page_title: Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky / Biography
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Nicolaihaus in der Brüderstraße 13 auf der Spreeinsel in Berlin-Mitte, errichtet um 1670 und seitdem mehrfach umgebaut. Es wird heute genutzt von der Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin. Das Gebäude ist denkmalgeschützt. English: The Nicolai House at Brüderstraße 13 on Spreeinsel in Berlin-Mitte, built around 1670 and altered several times since. It is now used by the Foundation City Museum Berlin. The building is landmarked.
context_page_description: Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky was a Prussian merchant with a successful trade in trinkets, silk, taft, porcelain, grain and bills of exchange. Moreover, he acted as a diplomat and important art dealer. His paintings formed the basis and the beginning of the collection in the Hermitage Museum. Gotzkowsky died impoverished with leaving of an autobiography: Geschichte eines patriotischen Kaufmanns, with a French translation and three reprints in the 18th century.
context_section_description: Gotzkowsky was born in Konitz (Chojnice) in Royal Prussia, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and descended from an impoverished family of Polish nobility. Both his parents died when he was five years as a result of the plague, which broke out after the Great Northern War. Gotzkowsky grew up with relatives in Dresden, who neglected his education. As a 14-year-old he went to Berlin to live with his brother and to apprentice in business with Adrian Sprögel till 1730. When Sprögel's business burned down, he joined his brother in the haberdashery. He established him in his jewel and trinket shop and he quickly acquired customers in the highest circles; Sophia Dorothea of Hanover was his best client. After he met with Frederick the Great Gotzkowsky became 
  royal warrant. In 1741 he became a Freemason. In 1745, he married the daughter of the rich lace maker Blume. Gotzkowsky persuaded his father-in-law to start a velvet factory, which he managed and inherited in the year after. Then Frederick II commissioned Gotzkowsky to promote the silk trade to compete with France; since 1752/3 Gotzkowsky ran a silk factory employing 1,500 persons. Frederick also followed his recommendations in the field of toll levies and import restrictions. 
  During the Seven Years' War Gotzkowsky supplied the Prussian army and entered into consultation with Russian and Austrian army leaders, especially after the Prussian defeat at Kunersdorf in August 1759. On 9 October 1760 Berlin's City Council decided to surrender the city formally to the Russians rather than the Austrians, as Austria was Prussia's bitterest enemy. The Russians immediately made a demand for 4 million thalers in exchange for the protection of private property. On 11 October Gotzkowsky took over the negotiations on behalf of the city council and was able to persuade Heinrich von Tottleben to reduce the levy to 1.5 million thalers. with only 500,000 thalers, collected among the city's merchants, payable immediately in prewar coins? Tottleben moved into his house but left on the 13th. Later that month, Gotzkowsky traveled to Königsberg in Prussia as a guarantor for the redemption money. He was arrested, and released after promising a deposit of 62.000 (or 150.000 thaler)? Gotzkowsky succeeded to involve a Hamburg bank, owned by Philipp Heinrich II von Stenglin (1718–1793) to pay the amount, but the Russians received only 57.437 thaler in debased Saxonian coins. Again Gotzkowsky traveled to Danzig to bribe the Russian generals with 24 golden snuff boxes. In February 1761 Von Tottleben was accused of treason. (The sources are confusing.) 
  Gotzkowsky mentions that Ephraim & Itzig sent him loads of (debased) coins at the beginning of October, which he stored in his cellar. According to himself, the production of more debased coins began at the end of October to pay off the Russians and the Austrians. At the same time Gotzkowsky supported Saxony to pay its war contribution to Prussia. In the summer of 1761 he ordered 400.000 thaler in debased coins not from the Prussian mint masters, but from Heinrich Carl von Schimmelmann. Since August Schimmelmann produced debased coins in Rethwisch, and sent for 100.000 thaler to Leipzig. As the (foreign) debased coins, like Plöner and Zerbster, Bernburger coins were not accepted (by Frederick and Ephraim & Itzig) Gotzkowsky suggested to spread half of the amount under the Allies. The men were arrested in Bielefeld and the money was confiscated and melted down. Gotzkowsky was not impressed, in January 1762 he helped Leipzig for the second time. In September 1762 he travelled to Hamburg in order to borrow money for the distressed city of Berlin.
  In January Gotzkowsky remarried a 25-year-old ballet-dancer. In April 1763 Gotzkowsky and Leendert Pieter de Neufville paid a visit to Frederick. On 19 April they bought a huge amount of grain (oats) from the Russian envoy Vladimir Sergeevich Dolgorukov (1717 - 1803). It was stored in Kolberg and unuseful after the Russian army had left the Poland. Because of a shortage in Prussia, the transaction could have been profita
caption: Gotzkowsky lived at Brüderstraße 13, Berlin, Mitte
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