Leó Buday-Goldberger Dr. de Buda

Leó Goldberger, full name: Dr. Leó Buday-Goldberger (Budapest, May 2, 1878 - Mauthausen, May 5, 1945) was a notable figure in the Hungarian textile industry, who played a major role in the modernisation of the Hungarian textile industry in the first decades of the 20th century. He was the president and CEO of the Goldberger factory, founded in 1785, director of the National Association of Manufactory Industrialists (GYOSZ), president of the National Association of Hungarian Textile Manufacturers, president of the board of the Hungarian Institute of Foreign Trade, and senior adviser to the Hungarian National Bank.

History of the Goldberger family

Read more: Goldberger family

Ferenc Goldberger's son, Sámuel Goldberger (1784-1848) succeeded him at the head of the business. He was practically involved in manufacturing from 1810, while his father was involved in the sale of the products. In 1845, he bought a perrotine machine, the most modern textile printing press of the time. The Goldberger family's ancestor, Perec, was a goldsmith from Padua or Venice in Italy according to family legacy,^[3] according to other sources, he migrated to Hungary from Moravia and settled in Óbuda. His son, Ferenc Goldberg - who changed his name to Goldberger in the early 19th century^[2] - was born here in 1755. As a young man he traded in textiles, and in 1785, in partnership with an indigo discharge textile dyer, the Czech master Stibrall, he founded an indigo discharge factory in what is now Lajos Street (in the building where the Textile Museum of Budapest is located today). Their products soon became very popular. He maintained a warehouse and shop in Pest, in the latter, he was the first - after the National Theatre and the Pilvax café - to introduce gas lighting (using gas stored in a hose to power the bulbs), and in 1800 he opened a wholesale shop, where he sold mainly his own products. Later he bought the two houses next to the family home and workshop and expanded the factory on the land behind them.

The Goldbergers supported the 1848-49 Revolution and War of Independence, participated in the supply of uniforms to the army, and as a result had to pay a large war tax and surrender a significant part of their products after the defeat.

After the death of Samuel Goldberger, his wife, Erzsébet Adler, took over the management of the factory, which soon recovered and in 1854 was again granted the right to wholesale activity. The widow retired in 1861 (she died in 1869) and handed the business over to her sons. In 1857, Franz Joseph, who was visiting Pest-Buda, also visited the factory as a sign of his 'forgiveness' for the company's behaviour during the War of Independence. In 1867, the family received the title of nobility and was able to take up the first name Buday.

From 1870 Károly Goldberger managed the company, in 1876 his eldest son Berthold Goldberger took over the management until his death in 1913. It was during this period that the company switched from the then obsolete perrotine presses to cylinder presses and achieved considerable market success both at home and abroad. In 1905, they converted the company previously operating as a general partnership into a ltd by the name of Goldberger Sám. and F. Plc. (The abbreviations "Sám." and "F." referred to the great predecessors, Sámuel and Ferenc.)

His life

Leó Goldberger He was Berthold's second son. He was born on 2 May 1878.

He completed his elementary schooling at the Lutheran School (Deák Square) in Budapest in the school years 1886/87 - 1887/88 in grades 2-4, and his secondary schooling at the Lutheran High School in Budapest in the school years 1888/89 - 1895/96 in grades I-VIII.

He studied law at the University of Budapest and the University of Leipzig, obtaining his doctorate in law in 1900.

Despite the enactment of the "second Jewish law" (1939, act IV.), he received special permission from the Minister of Industry to retain his position as president-CEO. He maintained good relations with Miklós Horthy and his family. All this did not prevent him from being arrested by the Gestapo on 19 March 1944, the first day of the German occupation and taken to Mauthausen. Although he lived to see the camp liberated, he died of starvation on 5 May 1945.

His professional activity

Goldberger Sám. and F. Plc.

He served as Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer and, after his father's death, as Vice President and Chief Executive Officer. FRom 1920 he became President and CEO of the company.

The company elwas a supplier to the army during the Second World War. Due to the problems of raw material supply, Leó Goldberger had already considered setting up his own spinning and weaving mill alongside his fabric making and printing factory, but this was not possible until the end of the war in 1923. At that time, a weaving mill was built in Kelenföld, partly with the help of foreign investors, and in 1927 a spinning mill was added (this factory later operated under the name Kelenföldi Textilgyár - KELTEX).

In 1922, the company bought the office building in the centre of Budapest, in the present Arany János Street, where it had rented until then, and set up its headquarters and a large part of its warehouse.^[2] (The building is still standing, and the sign "Goldberger" can still be read on it. It currently houses a department of the Central European University.)

Leó Goldberger introduced a number of innovations. He immediately recognised the copper oxide rayon that appeared at the beginning of the century^[4] the importance of,^{[Note 1]} which could be used to produce soft, shiny fabrics similar to natural silk, and in 1919 he began using them to manufacture his "Parisette" brand (clothing, blouses and underwear), for which he acquired the exclusive right to finish from the German firm Bemberg. In the 1930s, he introduced film printing and the use of synthetic indigo dyes. They weathered the world economic crisis of the 1930s relatively well. From 1934 onwards, the company set up several subsidiaries abroad (in England, Belgium, Italy, France, the USA, Canada, Australia and elsewhere, even in Asian and African countries) to market its products and incorporated several smaller domestic trading companies. In 1938-1939 the company reached the peak of its success. They received awards and distinctions at several world exhibitions. The "Parisette" fabrics were a huge success. From 1934 he lived in the Ábrányi villa in Szentendre.^[5]

During the Second World War, the company's overseas connections were severed, but links were strengthened with Turkey and the Balkans, from where raw materials were obtained in exchange for finished goods. Despite the war, Goldberger continued to develop its factory, buying new machinery, licences and a new plant for processing a substitute material (cochineal).

Public activities

Leó Goldberger was a well-known and respected figure of his time. He was in contact with writers, scientists, actors, various professional and social associations and charitable institutions, several of which he was on the board of directors. In 1937, with his financial support, the Department of Textile Chemistry was established at the Royal Hungarian University of Technology and Economics. He was also a member of the upper house.

Works by

• "I discovered America". Budapest. 1937.

Sources