Alexander Wassilko von Serecki (politician)

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Baron Alexander Wassilko von Serecki

Baron Alexander Wassilko von Serecki (born December 17, 1827 in Berhometh ; † August 20, 1893 in Lopuszna / Lăpuşna ) was an Austro-Hungarian politician of Romanian origin. He was a kuk  Real Privy Councilor , member of the manor house of the Austrian Imperial Council for life , long-time member of the Bukovinian state parliament and governor of the Duchy of Bukowina . He came from the noble family Wassilko von Serecki .

biography

Alexander Freiherr Wassilko von Serecki before 1865
Alexander Freiherr Wassilko von Serecki after 1867

After his Abitur, which he graduated with honors in 1846, Alexander studied philosophy in Chernivtsi and law in Lemberg . From 1850 he worked as a lawyer in Chernivtsi. From 1859 Alexander managed the property of his sick father, Jordaki .

Political career

Alexander Wassilko von Serecki around 1888
Berhometh e.g. At the time of electrification around 1890

Alexander, a large landowner and member of the Autonomous Romanian Conservative Party , began his political career in 1862 when he was elected a member of the Bukovinian state parliament. Here he occupied the position of governor of the Duchy of Bukovina between 1870–1871 and 1884–1892 as one of the most important leaders of the federal faction of the Romanian nobility . There he caused a sensation because, together with other MPs (including Eudoxius von Hormuzaki , von Costin, von Flondor), he campaigned with successful petitions to Vienna for the restriction of "the monopoly and autocracy of the clergy of the [ Orthodox ] Church". From 1867 he first moved into the state parliament for the Wisznitz district, for which he was periodically re-elected by the Romanian, Hutsul and Ruthenian populations there.

In 1863 he was a co-founder, later an honorary member and promoter of the Romanian society "Junimea" , the most influential intellectual, cultural and political Romanian association of the 19th century.

On February 24, 1867, like his father before, he took over the Bukovinian mandate in the manor house , the upper house of the Austrian Imperial Council , “for life”. He was the only representative of the Duchy of Bukovina in the manor house for 13 years. In 1880 the Metropolitan of Bukovina and Dalmatia Sylvester Morariu-Andriewicz was appointed to this body.

On August 16, 1870, he was first appointed governor of the Duchy of Bukovina by imperial resolution .

Through his connections to the Viennese court, he was able to achieve that from 1876 the Romanian language was allowed as the language of instruction at the Lyceum of Suczawa (cf. Suceava ). A few years later "the admission of teaching in Romanian in special classes at the grammar school of Chernivtsi" followed. Despite his leading position in the federal faction of the Romanian nobility, as governor of Bukovina he campaigned for the right of all citizens to freely exercise their own culture and religion, as well as recognition of their mother tongue under the umbrella of the Danube Monarchy under the leadership of the emperor.

In 1881 the Kingdom of Romania was founded, after which Alexander proved to be a strict opponent of the increasing number of supporters for an annexation of the Bukovina to Romania. He was considered an early pioneer of the idea of ​​a united Europe of the fatherlands .

On July 19, 1884 (then on March 31, 1887 and September 21, 1890) by the highest resolution re-installed as governor, in his opening speech in the Bukovinian state parliament on July 22, 1884, he called on the members to join to act unanimously to preserve the autonomy and the provincial independence within the Austrian state idea. He campaigned for the legal recognition of the German , Romanian and Ruthenian languages , but emphasized that the German language was the common bond of all peoples of the monarchy. This has actually and historically developed as the only state language and can therefore be mastered by everyone.

After the baron had already been awarded the Order of the Iron Crown 2nd Class by his kuk Apostolic Imperial Majesty on May 1, 1881 , the monarch deigned him to become a real secret on July 19, 1888 on the occasion of his reappointment as governor To give advice . On October 13th, 1888, under the chairmanship of Governor Wassilko, the regional association of the Bukovina of the Austrian Society of White Crosses was constituted whose president he was subsequently unanimously elected. Already at the beginning of his second term (1888-1891) he ensured that the electrification of Chernivtsi and the region began. His headquarters in Berhometh was one of the first places outside the capital to benefit from it.

