By Karola NICK
The special relationship between the two brothers, Moritz and Adolf Pinner, is clearly reflected in these letters.
From many historical documents we know that the human relationships in Jewish families of Eastern Germany in the 18th and 19th century were especially close and warm. Even distant members of a family could find help and support, because the religious laws gave guidelines for normal daily life. Therefore in those Jewish communities, people could learn, starting at an early age, how to behave in different situations, and also in difficult ones. This we can also learn from the Pinner letters. But at the same time the letters show us that the relationship between Moritz and Adolf was a very special and close one, bordering on dependence.
When Moritz, in 1863, for the first time after his emigration, visited his homeland, he has already made a political career. Therefore he had many educated acquaintances with interesting personalities. This enabled him to see his 14-years-younger brother Adolf from another angle than his father's, the rabbi. Moritz is discovering the intellectual potential of Adolf. At that point of time Adolf completed his studies that prepared him to be a rabbi, at the Fraenkel-institute of Breslau. But when Moritz is discussing with him his real interests in life, Adolf is confessing his deep love for the natural sciences. Because Moritz is also very interested in this field, and, furthermore, could never fulfill his wish to study (because of the poverty of his family), he advised Adolf to get a high-school matriculation diploma (Abitur) and then to continue to study chemistry at the University. Moritz and cousin Moses Pinner (a shopkeeper) would pay for Adolf's studies. Adolf is then going to Glogau, and after a short preparation he passed the Abitur at the Catholic high school there. Immediately after, he began to study in Berlin.
The letters from Moritz to Adolf that were written during Adolf's time as a student show different aspects of their relationship. As Adolf grew older, he became more independent, due to his prospering academic career. On the one hand, we can see Moritz as a caring brother, eager to help him in his scientific and personal development. On the other hand, Moritz, with great effort, is attempting to build up a position in business in America. We also can follow the difficult way by which Moritz is obtaining the money for funding his brother's studies, often with personal sacrifices. Moritz is often describing in great detail his economical situation and strategies, sometimes hoping to involve Adolf. The letters clearly show the difficult and sometimes complicated life of both brothers in those times. Moritz is always thinking of the beloved parents (die lieben Eltern), but he also includes his siblings and many of his distant relatives. Even when Moritz has his own little family of two sons he doesn't stop to be care about his loved-ones at home (die unsrigen). On several occasions Moritz is instructing Adolf to do this or that thing for the relatives at home. Sometimes Moritz sends money to Adolf and advises him in detail how to distribute it amongsts the family members. We can imagine that these assignments strained the relationship between the two men, and it seems that sometimes Adolf must have been bothered by them.
In the meantime, Moritz had contact with chemists and learned a lot from them. Therefore he is often feeling as Adolf's equal in scientific matters. He is considering Adolf as a partner, and is sometimes wishing to get analyses from him. But when one day Moritz is beginning to intervene in Adolf's career, their relationship tends towards a collision. On the one side we can see Moritz, wanting to have Adolf as a business partner, but on the other side there is Adolf, a scientist, loving his profession with deep passion. In a long letter, listing all the disadvantages of being a professor, Moritz is trying to convince his brother not to follow an academic career. It is obvious that Moritz has as an ulterior (secret?) motive, the wish that Adolf would be his business partner. Eventually Moritz must have resigned to Adolf's way of life. Adolf would never be his partner, but it seems possible for Moritz to have some material benefits from his new gained position as a Geheimrat, which was a very prestigious title in former times, bestowing on its bearer considerable influence. In the bequest there was an extra envelope containing a very long and wonderful letter written in Moritz's nice handwriting, addressed to Adolf, but with the order to give it to higher places (hohere Stellen). The letter proposed one of Moritz's fantastic business plans. Adolf was to communicate this letter to Mr. Bleichroeder, the banker of Imperial Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. In this letter Moritz is proposing a very interesting plan: The German Empire should acquire a colony at Santo Domingo, buying the rights for a concession from the American firm Samana Bay Co. This concession included:
We know today that Germany never has had such a colony. Therefore we know also that Moritz's proposal never materialized. After that, Moritz started, with long and detailed letters, and with emotion, to pressure Adolf with his (egotistic) wishes for his business. We presume that Adolf defended himself with the argument that he is not a businessman but only a scientist. Moritz's letters lead us to believe that Adolf resisted his brother's demands. It is also possible that these conflicts were the reason for the gap of several years in the correspondence. (On the other side we always should remember that in those days letters often got lost. And we must also consider the long time it took for a letter to arrive from Germany, often as long as a month).
There is no doubt that Moritz was a very complex man, something that can also be seen by examining his relationship to his brother Hermann Pinner (1830-1890). Hermann also emigrated to America (but unfortunately we don't know exactly when). In the correspondence there are 13 letters that are, in part, from Hermann and in part from his wife, Anna Speier - Pinner (1850 - ?), written between 1870 until 1889. From these letters we can try to guess at the nature of their characters. Hermann was also a businessman, designating himself a tobacco broker. Obviously Hermann has had a certain amount of success (see Doron Zeilberger's webpage on him). It is also obvious that Moritz often tried to involve Hermann in his business ventures, but Hermann was never interested, although he often helped him by lending him money, whenever Moritz was in need. Some of the money that Moritz borrowed from Hermann was going straight to Adolf in Berlin. This we know from Hermann's last letter to Adolf, in 1889, (one year before his sudden death), written in a rather ironic and bitter mood. Whereas Moritz is always eager to contact people "better" than him, Hermann prefers the company of "simple" folks, just like himself. For Moritz these are all plebsige Jieden, that means: Jewish people of the more unsophisticated classes. But although the brothers are so different, they do have something in common: the wish for family contact. But because Moritz played a very nasty role, conspiring against Hermann's wish to marry Anna Speier (involving also poor Adolf in Berlin!), Hermann and Anna at last gave up on their contact with Moritz, after many goodwill attempts. When Hermann passed away suddenly, in 1890, Moritz is deeply mourning and making a great effort to support Anna. His letter to Adolf, announcing and grieving Hermann's death, and his own failings concerning his relationship with the deceased, is very moving.
But we do know that it was Adolf whom Moritz loved most dearly all his life, until his death. In some of the letters Moritz is quarreling with Adolf, reproaching him for his cold-heartedness. He is obviously hoping for Adolf to show greater warmth, since Adolf was rather reserved. We should also realize that Moritz was isolated from his homeland and from the people there, because his wife Melissa and also his sons didn't make any effort to learn German. Also it was always Moritz who was writing letters to all the family members, hoping to hold on to the ties. In many of his letters he is asking about all his relatives (die unsrigen) and he is even worried about the children of his cousins. Only once, in 1871, he went back to Germany to celebrate the golden wedding anniversary of his parents. And also then he gave Adolf detailed orders in advance. Moritz is no doubt a caring man, but he is also sometimes very critical and judgemental (and not always fairly, like in Anna Speier's case). His great love of this family and his old homeland made him often wish to return home. But the cold reality always interfered with Moritz's imagination. His grandiose plans were, unfortunately, never materialized, and his dreams remained unfulfilled. In his last years Moritz was hoping that Adolf and his wife Anna would visit him in America. But just when this plan was about to see the light, Adolf became seriously ill, and he passed away two years before Moritz's death.
After Adolf's death, Moritz wrote deeply moving letters of condolence to Adolf's widow Anna. These letters show us once more how deeply Moritz was bonded to Adolf. When one day Anna is asking Moritz, whether it was him who financed Adolf's studies in his youth, Moritz is greatly minimizing his share, giving all the credit to cousin Moses Pinner. It is also moving to read when Moritz is telling Anna how deeply he always loved Adolf. This brother was surely his alter ego.
It is comforting to read that Adolf, in his very last letter to Moritz, must have given a word of love to Moritz; a love he was longing for during his whole life.