Karl von Stremayr

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Karl Ritter von Stremayr (born October 30, 1823 in Graz ; † June 22, 1904 in Pottschach , Lower Austria ) was an Austrian politician, multiple minister and Prime Minister of Cisleithania , the imperial part of Austria-Hungary , and President of the Supreme Court .

Karl Ritter von Stremayr (around 1880)

Life

Childhood, youth, studies

Stremayr family coat of arms

Carl Borromeo Anton Franz Seraph Ritter von Stremayr was a member of the aristocratic Stremayr family and the son of the Upper Austrian military field pharmacist Franz Josef von Stremayr (1793–1843) and his wife Caroline, née Rieger (1800–1880).

He was born the first of nine children in Graz , where he also spent his childhood years. When his father was promoted in 1832 and transferred to Mantua (Lombardy-Venetian Kingdom) and the entire family moved there, he stayed with his grandparents in Graz at the age of ten and continued to attend grammar school in Graz.

Because of the promotion of his grandfather with the following transfer to Görtschach / Klagenfurt, he attended the sixth grade of the Klagenfurt high school for a year . When his grandfather died in 1839, his grandmother moved with him back to Graz, where he passed his Matura.

As a transition to university studies, he began philosophical studies in Vienna, learned Latin, Italian, French and English, later also Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian, and read Roman and Greek classics with like-minded fellow students. In 1841 he began to study law at the law and political science faculty of the University of Graz , because his parents wanted him not to pursue a military career.

When his father and grandmother died in 1843, he was the eldest son and had to take over the maintenance of the extended family by giving private tuition during his studies. One of his students was Bertha Hope, who would later become his wife.

In the autumn of 1845 he completed his legal studies in Graz.

job

In 1845 he began the one-year civil and criminal practice with the Graz Magistrate and in 1846 passed the legal trainee examination in German and Italian with distinction at the Court of Appeal in Klagenfurt.

That is why he received his doctorate as "Doctor juris utriusque" as early as 1846, and after completing his office as a judge he joined the kk Finanzprokuratur in Graz as an unpaid concept intern and was accepted into the civil service on November 9, 1846.

politics

March Revolution 1848 and Frankfurt National Assembly

In the course of the March Revolution in 1848 he was proposed as a lawyer without his participation in the “ Grazer Zeitung ” for the elections to the Frankfurt National Assembly , but at that time he had only few political ambitions. When he presented his goals, which were moderate and realistic compared to other speakers, in a speaker competition in Kindberg , Styria, he was elected a member of the National Assembly and immediately sent to Frankfurt.

In Frankfurt he took part in the last sessions of the preliminary parliament and the preliminary discussions for the opening of the National Assembly. As the youngest member of the assembly and senior secretary, he was the first to step into the speaker's platform in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt on May 18, 1848 to read out the welcome address of the old Bundestag to the new National Assembly.

In search of MPs who shared his views, he joined the Württemberger Hof , the liberal center.

The lively correspondence (94 letters from May 13, 1848 to April 19, 1849) between him and his future wife Bertha Hope was the basis for the later marriage and describes his enthusiasm and disappointments as a member of parliament in Frankfurt:

"[...] The legal untenability of relationships, which will probably be shattered forever by the course of our revolution, only shows itself clearly on such occasions. I only complain that the injustice which could and has often been practiced by one side for years can only be redeemed by new injustice on the other side, which also affects those who have not done wrong. [...] "

In this political atmosphere, whose exuberance and naive ignorance corresponded to the political reality of his youth, he was ambitiously active as one of 586 members of parliament, but soon recognized the impossibility of realizing his liberal hopes. After Archduke Johann was elected imperial administrator and his first appearance in the National Assembly, he wrote, already suspecting evil:

"[...] Archduke Johann walked through the ranks of the members of parliament [...] an uplifting sight [...] through the mouth of the president a power over all kings and princes of Germany [...] many, maybe whole Nations have not grasped the magnitude of the event, the world-historical significance of this act; may repentance not come with the later realization, and may heaven forbid that the rivers of blood that accompanied almost every great work of history followed this one [...] and I thought of the situation in Germany, the conditions of its peoples , and couldn't be happy [...] "

In connection with the spontaneous popular uprising in Frankfurt in September 1848 due to the Malmö armistice , he himself was just able to escape a fatal hail of bullets, while an Austrian officer was fatally wounded a few steps away from him.

