Karl vom Stein to Altenstein

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Carl Freiherr vom Stein zum Altenstein , lithograph  1826

Karl Sigmund Franz Freiherr vom Stein zum Altenstein (born October 1, 1770 in Schalkhausen , † May 14, 1840 in Berlin ) was a Prussian politician.

origin

Altenstein comes from the long-established Franconian aristocratic family Stein zum Altenstein , whose ancestral castle Altenstein lies between Ebern and Maroldsweisach on a ridge. His parents were the captain and chamberlain in the margravial Ansbach service Friedrich Ernst vom Stein zum Altenstein and his wife Juliana Philippine Wilhelmine von Adelsheim .

Life

He was born in 1770 as the son of the margrave hussar cavalry master and chamberlain Friedrich Ernst Freiherr vom Stein zum Altenstein from the line to Ostheim vor der Rhön and his second wife Juliana Philippina Wilhelmina Freiin von Adelsheim, sat at Obermögersheim Castle . After his training in high school and page corps, he studied in Erlangen , from 1790 in Göttingen and later in Jena Jura .

In 1793 he entered the Prussian War and Domain Chamber as a trainee lawyer in Ansbach . His superior Karl August von Hardenberg quickly recognized his statesmanlike talent and encouraged him to the best of his ability. In 1799 he went with von Hardenberg to Berlin, where he worked for him as a ministerial advisor and later became a secret chief finance advisor in the general directorate . After Prussia had lost the fourth coalition war against France in the battle of Jena and Auerstedt , he moved again with von Hardenberg to Tilsit in 1806 in order to work with the latter on the Prussian reforms .

Because of plans to revolt against the French dominance, the reformer and Minister of State Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein had to vacate his office at the urging of Napoleon . In 1808 Altenstein was his successor at the head of the administration as Minister of Finance. However, Altenstein was unable to prevail against forces for whom the reforms initiated by his predecessor went too far, which is why he did not continue the reforms with the same energy. After Prussia could no longer raise the payments to France agreed in the Treaty of Tilsit in 1810 , Altenstein proposed the cession of Silesia to France. Then he was at the instigation of Hardenbergs in June by King Friedrich Wilhelm III. dismiss.

After his release, Altenstein went to Breslau , where he was appointed civil governor of Silesia in 1813 . After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, he went to Paris with Wilhelm von Humboldt to claim art treasures for Prussia that Napoleon had kidnapped.

In 1817, as head of the newly created Ministry of Culture, he again took on political responsibility under State Chancellor von Hardenberg and carried out with Friedrich Wilhelm III. together the re-establishment of the Evangelical Church in Prussia . In the twenty years that he subsequently held the post of minister of education, he fundamentally reformed the Prussian school system. The humanistic grammar school goes back to him, as well as the founding of the University of Bonn in 1818. With the Education Act of 1819 he put the Prussian education system on a uniform basis and founded the multi-tier school system that still exists today with a primary school and differentiated secondary schools. In 1825 he had compulsory schooling extended to the whole country, and in 1834 a mandatory curriculum for grammar schools was introduced. In the following years he fought for a school education that was largely independent of the church.

According to a diary entry by Karl August Varnhagen , the suggestion to publish a scientifically proven edition of the works of Frederick the Great on the occasion of the centenary of the throne in 1840 goes back to Altenstein.

In 1838 he was dismissed from office due to illness. He died in Berlin in 1840 and was buried in Dreifaltigkeitskirchhof II .

Honors and souvenirs

Karl vom Stein zum Altenstein was elected a member (matriculation number 1065) of the Leopoldina on August 26, 1816 with the academic surname Isokrates II . In 1906 a memorial plaque was attached to his house in Göttingen at Barfüßerstraße 18. In addition, King Friedrich Wilhelm III awarded him . of Prussia on January 18, 1831 the Order of the Black Eagle . Since 1822 he was an honorary member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences , he was also a Knight of the Iron Cross .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Siglinde Buchner: The Franconian origin of Karl Freiherr von Stein zum Altenstein, the first Prussian minister of culture in Berlin. In: Blätter für Franconian family history , Volume 27, 2004, p. 144.
  2. ^ Walter Nissen: Göttingen memorial tablets. Göttingen 1962, p. 18.
  3. ^ Louis Schneider : Das Buch vom Schwarzen Adler , p. 208 (31), Duncker, Berlin 1870.
  4. ^ Members of the previous academies. Karl Sigmund Franz Freiherr vom Stein zum Altenstein. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on February 14, 2015 .
  5. ^ Karl Ferdinand Becker : The word in its organic transformation. Hermann'sche Buchhandlung Kettembeil, Frankfurt / Main 1833, p. Dedication sheet .


personal data
SURNAME Stein zum Altenstein, Karl vom
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stein zum Altenstein, Karl Sigmund Franz Freiherr vom (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian politician
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1770
PLACE OF BIRTH Schalkhausen near Ansbach
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 1840
Place of death Berlin