The most powerful Jewish banking dynasty in 20th-century Spain

When discussing powerful families that have amassed fortunes and influenced the governments of their time, the first name that undoubtedly comes to mind is Rothschild, the Central European family that, during the Napoleonic Wars, achieved a position of dominance among major European corporations. But their power required allies to manage their businesses in the various territories where they held interests, and one such partner was the Bauer family, who represented them in the Iberian Peninsula.

When Gustavo Bauer Marpurgo died in 1916, his son Ignacio—along with his brother Alfonso—had to take over the family bank, Casa Bauer, an institution established by their grandfather in the late 19th century. The bank had been founded as a Rothschild representative office, but Bauer eventually became independent. Before inheriting the fortune, Ignacio Bauer's plans lay in literature, in which he earned a doctorate. He also became a member of the Royal Academy of History. In the following years, he also showed an interest in politics and held several positions—city councilor in Madrid and member of parliament—between 1922 and 1931. With the arrival of the Republic, he left politics due to his friendship with King Alfonso XIII.

In addition to the banking responsibilities he had to assume, he also took on the responsibilities of managing the companies in which the capital was invested. Thus, after his father's death, Ignacio Bauer joined the board of directors of one of the country's main railway companies, the MZA (Madrid-Zaragoza-Alicante), where he worked alongside prominent aristocrats and financiers, such as the Urquijo and Espinosa de los Monteros families. The family's connection to the railways was a direct result of the Rothschilds' interests in Spain, where one of their first investments was, precisely, in railway lines.

Involved in business, Bauer traveled extensively, and among the places he visited, the Netherlands was one of his most frequent destinations, a country he admired for its ability to build a nation under adverse conditions. In one of his writings, he recalled the proverb: "God created the whole world, except the Netherlands, which was created by the Dutch." He was also an expert on the economy of Morocco's neighbors; so much so that in 1927 he founded an orange-growing company, the Lucus Agricultural Company.

Prolific writer

But as we said from the beginning, his true calling was literature, so he also worked as a writer and had ties to the Spanish PEN Club (an organization of poets, writers, and novelists founded in 1922). He published numerous essays, primarily on geopolitics. His other major contribution to the literary world was the creation, in 1924, of the publishing house Compañía Iberoamericana de Publicaciones (CIAP), which revived classic Spanish works. When the physicist Albert Einstein visited Madrid in March 1923, it was Bauer who organized the welcoming banquet. These were times of great influence for the family, probably the most powerful Jewish dynasty in Spain in recent centuries. For a time, Ignacio Bauer served as the Finnish consul in the capital.

The Wall Street Crash of late 1929 was a seismic event for Ignacio Bauer, who saw his family's banks go bankrupt in less than two years, a situation that ultimately affected the rest of their businesses. One of the companies they abandoned was the North African Compañía Agrícola del Lucus, which we mentioned earlier, while CIAP went bankrupt.

Beyond business, literature, and politics, Bauer's other area of focus was Jewish activism. He served as president of the Jewish community of Madrid for three decades, from its founding in 1920. He also participated in the establishment of the World Jewish Congress in 1936 and helped found synagogues in both Madrid and Barcelona. He died in Basel, Switzerland, with an extensive curriculum vitae that included membership in the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation, as well as the Royal Academy of History and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. He was also a founder of the Spanish Society of Anthropology and a prominent figure in the Spanish Society of Bibliophiles.