With regard to the first three articles drawn up by the Constitutional Committee of the Frankfurt National Assembly

  • § 1: The German Reich consists of the territory of the previous German Confederation.
  • § 2: No part of the German Reich may be united with non-German states to form a state.
  • § 3: If a German country has the same head of state with a non-German country, the relationship between the two countries is to be organized according to the principles of pure personal union.

he did not want to allow a reduction to the two variants " Small German solution " or " Greater German solution " and fought in his maiden speech on October 26, 1848 for a solution beyond that:

"[...] Gentlemen! These too [meaning the participants in the constitutional committee, HY] will rightly have thought that Austria could be united into a federation of states, that this federation of states is intimately linked by the person of the emperor and by treaties between the individual Austrian states, that then, as previously the German confederation of states in the interests of the peoples sent to Vienna delegates from its individual constituents, and that they jointly exercise the appropriate participation in the total government of non-German Austria. I do not see why a union relationship between the non-German-Austrian states and Germany, which is intimately connected with German-Austria in the federal state, cannot be carried out; I do not see how in this way the policy of Austria and Germany to the east is anticipated or obstructed in the way? I also cannot understand that Austria is falling apart in this way, I only see that the bonds that unite Austria must be reshaped according to its historical development. "

This proposal by Stremayr represented the first concrete attempt under constitutional law within the Paulskirche to solve the pending problem. Of course, the form in which this was to be done was rather complicated and confusing, but at least theoretically possible from a legal point of view. Stremayr's plan had to fail for the simple reason that one power factor in it had received too little attention: the House of Habsburg, which could not agree to the separation of the German-Austrian territories from the Habsburg Empire. [...] Stremayr's plan was not discussed and was therefore condemned as an academic and legal proposal to remain theory.

When the Austrian MPs were recalled in April 1849, a disappointed and sobered Stremayr returned to Graz. From October 24, 1849 to the end of March 1850, he supplemented Roman and canon law at the University of Graz (vacancy after August Chabert, who died of stomach cancer at the age of 31 on February 6, 1849 in Vienna and was one of the fathers of "Austrian legal history" can be viewed).

family

Karl von Stremayr (1847), 24 years old

As a former liberal Frankfurt MP or revolutionary, he was given the poorly paid office of concept intern at the Styrian Chamber of Commerce . Not until 1850 was his appointment as a substitute public prosecutor created the financial basis for a possible marriage, which he entered into on June 17, 1850 in Graz Cathedral with Bertha Hope.

From this marriage came a son and five daughters:

  • Bertha (1851–1928) ⚭ 1873 Emil Hardt
  • Anna (1853–1861) died of typhus
  • Antonie (1855–1876) ⚭ 1873 Premier Lieutenant Richard Lüders ; died after the birth of the second child
  • After the death of her older sister Antonie in 1878, Maria (1859–) married her brother-in-law, the widower Richard Lüders, after government and church dispensation from the existing obstacle to marriage. Stremayr later described the situation at that time as follows:

“Her marriage to the widower after her sister gave a beautiful picture of tolerance, since the marriage of the Catholic with the Protestant groom in the house chapel of the Melk Monastery , where my wife drove from our apartment in a wheelchair, was carried out by the Protestant pastor with the assistance of the Catholic Pastor was executed after my excellent friend Archbishop Kutschker had obtained the state and church dispensation from existing obstacles to marriage by the shortest route without any lapel. "

  • Karl (1863–1864), twin brother of Caroline, died of pneumonia
  • Caroline (1863–1919), twin sister of Karl ⚭ 1884 General Johann Edler von Schemua

On March 4, 1905, one year after his death, by means of an imperial resolution of his eldest daughter - he no longer had any male descendants - Bertha von Hardt, for her two sons Karl and Emil Ritter von Hardt, the name association Hardt-Stremayr was approved.

Under reactionary superiors

When the Austrian delegates from Frankfurt were recalled in April 1849, Stremayr also had to return home, where the revolution had meanwhile been followed by reaction. The head of the Gubernium von Marquet received Stremayr, who was still an unpaid concept intern at the Styrian Chamber of Commerce, with the words: "You dare to return to Austria after your behavior in St. Paul's Church?" However, when Stremayr pointed out his personal relationships with the then Justice Minister Schmerling, Marquet's resentment was calmed and Stremayr was again allowed to exercise his function as an unpaid concept intern.

Karl von Stremayr (1859), 36 years old

After Stremayr had to lead the office of public prosecutor under a constitution that he did not accept, the reactionary superiors were not satisfied with Stremayr's administration and he was reset at every opportunity. After three of his brothers had embarked on a military career and his sisters helped to keep the house by hand, he only had to take care of his own family.

As a result, he completed his habilitation as a private lecturer in Roman law at the University of Graz on the basis of two treatises in Roman law:

  • The actio Pauliana according to common and Austrian law
  • A contribution to the declaration of L. 5 § 10 D. de inst. act. (= Dig. 14,3,5,10)

Kopatsch and Maassen acted as reviewers .

He also worked as a journalist, later also under a pseudonym, as an editor at the Grazer Zeitung .

