Mercédès Jellinek

Adriana Jellinek, known as Mercédès

Adriana Manuela Ramona Jellinek, called Mercédès (September 16, 1889 – February 23, 1929) was the daughter of Austrian automobile entrepreneur Emil Jellinek and his wife Rachel Goggmann Cenrobert. She was born in Vienna on September 16, 1889^{[citation needed]} and known as Mercédès as a term of endearment. She is best known for her father having Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft's line of Mercedes cars named after her, beginning with the Mercedes 35 hp model of 1901. Also, at the 1902 Paris Automobile exhibition, her father hung a large picture of her.

Mercédès lived in Vienna, and was notorious for marrying twice scandalously.^{[citation needed]} She had a magnificent wedding in Nice, on the Cote d'Azur, with baron von Schlosser. The couple lived in Vienna until World War I, which ruined them. In 1918, Mercédès was begging for food in the streets. A little later, leaving her husband and her two children, she married baron Rudolf von Weigl, a talented but poor sculptor. She played music and had a good soprano voice, but never shared her father's passion for automobiles. She died in Vienna from bone cancer in 1929, at the age of 39, and was buried in Vienna in the familial grave near her grandfather the former chief rabbi of Vienna, Adolf Jellinek.

In 1926 the Daimler company merged with the Benz company. Although the company traded as Daimler-Benz it gave the name Mercedes-Benz to its cars to preserve the respected Mercedes marque.

References

• Mercedes-Benz Museum – Mythos 2
• Automobilmuseum Dr. Carl Benz, Ladenburg: Meilensteine
• Büssing: Ein kleines Mädchen wird weltberühmt, Private Homepage on fortunecity.com