Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck
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Guido Georg Friedrich Erdmann Heinrich Adelbert Graf Henckel Fürst von Donnersmarck (10 August 1830 – 19 December 1916) was a German nobleman, industrial magnate, and one of the richest men of his time.
Born in Breslau, Silesia, he was the son of Karl Lazarus Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck (1772-1864) and his wife Julie, née von Bohlen (1800-1866). When his older brother Karl Lazarus Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck died in 1848, his father transferred his numerous mining properties and ironworks in Silesia to Guido. Henckel von Donnersmarck was granted the title of Fürst in 1901.
In 1916 he founded the Fürst Donnersmarck Foundation in Berlin with the donation of about 620 acres of land and four million Goldmarks, an institution instituted to make scientific use of the experiences gained in World War I and to apply these insights in a therapeutic way, and now supporting the rehabilitation, care, and support of the physically and multiply disabled as well as research supporting that care.
His first wife was Pauline Therese Lachmann (7 May 1819, Moscow – 21 January 1884, Neudeck), a courtesan better known as La Païva. They married in Paris on 28 October 1871. He gave her the famous yellow Donnersmarck Diamonds - one pear-shaped and weighing 82.4 carats, the other cushion-shaped and 102.5 carats.
His second wife was Katharina Slepzow (16 February 1862, St. Petersburg, Russia – 10 February 1929, Koslowagora). They were married at Wiesbaden on 11 May 1887. They had two children, Guido Otto (1888-1959) and Kraft Raul Paul Alfred Ludwig Guido (1890-1977)
Henckel von Donnersmarck died in Berlin.