In 1860 he and his older daughters Bertha, Anna and Antonie fell ill with typhoid fever , which again put the whole family in great financial need. But worse was the death of his daughter Anna, as well as the death of the maid and the nurse.

Styrian Landtag

Due to the February constitution of 1861, elections were announced for the Styrian Landtag , to which he, still weakened by the illness, was put up as a candidate for the city of Graz without his intervention. He was elected to the state parliament for the suburbs of Graz and sat in the state parliament for the next 18 years, including nine years as a member of the state committee .

All of a sudden he was rid of material worries and was able to start a new field of work in which he was able to push through less political than organizational and administrative improvements in the landscape administration as well as in the state health and educational institutions. That is why he was also appointed head of the state's educational institutions , the Technical University at the Joanneum and the state high school. The multiple occupations as a state committee member, public prosecutor substitute, civil clerk at the regional court, private lecturer, member of the board of directors of the I. Steirische Sparkasse and state examination commissioner were confronted with joys and sorrows in the family: in 1863 Bertha gave birth to a pair of twins, but the son died after a few months. This stroke of fate lay hard on his wife, who from this point in time, despite her strong health, failed her hands and feet and put her in a wheelchair.

His administrative talents in the Styrian state parliament and in various national committees did not go unnoticed, so he was in 1868 by Carl Giskra as Councilor appointed to the Ministry of the Interior.

First ministerial office under Hasner

There Leopold Hasner von Artha offered him the office of Minister for Culture and Education as part of the formation of the government, which he accepted on February 1, 1870. This cabinet, however, was only a brief epilogue of the mayor ministry . In the "memorandum dispute" the centralized majority of the cabinet forced the dissenting ministers to resign and reconstructed themselves in the Hasner Ministry. The state of affairs in which the government remained were so untenable that the course was changed after just a few months. Nevertheless, on April 12, 1870, the Hasner Ministry and with him Stremayr were dismissed.

At his request, Stremayr was granted a position at the Supreme Court and Cassation Court. In the same year his family, consisting of four daughters and his wife, moved to Vienna. Surprisingly, he was sent by the Styrian Landtag as a member of the House of Representatives to the Vienna Reichsrat , in which he joined the German Liberal Party .

Second ministerial office under Potocki

As early as June 30, 1870, after the Potocki ministry had promised not to touch the constitution and to give him a free hand in matters relating to his department, Stremayr was reappointed Minister for Culture and Education. Stremayr's late entry into the ministry was viewed extremely critically by his liberal party comrades and would have meant the end of their political careers for him and the liberal Justice Minister Adolf von Tschabuschnig had the short term of office of the “coalition ministry” not resulted in sustained political compromise between the two liberal ministers prevented.

Stremayr advocated the repeal of the Concordat of November 5, 1855 , in view of the proclamation of the dogma about the infallibility of the Pope . The infallible Pope determines the limits of his competence himself, without anyone being able to stop him. Both the Austrian clergy and the faithful are bound to the infallibility dogma and thus to the infallible Pope's indefinite provisions.

However, since Potocki refused to bring the bill to parliament for religious reasons, the concordat was declared invalid by an imperial handwriting in the Privy Council on July 30, 1870 in the presence of the Austrian ambassador to the Holy See and the Foreign Minister was charged with the formal revocation. On the same day, the Kaiser gave Stremayr the task of preparing the necessary bills for the Imperial Council as a result of this change .

The Liberals refrained from repealing the Concordat because it had been carried out by the coalition ministry, which they had so severely attacked. According to Conte Corti, the concordat was only canceled when Archduchess Sophie's influence had waned in favor of Empress Elisabeth. Unfortunately no further details are given. The presentation allows the assumption that the personal events in the imperial house had a not insignificant influence on the course of the matter.

The position of the ministry in relation to the newly elected Reichsrat became increasingly difficult. Potocki's efforts to determine the Bohemian state parliament to elect the representatives for the Reichsrat were unsuccessful. The attacks by the German liberal constitutional party became increasingly violent. The speech planned by Stremayr to counter these conditions was prevented by Potocki; but not the submission of the application for dismissal in autumn 1870.

On February 4, 1871, Stremayr was finally removed and resumed his duties as a councilor at the Supreme Court.

Third ministerial office under Auersperg

Auersperg government with ministers (Karl von Stremayr sitting in front left), 55 years old

After the Potocki, Hohenwart and Holzgethan Ministries, the Auersperg Ministry was appointed within a short time . After participating in the government program, Stremayr was reappointed Minister for Culture and Education on November 25, 1871, which this time he held until August 12, 1879.

