A lawyer by training, he was admitted to the bar in Frankfurt am Main in October 1891, and in July 1912 he was appointed a judicial councilor.
[3] Katzenellenbogen served on the executive boards of banks, textile companies and chemical corporations in various German cities.
[6] When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, Katzenellenbogen was persecuted due to his Jewish heritage.
Adolf emigrated from Nazi Germany to America in 1939 and became the chairman of the department of fine arts at Johns Hopkins University.
[10][11] Grete Helene (1893–1944),[12] daughter-in-law of Otto Berndt, did not escape and died as a forced laborer in Frankfurt am Main on 22 March 1944.