Berhometh Castle around 1900

Influenced by German-speaking and Polish circles, the country's president, Count Anton Pace von Friedensberg, began to restrict the use of the Romanian language in administration and the judiciary. Furthermore, despite previous promises, he had publicly opposed the Romanian national program of the Archbishop of Chernivtsi as well as Metropolitans of Bukowina and Dalmatia Sylvester Morariu-Andriewicz and his efforts for ecclesiastical autonomy. This meant that the Bukovinian nobility and the Orthodox patriarch stayed away from the ball festival given by the state president in February 1892. In the justification, Governor Wassilko Pace accused of incorrect social behavior. Although the two politicians had spoken out afterwards and settled the conflict, Pace could no longer be held and was recalled in May 1892. Interestingly, he received honorary citizenship from the predominantly non-Romanian city council of Chernivtsi. Thereupon Alexander also declared that he would no longer be available as governor, but remained in office until the new elections in autumn 1892. As a result of the events, Romanians of all political currents and social origins united in the Partidul Naţional Român din Bucovina (PNRB) . Under difficult conditions, Alexander, together with the Romanian National Party and with the help of two Ruthenian MPs, achieved the government majority. He also found support from the new state president of Bukovina, Franz von Krauss , who would later become the father-in-law of his son Stephan. Alexander remained president of the Clubul Naţional , the strongest parliamentary group in the state parliament , until his death .

Alexander also held the position of President of the Chamber of Juries at the Chernivtsi Court for decades. Until his death he was also chairman of the 20-person board of trustees of the "Anthropological Society" in Vienna. He was also a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Philosophical-Historical Class).

Wassilko-Palais, Chernivtsi, 2006

Economy and possessions

To cultivate the fallow land on his property, Alexander founded the two villages named after him and his wife Alexanderdorf (1863) and Katharinendorf (1869), where he settled German-Lutheran farmers from the area and from Brigidau in Galicia , a total of 50 families. He gave each family up to 18 hectares of land, as well as timber rights for building houses and for fire purposes free of charge. The settlers were given 1.15 hectares each to build their house, stables and garden. Initially, long-term leases were concluded for 25 years, which could be extended for a further 25 years. In both places he had German schools built (Katharinendorf 1875), for the maintenance of which the families were asked to pay a regular, small tax. The next Lutheran church was 70 km away in Chernivtsi, so Alexander had a Lutheran church built for the two villages.

In agreement with the other ministers involved, the kk minister of the interior granted the baron as well as the landowner Jacob Ritter von Petrowicz, the chamber of commerce president Wilhelm Alth and the kk “Private Oesterreichische Vereinsbank” permission to set up a “stock corporation for Commercial transactions ”in Chernivtsi under the name“ Bukowinaer Landesbank ”and approved its statutes. Wassilko owned the majority of the shares.

Catherine of Flondor

As early as July 1869 , the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Commerce, in conjunction with the Imperial and Royal Engineer Anton Pawlowski, approved the application for the operation of a horse-powered railway, starting from the private Lemberg-Chernivtsi- Jassy railway near Hliboka and in the Sereth Valley via Storosynetz , Komanestie, Zadowa , then leading Lukawetz to Berhometh and Lopuszna.

On October 15, 1883, in agreement with the ministries involved, the Prime Minister, as head of the Ministry of the Interior, granted the Goods Directorate of the Bukovinian Greek Orthodox Religious Fund as well as Alexander Baron Wassilko, Victor and his father Eugen Barone Styrcea , Dr. Nikolaus Ritter von Grigorcea, Dr. Johann Ritter von Zotta, Nikolaus Baron Hormuzaki and others, the approval for the establishment of a stock corporation under the company "Bukowinaer Erdölverein" with the seat in Chernivtsi and approved its statutes.

A few years later, two consortia planned to build two steam-powered local railway lines. Alexander promoted the expansion of the route network, such as the construction of the 57 km long Hliboka – Berhometh line, which was opened on November 30, 1886. He used the railway line to transport wood from his forests. A locomotive, the Aleco (also Wassilko I ) , ran under his name . In addition, he had wood-transporting stations and industrial plants built. Alexander's father had the property in Lopuszna (Lăpuşna) expanded into a climatic health resort . He tried to upgrade this with a rail link from Berhometh. However, this route was only built and put into operation in 1909 with the support of his son Georg Graf Wassilko von Serecki .