About his relationship as a minister with his political friends, Stremayr said:

“The life of the party means that it is often not the well-being of the state, but rather annoying party interests that determine the attitude of the members of parliament. But a minister can never and must never follow a party in this way. He must also maintain his full independence, the freedom of his conscientious conviction, and this is often determined in his relationship to the crown by reasons that he cannot reveal to his friends either. "

The fact that his principles were more important to him than keeping the office of minister is also reflected in the following:

"[...] an appointment different from what I proposed [...] I immediately put back the Most High Resolution without my countersigning and at the same time submitted my resignation. His Majesty had the grace to abandon an appointment after a long period of time [...]. "

Rigorous regulations of April 15, 1872

The rigor regulation only related to the three secular faculties, as the old ordinances initially remained in place for the theological faculties. As provisions common to all three rigorous regulations, it should be emphasized that the same had to be strict examinations that had to be held in public; that as a rule only full professors were allowed to take these exams and that all rigorous exams would have to be taken at the same university. [...] Paragraph 3 of the Rigorosen-Ordinance stated that the religious denomination does not exempt from the rights and obligations of taking the strict examination from canon law , whereby the singular provision for Israelites who could not previously be promoted to doctors of canon law, was repealed.

Funding and establishment of universities

Under his leadership, u. a. the universities in Prague and Vienna quickly continued and a new university was established in Chernivtsi . The University of Prague has not yet been divided into a German and a Czech university and the Institute of Paleontology has been established in Vienna. Stremayr transferred the educational goods from Western Europe to Austria in order to transmit them from here to the East. As a result, he fulfilled not only an Austrian but also a European mission.

Search for "the best" teachers

Stremayr has shown through his care for teacher training at all levels as well as for the regulation of the economic situation of the teaching staff that he had recognized that the level of the school depends only on the teacher and that a good teacher means 9/10 of a good school. In addition, Stremayr's realpolitical skill emerges everywhere. He knew how to use every situation that arose as a result of the complicated machinery of the parliamentary state in a clever way to achieve his goals. His work bears the stamp of his sense of responsibility, which told him that the Minister of Education was responsible for the state and the advancement of education in the population. This is particularly the case in the area of ​​secondary education and higher education, where he consciously sought selection through high demands. The establishment of numerous secondary schools and the adjustment of the number of schools to the population density shows how Stremayr purposefully took the right path to raise the educational level of the population clearly and decisively. Stremayr thus played a key role in the creation of the Austrian school system, which gradually acquired a resounding name in the world. Stremayr used the ah as one of the means of keeping the scholars in Austria. Awards or grants. Stremayr procured them to the scholars to such an extent that the German government was moved to send a note to the Ministry of Education demanding that the mischief of excessive medals be given to an end. But since the Emperor of Austria, as Stremayr's only competent authority, did nothing in this regard, Stremayr continued to use this method.

Freedom of teaching and learning

In this way the teacher should follow the effects of the teaching on the individual pupil, support him in the difficult work of intellectual appropriation of the traditional material and be able to offer him a hand in scientific self-activity following what has been received.

"My job is to protect the interest of public teaching because I recognize and represent a higher interest than political and this is that of public teaching."

Interdenominational Legislation

Karl von Stremayr with the Italian King (1875) with play on words regarding the abolition of the Concordat

The moderate reorganization of the relationship between state and church with further interdenominational legislation, which was necessary due to the repeal of the Concordat (for example, the legal recognition of the independent Old Catholic confession could be achieved), the Kulturkampf in Germany, which was also of great importance for the Austrian liberals, the Monastery laws and others often brought with them tough battles, which Stremayr described as follows:

“There were often tough battles that I had to go through with the most gracious monarch in oral discussion of my designs, and even by persisting in my conviction I could not acquire the highest grace and satisfaction: I succeeded not infrequently, my humble opinion To enforce. Of course, I was not allowed to cling to my portfolio and always had to be ready to put it back in the hands of the one who had entrusted it to me unworthy. "

Stremayr did not let himself be swayed by the clericals, who wanted to soften the laws, or by the liberals, who wanted to tighten them. Both finally capitulated to the product of an outlook which he himself characterizes: “Nothing is further from the government than interference in the sacred domain of religion and conscience [...] But no government that is aware of its tasks and duties can do so put up with the fact that religion is misused for activities that are dangerous to the state. ”He rejected the excessive demands of the liberals by pointing out that it was not the government's task“ to wage war with the church, but to put things in order in such a way that they can freely rule and operate in their sacred area, but that they do not encroach on the inviolable law of the state ”. As a result, the development of interdenominational legislation came about in fragments, not only with the representatives of the superior church power, but also with his own party. See also: May Laws (Austria-Hungary) .

