Max James Emden (28 October 1874 in Hamburg – 26 June 1940 in Muralto, Switzerland) was a German chemist, wholesale merchant, art collector and from 1926 owner of the Brissago Islands on Lake Maggiore. Some of Emden's properties, including valuable paintings, have been the object of Nazi-era restitution claims. How his legacy has been handled has sparked a debate in Germany about the erasure of information concerning the Nazi era and inspired films about his life.