In 1886 Alexander acquired the property called "Wassilko-Palais" at Herrengasse 38 in Chernivtsi (today Olga-Kobyljanska-Straße 34 ). He had Berhometh Castle completed, which fell victim to the flames during the Russian offensive in 1915, and commissioned the construction of a new church in Berhometh in 1889. That is why he had the one built by his great-grandfather in 1773 relocated to a village that he owned, namely Szypot (Șipotele pe Siret) . He was by far the largest landowner in Bukovina and was also one of the largest in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy . Since his brothers, the Imperial and Royal Major Michael (* January 28, 1836; † February 22, 1870) and Georg (* 1840; † August 20, 1871), had died childless, in 1888 Emperor Franz Joseph I approved him with the consent of both houses of the Reichsrat the establishment and management of a Realfideikommiss .

The Wassilkogasse in Chernivtsi, a side street of Herrengasse, named after the family, was named Strada Alexandru Vasilco in his honor from 1924 (today Saksahanskyj-Strasse ). The German-Jewish author Paul Celan grew up on this street, number 5 .

family

The baron was the eldest son of Jordaki (1795–1861) and Pulcheria von Kalmucki (1811–1896). He married on June 16, 1859 at Hliniţa Castle Katharina von Flondor (* July 21, 1843 in Hlinitza; † December 27, 1920 at Mihowa Castle), the daughter of the large landowner and owner of Hliniţa, Jordaki Knight of Flondor (1798–1868) . The marriage produced four sons: Georg (1864–1940), hereditary mansion member and governor of Bukovina, Stephan (1869–1933), kuk Ministerialrat in the Ministry of the Interior and Rittmeister d. R., Alexander (1871-1920), lieutenant colonel and chamber chairman of the Archduke Ferdinand Heinrich and Viktor (1872-1934), Romanian Orthodox Archpriest , later chamberlain and count.

Alexander's unexpected death in 1893 led to "deep consternation and sadness" in the population, as well as across factions among his political friends and opponents.

Coat of arms of the barons Wassilko von Serecki

coat of arms

1855: “A blue shield, in which an upright arrow from a crescent turned down with a sickle, and at each of its tips with a star studded crescent, all gold. On the main edge of the shield rests the golden Freyherrnkrone on which a tournament helmet is set in its sights, from which blue, gold-backed helmet covers hang down. The helmet is adorned with a golden crown from which a natural peacock feather emerges, two rows of five feathers each, which is pierced by a golden arrow across to the right behind the middle one. "

predecessor Office successor
Eudoxius Freiherr von Hormuzaki Governor of the Duchy of Bukovina
1870–1871 		Eudoxius Freiherr von Hormuzaki
Anton Kochanowski Freiherr (1898) von Stawczan Governor of the Duchy of Bukovina
1884–1892 		Johann Lupul

Picture gallery

  • The sons Alexander, Stephan and Georg (from left)

  • Berhometh Castle around 1900 - 1

  • Berhometh Castle around 1900

  • Berhometh Castle Park

  • Berhometh Castle Park

  • Memorial stone for the church in Berhometh (1889)

  • Wassilkopalais, today Kobylianska Street 34

  • Katharinendorf (around 1900)

  • Berhometh station after 1886

  • The Aleco (1889)

  • Wassilkogasse 5 (2011)

literature

  • Justus Perthes : The Gothaschen Genealogical Pocket Books of the Nobility SZ . GB 1919, p. 606.
  • Justus Perthes: Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Graefliche Häuser , part B, Perthes, 1868, 114th year 1941, pp. 536-537.
  • Ion Nistor: Istoria Bucovinei . Ed. Humanitas, Bucharest, 1991, p. 128, p. 260, in Romanian
  • Erich Prokopowitsch: The nobility in Bukowina . Südostdeutscher Verlag, Munich, 1983, pp. 141-147
  • Almanac of the Journal of Literature Junimea . Iaşi, 1926.
  • Ion Drăguşanul: Bucovina faptului divers , Vol. 1,2. Editura Bucovina Viitoare, Suceava, 2002.