Department of Art Affairs

The field of art was a particularly rich field of activity for Stremayr. The importance he attached to it is evident from the fact that he created his own department for art affairs in the Ministry of Education. He subordinated this to the then Ministerial Secretary of the Ministry of Education Leopold Schulz von Straznicki, while at the same time assigning the title and character of a section council. With regard to this newly created department, too, Stremayr handled the tried and tested establishment of the advisory councils and appointed Hofrat Dr. Rudolf Eitelberger von Edelberg for the extraordinary service to the Ministry of Education, who voluntarily waived any remuneration for the service rendered to the Ministry of Education in this function during the entire ministry of Stremayr.

Austrian Museum for Art and Industry

If one looks at Eitelberger's work in connection with the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry, it can be seen that he was the soul of that institution which, under his leadership, developed into one of the central and starting points of the art movement that was then ruling in Austria. But the influence that Stremayr had on the museum mentioned cannot be overlooked. Indeed, by allowing Eitelberger to act relatively freely in relation to this institution, he promoted its quality to a high degree. Through the cooperation of Stremayr and Eitelberger, that spirit was cultivated at this place, which made the officials working on it into desirable powers for other similar institutions. How deep this spirit was rooted in the officials working at the museum is shown by a letter from Dr. Albert Ilgs , which he addressed to Eitelberger on the occasion of his departure from the Museum of Art and Industry on September 26, 1876, and the latter forwarded to Stremayr in the form of a copy.

Academy of visual art

In addition to the endeavors to equip the Academy of Fine Arts with outstanding artists and scholars, Stremayr was also responsible for the new construction of the academy building on Kalkmarkt from November 25, 1871, as the new minister of education and culture. As such, he and the responsible senior building officer, Theophil von Hansen, achieved a reduction of the construction costs by 800,000 guilders to 1,200,000 guilders by deleting the originally planned second floor above the rear wing of the academy building. In return, Stremayr applied for its own building to accommodate the sculptor's studio and master school in the uppermost part of the botanical garden on Landstrasse.

Promotion of science and art

On January 28, 1871, Stremayr submitted a very submissive lecture to the emperor with the request that the natural history collections be subordinated to the administration of the Ministry of Education without transferring ownership. This request was rejected on March 30, 1871.

With a ministerial decree of April 26, 1876, Stremayr had two prizes of two thousand guilders each in silver advertised: For the best scholarly study of the public law applicable in Austria and for the best teaching and manual of Austrian imperial and legal history. However, the named prizes were not distributed even when Stremayr had significantly extended the application deadline, as none of the applicants met the requirements, which was probably due not least to the political situation in Austria.

Promotion of drawing lessons by setting up their own drawing schools in larger cities from 1873 to teach drawing as such. They should not be taught drawing in the true sense of the word as an art, but as a skill that professionally trained forces had to have in order to pursue their professional life. This created the conditions for the introduction of drawing lessons in all schools in 1878.

In 1873 the Central Commission for Art and Historical Monuments was directly subordinate to the Ministry of Education and the rules of procedure were completely redrafted.

In 1874, as a “sponsor of the Austrian elementary school”, he received a preliminary request from Peter Rosegger regarding the possibility of a dedication for the book “ The writings of the forest schoolmaster ”, which was implemented in the same year. In 1877 he had to interrupt the regular scholarships of between 300 and 500 fl for a short time because of the large number of supposedly needy applicants compared to the meager available funds, not because of dissatisfaction with his achievements.

From 1878 to 1904 he was the first president of the Vienna Goethe Society (now the Austrian Goethe Society ).

Prime Minister

The attempt to form a new ministry with the constitutional party in 1879, to which he was to belong again as minister for culture and education, failed and brought the end of the Auersperg ministry. Instead, Stremayr, as senior of the other ministers, was given the task of chairing the cabinet by the emperor. From February 15 to August 12, 1879, he served as Prime Minister of the Austrian half of Austria-Hungary , including Sisinio von Pretis-Cagnodo as Minister of Finance. However, the Stremayr Ministry was only to serve as a transitional government until the planned Reichsrat elections were completed.

Fourth ministerial office under Taaffe

On August 12, 1879, he was appointed Minister of Justice with simultaneous management of the Ministry of Culture and Education. The relationship between the Taaffe Ministry and the Constitutional Party became increasingly difficult, and every step towards reconciling the opposing elements was rejected.

Thus, for two years he was minister for culture and education and at the same time minister of justice. As such, in April 1880, together with the Taaffe responsible for the administrative authorities, he issued a language ordinance for each of the crown lands of Bohemia and Moravia on what is known as the external official language by commentators , with the aim of giving the Czechs more rights to use their mother tongue in dealings with the administration and the judiciary give (the announcement was made in the respective state law gazettes). Accordingly, the language of the input or the auditor should be decisive for the completion. Stremayr wrote:

"The language ordinances issued together with Taaffe, to which I finally agreed after many weakening and while preserving German as the internal official language, poured oil into the fire without satisfying the demands of the Czechs."

