Ludwig's grandmother Fanny was a first cousin of the violinist Joseph Joachim.

They had 11 children - among them Wittgenstein's father. Karl Otto Clemens Wittgenstein (1847-1913) became an industrial tycoon, and by the late 1880s was one of the richest men in Europe, with an effective monopoly on Austria's steel cartel. Thanks to Karl, the Wittgensteins became the second wealthiest family in the Austro-Hungarian Empire,