The Frankfurter Gesellschaft für Handel, Industrie und Wissenschaft was founded in 1919 upon the initiative of the Chamber of Commerce Vice-President, Dr. Karl Kotzenberg, as well as the then Lord Mayor of Frankfurt, Dr. Georg Voigt, in the tradition of the Casino-Gesellschaft von 1802. Gentlemen of science, culture and politics gathered and still regularly get together in their club house in the Siesmayerstraße to practice an intensive exchange of ideas beyond the confines of parties and ideologies in a convivial atmosphere. Many outstanding figures, who have addressed the members of the club, bear witness to the significance of the Frankfurter Gesellschaft: Albert Einstein, Walter Rathenau, Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Ludwig Erhard, Georg Solti, Carlo Schmid, Carl Orff , Theodor Heuss, Willy Brandt, Carola Stern, Henry Kissinger, Hermann Josef Abs, Alfred Herrhausen, Hans Tietmeyer, Odo Marquard, Petra Roth, Angela Merkel and many others have stood at the same lectern. Cosmopolitanism and tolerance, the art of listening and arguing, but also enjoyment of the own, high-class gastronomy are indispensible ingredients of a spirited club life.