According to Zündel, this regulation by no means established new principles. Even the renewed Bohemian state order of Ferdinand III. of 1640 C II determined the language of the defendant as the language of negotiation in criminal cases. The Court of Justice decree of April 22, 1803, line 1192 reminds the Court of Appeal in Prague that according to the General Court Rules of May 1, 1781, every plaintiff is free to draft his complaint in German or Bohemian. The Justice Ministerial Decree of April 29, 1848 line 121 to the Bohemian Court of Appeal fixes the full equality of the Bohemian and German national languages ​​in the administration of justice. The Justice Ministerial Decree of May 23, 1852, line 11.815 already lays down the principles of the Stremayr-Taaffe Language Ordinance § 8 in criminal proceedings, as are the Justice Ministerial Decrees of April 4, 1856, line 4749 and January 10, 1854, line 517 of the language ordinance of 1880. […] Stremayr saw his task here as everywhere in serving the Austrian multi-ethnic state while adhering to the liberal basic idea (though not in the sense of the German liberal party). From this point of view, the language ordinance cannot be regarded as wrong, even if it appears to be an error from the national German point of view.

For further treatment of the language issue in the Bohemian countries, see Baden Language Ordinance .

After he was unable to reconcile the affairs of state with his ideals, he submitted several requests for dismissal until they were granted by the emperor on February 16, 1880 (cult and teaching) and on June 26, 1880 (justice).

At the head of the Supreme Court

Karl von Stremayr (1896), 73 years old

The appointment as 2nd President of the Supreme Court and Cassation Court on June 29, 1880 was followed by a frosty reception on the part of the first President von Schmerling , as Count Taaffe had not formally requested his consent before the imperial appointment. But within a year it turned into a very friendly relationship.

In 1889 Stremayr was appointed a lifelong member of the manor of the Imperial Council by the Emperor .

The appointment as the first President of the Supreme Court followed in 1891. Unfortunately, the necessary documents for a detailed description of Stremayr's activities at the Supreme Court are missing due to the fire in the Palace of Justice.

In 1893, at the request of Archduke Rainer, the emperor appointed him deputy in the board of trustees of the Imperial Academy of Sciences and soon thereafter became an honorary member.

A severe fainting attack, followed by a long illness, surprised Stremayr in the spring of 1898 at a session of the court. Concerned about the further development of his homeland and about his state of health, which no longer allowed him to exercise the office as usual, he asked for retirement, which the emperor complied with in a personal letter.

Copy of the Most High Handwriting of His Majesty Franz Josef I
Obituary notice 1904

In the spring of 1899 a severe attack of gout tied Stremayr to bed and room for months and deprived him of the use of his limbs.

Stremayr has memories from life as a dedication to his manuscript . Tell his children and grandchildren to write in 1899:

“As I look back on a life full of vicissitudes, the wish that the experiences of this life will not be lost to my children and grandchildren and that the memory of their father and grandfather will be faithful to them like a picture from a time gone by imposes itself on me remain. From these records they should learn the lesson not to lose courage in disaster, not to become overconfident in happiness, but always and everywhere in strict fulfillment of duty not to strive for the vain goods of the world, but for the ideal perfection of their own self. In it they may find that satisfaction which the world, with all its external splendor and dazzling honors, cannot afford. "

He died on June 22, 1904 at the age of 82 in Pottschach in Lower Austria. He was buried at the Vienna Central Cemetery .

Appreciations

Stremayr was the recipient of numerous awards such as the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Stephen , the Grand Cross of the Austrian Order of Leopold , the Grand Cross of the Russian Order of St. Anna , the Imperial and Royal Order of the Iron Crown 1st Class , the Grand Cross of the House Order of the Grand Duke von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach vom Weißen Falken and the Medal of Honor for 40 years of loyal service.

Anton Bruckner dedicated the 5th Symphony to his patron Stremayr in 1876 , but it was not found until 1904 in Stremayr's estate by his son-in-law Emil Hardt .

On the occasion of his 50th service and doctorate anniversary in 1896, he honored a. a.

  • the emperor with the following highest handwriting:

"Dear Dr. from Stremayr! Today I remember gratefully your excellent work in the civil service and in public life, which has been tirelessly continued for 50 years and always filled with a patriotic spirit. On this occasion I am again pleased to express my fullest appreciation with the wish that it may please the Almighty to give you many years of undisturbed wellbeing.
Vienna, November 9th, 1896 - Franz Joseph mp "

  • the Karl-Franzens-Universität by renewing the doctoral degree.

On June 7, 1905, a memorial plaque was attached to Stremayr's birthplace on Karmeliterplatz by means of a municipal council resolution and a new street in Graz was named "Stremayrgasse". This was presumably also related to the fact that, as Minister for Culture and Education, he proposed the new building of the university on parts of the city park facing the city, with which the government deviated from the principle of the property to remain undeveloped.