Web links

Commons : Alexander Wassilko von Serecki  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Rudolf Wagner, Paula Tiefenthaler, Landsmannschaft der Buchenlanddeutsche , Adolf Armbruster (ed.): From the Moldauwappen zum Doppeladler: Selected contributions to the history of the Bukowina , Volume 2, Hofmann-Verlag, 1993, ISBN 3-922865-54-2 , P. 483
  2. ↑ Hans-Christian Maner: Border regions of the Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th and 19th centuries: their meaning and function from the perspective of Vienna ", Volume 1, Lit-Verlag, Mainz 2005, p. 89
  3. ↑ a b Paul Brusanowski: Romanian Orthodox Church Order 1786-2008 , Böhlau Verlag GmbH & Cie, Cologne - Weimar - Vienna, 2011, p. 193.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Bukowinaer Rundschau of August 22, 1893
  5. ^ A b Ion Nistor: Istoria Bucovinei , Ed. Humanitas, Bucharest, 1991, p. 128, p. 260, in Romanian.
  6. ↑ Istoricul Liceului din Suceava, Eusebie Popovici: Ştefan cel Mare , Suceava, Editura Societăţii ṣcoala Română, 1935, p. 50, in Romanian.
  7. ^ Neue Freie Presse , Vienna, July 23, 1884.
  8. ^ Prager Tagblatt , July 24, 1884.
  9. ↑ Das Vaterland No. 286, from Monday, October 15, 1888, p. 3
  10. ↑ Mihai-Ştefan Ceauşu, Chernivtsi, 1892. In: Wladimir Fischer (Ed.), Waltraud Heindl: Spaces and Borders in Austria-Hungary 1867-1918: Cultural Studies Approaches , Francke Verlag, 2010, ISBN 3-7720-8239-4 , P. 409, here p. 33 ff.
  11. ^ Laibacher Wochenblatt dated February 27, 1892
  12. ↑ Hans-Christian Maner (Ed.): Border regions of the Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th and 19th centuries: their meaning and function from the perspective of Vienna , Lit Verlag Mainz, 2005, ISBN 3-8258-8032-X , p. 247, here P. 89.
  13. ^ Anthropological Society in Vienna: "Mittheilungen der Anthropologische Gesellschaft in Wien, Volumes 21-22", Verlag F. Berger & Söhne, Vienna 1891, p. 43
  14. ^ Elisabeth Grossegger: "Reports of the meetings of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-Historical Class ”, Volume 585, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1992, p. 48
  15. ^ Raimund Friedrich Kaindl: "History of the Germans in the Carpathian Countries", Volume 3, Justus Perthes Verlag, Gotha 1911, p. 385
  16. ^ The Bukovina Society of the Americas: Alexanderdorf and Katharinendorf Evangelical Lutheran Communities in Bukovina from 1863 until 1940 , in English. In: Konrad Gross: The Protestant communities in the Bukowina Alexanderdorf and Katharinendorf from 1863-1940 , Aid Committee for the Protestant Resettlers from the Bukowina, 1978, p. 43.
  17. ^ Society for the History of Protestantism in Austria: Yearbook of the Society for the History of Protestantism in Austria , Volumes 83-89, Verlag des Evangelischer Pressverband in Österreich, 1967, p. 145.
  18. ↑ Wiener Zeitung No. 124, from Wednesday, June 2, 1869
  19. ^ Neue Freie Presse No. 1710, of Thursday, June 3, 1869
  20. ^ Die Debatte, Vienna, No. 201, of Thursday, July 22, 1869
  21. ^ Wiener Zeitung No. 238, from Tuesday, October 16, 1883, p. 1
  22. ^ South-East German Historical Commission : South-East German Archives: Volumes 46-47 , Verlag R. Oldenbourg, 2003, p. 115, p. 145.
  23. ↑ Centralblatt for the entire forest system, Volume 11, 1885, p. 414.
  24. ↑ Erich Prokopowitsch: The nobility in the Bukowina , Südostdeutscher Verlag, Munich, 1983, pp. 141–147.
  25. ↑ Justus Perthes : The Gothaschen Genealogical Pocket Books of the Adels SZ , GB 1919, p. 606.
  26. ↑ coresno.com , Collegium Res Nobilis Austriae: The nobility of Bucovina .
  27. ^ Letter from the nobility of Jordaki Freiherr Wassilko von Serecki
personal data
SURNAME Wassilko von Serecki, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wassilko von Serecki, Freiherr Alexander (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Romanian-Austrian politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 17, 1827
PLACE OF BIRTH Berhometh
DATE OF DEATH August 20, 1893
Place of death Lopuszna / Lăpuşna