Kallir, William

The Kallir family can be traced back to Eleazar ben Eleazar, a prominent rabbi in Prague. He had one son, Alexander Susskind Kallir (1771-1845) who moved to Brody. It was in Brody that his first son of four by Sarah Esther Nathanson, Mayer Edler von Kallir (1792-1875), became a successful banker. In 1864 Mayer Edler von Kallir was given the Knight's Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph for his merits as a philanthropist. He was one of the first Jewish members of the Imperial Austrian Parliament. He married Gitel Maschelkowitz and had three children: Isaac, Nathan, and Amelie. Nathan Ritter von Kallir (1821-1886) followed in his fathers footsteps and became a banker. He was knighted into the Order of Franz Joseph because of his philanthropy. Isaac Kallir (1817-1881) married Jette Rubinstein (1819-1894) and together they had two children: Alexander and Marie. Marie married and had four children: Heinrich, Leon, Julius, and Rosa. Amelie Kallir (1825-1905) married Heinrich Nirenstein. They had six children: Alexander, Max, Jacob, Leo, Cäcilie, and Sara Esther, who married her cousin Alexander Kallir. Alexander (1846-early 1900s) and Sara Esther, or Emma, had two sons: Ludwig and Martin.

Ludwig Kallir (1874-1943) became an electrical engineer and worked for A.E.G. Union Electric and Manufacturing Company. He published numerous books on electrical engineering. He eventually became the chief engineer of A.E.G. and was elected as an honorary consultant to the Austrian Department of the Interior. He fled to England after the annexation of Austria because, in addition to being Jewish, he was very prominent in the politics of his native country. The British Electrical and Allied Industrial Research Association hired him. He was the member of many electrical engineer institutes. He tried to obtain a job for his son-in-law, Robert Muller at the General Electric Company so that he could secure an American visa.

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