Extract of honorary citizenships in chronological order

Extract of honorary memberships in chronological order

  • Scietá Zoofila Triestina (February 28, 1870)
  • Société Royale de Médecine Mentale de Belgique (May 24, 1875)
  • Sickness and Support Association for Students at the University of Chernivtsi (February 1, 1879)
  • Music Association for Styria (May 25, 1879)
  • Oriental Museum in Vienna, full member (October 26, 1887)

Obituaries

It was in Stremayr's nature to try first to win the opponent or to defeat him through clever tactics with intellectual arguments.

Because of this "Mittelstrasse policy", his party was often accused of being content with small successes where vigorous action could have achieved great victories. However, taking into account the circumstances and the great difficulties that faced him, it is certain that this reproach of the German-Liberal party, which was always radical in its demands, was unjust. Stremayr, whose sharpness of mind is praised by colleagues and employees, only recognized the limits of what was achievable more precisely. By restricting himself to what was possible, he was able to achieve more than high-tension demands that would have stiffened the resistance and thus probably would have led to no result at all. In particular, the resistance of the crown would have made excessive demands impracticable. So Stremayr acted as a clever realpolitician. His temperance was not weakness.

He never allowed himself to be guided by party interests, he was always guided by his own genuinely liberal convictions. The German Liberal Party naturally resented it that he - having emerged from its ranks - now disregarded it. In Stremayr's view, however, the minister had to remain unaffected by the passions of the political parties, that is, to stand above them.

Stremayr was one of those officials who were body and soul sworn in by the Austrian monarchy, the Austrian imperial family, "one of the most excellent administrative officials [...] our imperial state has ever had".

Fonts (selection)

  • Memories from life. Told to his children and grandchildren. Holzhausen, Vienna 1899.

