Jacquier and Securius Bank

The bank's headquarters were located in central Berlin in a building nicknamed the Red Castle (German: Rotes Schloß).

[1] Originally under Jewish ownership, the bank began the process of Aryanization in 1933, which Richard Lenz and Robert Kraus becoming the majority stakeholders.

[3] Initially, the bank's main clients were small and medium-sized businesses whose money was invested in fixed income securities.

A year later, together with his father and Eugene Panofsky, his brother Erich and family friend Max Landesmann were admitted as partners.

After six years of middling success, in December 1925, Arthur Frenkel ceded his profit share to his younger and more talented brother, Erich.

In 1923 Friedrich Minoux, one of the most enigmatic figures of the Weimar period, invested one million German gold marks to become a partner of Jacquier and Securius in order to secure liquidity for his various business interests.

"[8] During his time as partner of the bank, Minoux took part in a 150 million German gold mark project to build canals in Constantinople.

In addition, a consortium of other banks led by Minoux, Jacquier and Securius secured a "majority of stock in cigarette maker August Batscharis.

The ensuing process of Gleichschaltung (English: Bringing into line) entailed systematic social and economic discrimination against Germany's Jewish population.

However, the need to maintain a sound banking system meant that the partners of Jacquier and Securius were not subject to serious discrimination until the mid-1930s.

He was a member of the Nazi Party and had used his connections with Friedrich Reinhart,[14] the President of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry and avid supporter of authoritarian government, to develop Richard Lenz and Co. into a prosperous business.

On March 1, 1938, Richard Lenz and Robert Kraus took over accounts receivable and payable for 3,600,000 Reichsmark (RM) and the name of the formerly Jewish banking house.

Of particular interest is compensation for the physical estate of Hermann Frenkel, and a pair of paintings (one a Murillo, and one an Adriaen van de Velde) that were said to be stored in the bank's headquarters at Rotes Schloss.