratulated.jpg/220px-Alfred_LeBlanc_congratulated.jpg)
Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe (French: [ɑ̃ʁi døtsʃ də la mœʁt]; 1846–1919), born Salomon Henry Deutsch, was a successful French petroleum businessman (known as the "Oil King of Europe"[1]) and an avid supporter of early aviation. He sponsored a number of prizes to encourage the development of aviation technologies, including the Grand Prix d'Aviation and the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize.
Early life, family and name[]
The Deutsch de la Meurthe was a French family known for its wealth and patronage in technology and philanthropy, having helped develop the industrial oils industry in France. In 1845, Alexander Deutsch founded a company for the processing and marketing of vegetable oils in La Villette, then an independent commune of Paris. With the discovery of petroleum oil in Pennsylvania in 1859, Deutsch began to study and develop the use of petroleum oils in France. In 1877, Deutsch brought his two sons, Henri and Emile, into the family business, which bought a refinery in Rouen in 1881 and another in St. Loubès in Gironde in 1883. In 1889, in association with the Rothschild brothers, oil refining began in Spain. At this time, Alexander added the "de la Meurthe" to the family name. His daughter Suzanne was a noted philanthropist.
![Ecquevilly - Buste d'Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Ecquevilly_-_Buste_d%27Henry_Deutsch_de_la_Meurthe.jpg/220px-Ecquevilly_-_Buste_d%27Henry_Deutsch_de_la_Meurthe.jpg)
Career[]
Henri recognized that the future of petroleum sales depended on the development of small internal-combustion engines, so he promoted automobile development (he presented French President Marie François Sadi Carnot with an automobile) and also became interested in aviation.[2] Together with Ernest Archdeacon, he founded the Aéro-Club de France to promote the new technologies. To do this, he used some of his wealth to create a number of monetary prizes as incentives for aviators to achieve certain aviation milestones.
In 1906, Deutsch entered into a partnership with Wilbur Wright and Hart O. Berg to establish a company in France to supply a Wright aircraft to the French government. Deutsch financed the venture by buying the only block of shares to be sold in France, and used his influence with the French government. The effort fell through, however.[1]
He supported Lazare Weiller, who bought the patents of the Wright brothers and organized demonstration flights piloted by Wilbur Wright in Le Mans, which began on 8 August 1908. Deutsch de la Meurthe also invested in aircraft builders Société Astra (1909) and Nieuport (1911), and commissioned the construction of aircraft, including the Blériot XXIV Limousine and the Voisin Aero-Yacht.
At the end of May 1909, Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe offered the University of Paris[3] a sum of 500,000 francs and an annual pension of 15,000 francs for the creation and maintenance of the Institute Aérotechnique at Saint-Cyr-l'École, which would continue the theoretical research and development of air transport aircraft. It was later integrated into the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers.[4]
Although an enthusiastic promoter of heavier-than-air flight, De la Meurthe did not make his first flight in an airplane until May 1911, when he was taken for a flight in a Blériot monoplane piloted by Alfred Leblanc.[5] On 21 May 1911, Deutsch was injured and French Minister of War Maurice Berteaux was killed when a Train monoplane crashed at the beginning of the 1911 Paris to Madrid air race.[6]
Legacy looted under Nazis[]
When the Nazis invaded France in World War II, the Deutsch de la Meurthe family fled, the mansion was transformed into a residence for the head of the occupation forces, and the art collection was looted, ending up in the possession of the son of Hildebrand Gurlitt, one of Hitler's art dealers. Four drawings were restituted to the heirs in 2020.[7][8]
Honours[]
Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe was made Commander of the Legion of Honor on November 20, 1912.
