Albrecht von Alvensleben

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Count Albrecht von Alvensleben
Erxleben II castle with Hausmannsturm around 1865, Alexander Duncker collection

Albrecht Graf von Alvensleben (born March 23, 1794 in Halberstadt , † May 2, 1858 in Berlin ) was Prussian finance minister .

Life

Albrecht Graf von Alvensleben came from the Low German noble family von Alvensleben . As the eldest son of the Halberstadt cathedral dean and later Minister of Brunswick, Count Johann Ernst von Alvensleben (1758–1827) and Caroline von Rohr (1771–1816), he attended school in the monastery of Our Lady in Magdeburg and began studying law in 1811 at the age of seventeen newly founded University of Berlin . During his studies he became a member of the Corps Marchia Berlin . In 1813 he interrupted his studies to take part in the wars of freedom. After the end of the war, he continued his studies and, after graduating in 1817, joined the judicial service at the Berlin Court of Appeal. During this time in Berlin he belonged to a Christian-conservative table society ("Maikäferei") around Clemens Brentano and the brothers Ernst Ludwig and Ludwig Friedrich von Gerlach , who had a major influence on his later views.

In 1826 he became a member of the chamber judge, but after the death of his father left the civil service to manage the old family estate Erxleben II . In 1831 the king appointed him to the Ministry of Justice as a secret judicial and lecturer council. In the same year he was given the task of working as a special commissioner in Krakow with Austrian and Russian representatives to work out solutions to constitutional issues in the Free State. Alvensleben advocated a German Prussian policy based on the treaties of 1815 and close friendship with Austria. In 1834 he represented Prussia at the Vienna Conferences. There he conferred with Metternich on combating the revolutionary and democratic movements.

From 1835 to 1842 he was Prussian Minister of Finance. He succeeded in bringing the Prussian financial system up to scratch. He also actively supported the German Customs Union. In 1842 he resigned because he could not cope with the romantic inclinations of Friedrich Wilhelm IV , but was persuaded to remain at the King's disposal as cabinet minister until 1844. Then he left the civil service for good, but took on important assignments on a case-by-case basis.

During the revolution of 1848 he was active in the interests of conservative politics and was a member of the Prussian National Assembly . As the second authorized representative at the Dresden Conferences in 1850/1851, he preserved the position of Prussia and the small states vis-à-vis Austria. In 1852 he took on an order from the Hanoverian court to resolve difficulties in matters relating to the customs union. In 1854 the king appointed him a member of the Prussian manor house . In 1856 he received the Order of the Black Eagle . His sudden death prevented him from being appointed Prime Minister by the Prince of Prussia to succeed Otto von Manteuffel .

Alvensleben remained unmarried and childless. After his death there was an inheritance dispute within the family. Eduard von Alvensleben (1787–1876) from Redekin and his brother Ferdinand finally succeeded Erxleben II under the old feudal law .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerlach, Kösener Corps-Lists 1930 , No. 5/47
personal data
SURNAME Alvensleben, Albrecht von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alvensleben, Albrecht Graf von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian Finance Minister
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1794
PLACE OF BIRTH Halberstadt
DATE OF DEATH May 2, 1858
Place of death Berlin