Paul Wallich


Paul Wallich was a German banker and son of the banker Hermann Wallich. An assimilated Jew, who considered himself Christian, he rose to become a partner in the bank Dreyfus & Co. As the Nazis rose to power, the international business of the bank sharply declined. Assets and clients dwindled until Paul finally sold the firm to Merck Finck & Co., a Munich-based bank, while signing a 10-year consulting contract for 50,000 marks per year.
He committed suicide in the aftermath of the Kristallnacht pogrom by drowning himself in the Rhine at Cologne.