Prizes[]
Deutsch de la Meurthe prize[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Santos-Dumont_flight_around_the_Eiffel_Tower.jpg/200px-Santos-Dumont_flight_around_the_Eiffel_Tower.jpg)
In April 1900, Henri offered the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize, also simply known as the Deutsch prize, of 100,000 francs to the first machine capable of flying a round trip from the Parc Saint Cloud to the Eiffel Tower in Paris and back in less than 30 minutes. The winner of the prize needed to maintain an average ground speed of at least 22 km/h (14 mph) to cover the round trip distance of 11 km (6.8 mi) in the allotted time. The prize was to be available from May 1, 1900, to October 1, 1903.[9]
To win the prize, Alberto Santos-Dumont decided to build the Santos-Dumont No. 5, a larger airship than his earlier craft. On August 8, 1901, during one of his attempts, the dirigible began to lose hydrogen gas. It started to descend and was unable to clear the roof of the Trocadero Hotel. Santos-Dumont was left hanging in a basket from the side of the hotel. With the help of the Paris fire brigade, he climbed to the roof without injury.[10]
On October 19, 1901, after several attempts and trials, Santos-Dumont launched his Number 6 airship at 2:30 pm. After only nine minutes of flight, Santos-Dumont had rounded the Eiffel Tower, but then suffered an engine failure. To restart the engine, he had to climb back over the gondola rail without a safety harness. The attempt was successful, and he crossed the finish line in 29 minutes 30 seconds. However, a short delay arose before his mooring line was secured, and at first the adjudicating committee refused him the prize, despite de la Meurthe, who was present, declaring himself satisfied. This caused a public outcry from the crowds watching the flight, as well as comment in the press. However a face-saving compromise was reached, and Santos-Dumont was awarded the prize. In a charitable gesture, he gave half the prize to his crew and then donated the other half to the poor of Paris.[11]
Grand Prix d'Aviation[]
In 1904, Deutsch de la Meurthe in collaboration with Ernest Archdeacon created the Grand Prix d'Aviation (also known as the "Deutsch-Archdeacon Prize"), a prize of 50,000 francs for the first person to fly a circular 1-kilometer course in a heavier-than-air craft.[12] It was won on January 13, 1908, by Henry Farman flying a Voisin biplane at Issy-les-Moulineaux in a time of 1 minute 28 seconds, then a distance and speed record since the flights of the Wright Brothers had not been officially witnessed.[13][14]
Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe[]
This speed race was held intermittently from 1912 to 1936, with 20,000 francs offered first by Deutsch, later by the Aéro-Club de France.
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Howard, Fred, Wilbur & Orville: A Biography, Dover Publications. Viewable online
- ^ Crouch, Tom D. The Bishop's Boys, W. W. Norton and Company. Viewable [1]
- ^ University of Paris information (translated)[permanent dead link]
- ^ Popular Mechanics. September 1912, page 405
- ^ Deutsch de la Meurthe takes the Air. [Flight International 15 May 1911]
- ^ Century of Flight timeline for 1911
- ^ Porterfield, Carlie. "How One Jewish Family Reclaimed Its Art Looted By The Nazis". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-04-24.
- ^ "German Lost Art Foundation - Press releases - Gurlitt Provenance Research project identifies four works of Nazi-confiscated art". www.kulturgutverluste.de. Archived from the original on 2019-02-19. Retrieved 2021-04-24.
Four drawings by the artists Charles Dominique Joseph Eisen, Augustin de Saint-Aubin and Anne Vallayer-Coster have been identified as Nazi-confiscated art by the Gurlitt Provenance Research project. Their origins can be traced back to the Jewish family Deutsch de la Meurthe in Paris, in whose private home they were hanging. The house was confiscated during the National Socialist occupation. After the end of the war, the family filed a loss report that included the drawings. In the context of the “Kunstfund Gurlitt” (Gurlitt Art Trove), it became known that these four works, along with 14 other pieces, were in possession of Benita Renate Gurlitt (1935–2012). As the works were part of Hildebrand Gurlitt’s art collection and because of their significance for coming to terms with the National Socialist art theft, they were included in the research of the Gurlitt Provenance Research project and published in the Lost Art Database of the German Lost Art Foundation in July 2017. The current owner has acknowledged the Washington Principles and decided in favor of the restitution of Nazi-confiscated art. The works are on display as part of the “Bestandsaufnahme Gurlitt” exhibit at the Gropius Bau in Berlin from September 14, 2018 until January 7, 2019. The descendants of the Deutsch de la Meurthe family have been contacted, and it is their wish that the works be presented.
- ^ Airship Deutsch Prize - 1901, The Airship Z-Prize official website Archived 2009-01-01 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Chapter 13
- ^ "M. Santos Dumont's Balloon". News. The Times (36591). London. 21 October 1901. col A, p. 4.
- ^ ""Prize Patrol", from Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company, a virtual museum of pioneer aviation". Archived from the original on 2009-03-12. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
- ^ HENRI FARMAN 1874-1958 at Early Aviators.com
- ^ Henri Farman at Centennial of Flight Archived 2009-01-18 at the Wayback Machine
- 1846 births
- 1919 deaths
- People from Paris
- French industrialists
- People in the petroleum industry
- French patrons of the arts
- Alberto Santos-Dumont
- Commanders of the Order of Franz Joseph
- Commanders of the Order of Isabella the Catholic
- Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur