Hirsch, Paul

Born 1868, died 1940. Politician, Prussian Minister President, prominent member of the left-radical Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands), and mayor of Dortmund from 1925-1932.

Paul Hirsch (1881-1951) was born in Frankfurt on 24 February 1881. He began to collect music in 1897, initially focusing on Mozart before building up large collections relating to Beethoven and Schubert, and acquiring copies of virtually all the major operas. During the 1930s, Hirsch found it increasingly difficult to maintain his contacts in the book trade. As a result of the political problems in Germany, he moved to Cambridge in 1936, where for a brief period the Paul Hirsch Music Library was housed at Cambridge University Library. In 1946 Hirsch sold his library to the British Museum. By this time, the collection amounted to around eighteen thousand items. Hirsch died in Cambridge on 23 November 1951.