literature

Web links

Commons : Karl von Stremayr  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Weiss von Starkenfeld, Alois Frhr. & Kirnbauer von Erzstätt, Johann E .: The Upper Austrian nobility , in: Siebmacher's great Wappenbuch, vol. 4, 5th division, Nuremberg 1904, p. 412.
  2. ↑ Stenographic report on the negotiations of the German constituent national assembly in Frankfurt am Main. First volume. First advisory meeting in Paulskirche on Thursday, May 18, 1848; P. 4.
  3. ^ Letter to Bertha Hope dated July 23, 1848.
  4. ^ Letter to Bertha Hope dated July 18, 1848.
  5. ^ Letter to Bertha Hope dated October 28, 1848.
  6. ↑ Stenographic report on the negotiations of the German constituent national assembly in Frankfurt am Main. Fourth volume. 103rd meeting on Thursday, October 26, 1848. pp. 2879–2881.
  7. ↑ Karl Köck: “Dr. Karl von Stremayr viewed in his relationship to science, art and industry. ”Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1950. p. 10.
  8. ↑ Memories from life. Told to his children and grandchildren. Holzhausen, Vienna 1899, p. 58.
  9. ^ O. Maas' sons: Genealogical pocket book of the noble houses of Austria. Volume 2, 1906-07.
  10. ^ Karl Köck: Dr. Karl von Stremayr viewed in his relationship to science, art and industry. Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1950. p. 10.
  11. ^ Gunter Wesener: History of the Law Faculty of the University of Graz. Part 1: Roman Law and Natural Law. Volume 9/1, Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, Graz 1978.
  12. ↑ Christine Mann: Between tradition and modernity. The Güntherian Vinzenz A. Knauer (1828–1894) in search of truth in freedom. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-60129-7 , p. 197.
  13. ^ Gertrud Elisabeth Zündel: "Karl von Stremayr". Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1944, p. 59.
  14. ↑ Kora Waibel: Dissertation on the cancellability of the Austrian Concordat. On the possibilities and consequences of the abolition of the treaty between the Republic of Austria and the Holy See of June 5, 1933 , University of Vienna, Vienna 2008, p. 18 ( PDF ).
  15. ↑ daily newspaper Wiener Zeitung , Vienna, no. 184, August 10, 1870 p.1, Official Section .
  16. ^ Gertrud Elisabeth Zündel: Karl von Stremayr. Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1944, p. 55.
  17. ↑ Conte Corti: Elisabeth, the strange woman. Pp. 60 and 221.
  18. ↑ Memories from life. Told to his children and grandchildren. Holzhausen, Vienna 1899, pp. 53–54.
  19. ↑ Memories from life. Told to his children and grandchildren. Holzhausen, Vienna 1899, p. 49.
  20. ↑ a b Memories from life. Told to his children and grandchildren. Holzhausen, Vienna 1899, p. 57.
  21. ^ Karl Köck: Dr. Karl von Stremayr viewed in his relationship to science, art and industry. Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1950, pp. 28–29.
  22. ↑ 40th law of March 31, 1875, with which the establishment of a university in Czernowitz is ordered and the systematic first salary level of the professors is fixed at the same. In: Austrian National Library - ALEX < http://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=rgb&daten=18750004&seite=00000113 >, accessed on January 3, 2015.
  23. ^ Stremayr Karl. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 13, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2007–2010, ISBN 978-3-7001-6963-5 , p. 398 f. (Direct links on p. 398 , p. 399 ).
  24. ↑ Institute for Paleontology at the University of Vienna. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  25. ^ Karl Köck: Dr. Karl von Stremayr viewed in his relationship to science, art and industry. Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1950, p. 98.
  26. ^ Gertrud Elisabeth Zündel: Karl von Stremayr. Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1944, pp. 146–147.
  27. ^ Karl Köck: Dr. Karl von Stremayr viewed in his relationship to science, art and industry. Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1950, p. 97.
  28. ↑ Karl Lemayer: The management of Austrian universities from 1868 to 1877. P. 190.
  29. ^ Shorthand record of the House of Representatives. Session VIII, Session 90, December 10, 1874, p. 3231.
  30. ↑ "Declaration of the Austrian Archbishops a. Bishops on the draft law on the monastic cooperatives negotiated in the Reichsrat, ”dated Jan. 1876.
  31. ↑ Stenographic minutes of the House of Representatives. Vlll. Session, Session 29, Mar. 9 1874, pp. 965f.
  32. ↑ Ministerialverordnungsblatt Piece XII of June 15, 1872 and Wiener Zeitung of June 7, 1872, No. 128.
  33. ^ Karl Köck: Dr. Karl von Stremayr viewed in his relationship to science, art and industry. Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1950, pp. 135ff.
  34. ^ "Resolution" of March 30, 1871. Z. 31 / präs.
  35. ^ Karl Köck: Dr. Karl von Stremayr viewed in his relationship to science, art and industry. Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1950, p. 165.
  36. ^ Karl Köck: Dr. Karl von Stremayr viewed in his relationship to science, art and industry. Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1950, p. 166f.
  37. ^ Karl Köck: Dr. Karl von Stremayr viewed in his relationship to science, art and industry. Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1950, p. 167.
  38. ↑ Peter Rosegger: The writings of the forest schoolmaster. Pest 1875. In: Deutsches Textarchiv < http://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/rosegger_waldschulmeister_1875/9 >, accessed on December 30, 2014.
  39. ^ Peter Rosegger, Gustav Heckenast: Correspondence 1869-1878. Published by Karl Wagner, Max Kaiser, Werner Michler, Böhlau-Verlag, pp. 297, 301, 682.
  40. ^ Ernst Rutkowski: Letters and documents on the history of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy . Volume 2: The Constitutionally Loyal Large Estate 1900-1904 . Verlag Oldenbourg, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-486-52611-1 , p. 454.
    Robert R. Luft: The middle party of the Moravian large estates. In: Ferdinand Seibt (Ed.): The chance of understanding. Intentions and approaches to supranational cooperation in the Bohemian countries 1848-1918 . Verlag Oldenbourg, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-486-53971-X , pp. 187-243, here: p. 194.
  41. ↑ LGBl. Bohemia No. 14/1880 (= p. 34)
  42. ↑ LGBl. Moravia No. 17/1880 (= p. 31)
  43. ^ Helmut Slapnicka: The powerlessness of parliamentarism. In: Ferdinand Seibt (Ed.): The chance of understanding. Intentions and approaches to supranational cooperation in the Bohemian countries 1848–1918. Verlag Oldenbourg, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-486-53971-X , pp. 147-174, here: p. 152.
  44. ^ Karl von Stremayr: Memories from life. Told to his children and grandchildren. Holzhausen, Vienna 1899, p. 60.
  45. ^ Gertrud Elisabeth Zündel: "Karl von Stremayr". Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1944, pp. 170 and 179.
  46. ^ Karl von Stremayr: Memories from life. Told to his children and grandchildren. Holzhausen, Vienna 1899, p. 62.
  47. ^ Gertrud Elisabeth Zündel: "Karl von Stremayr". Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1944, p. 190.
  48. ↑ Gazette of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. XXX. Born in 1893. No. I-XXVII, Vienna 1893, p. 272.
  49. ↑ http://data.onb.ac.at/rec/AC10354493
  50. ↑ grave place of Karl Streymayr , Vienna, central cemetery, Group 17, Group enlargement A, G1 number, n. 15.
  51. ↑ Michael Steinberg: The Symphony: A Listener's Guide. Oxford University Press, New York 1995, ISBN 0-195-12665-3 , p. 102.
  52. ^ Finding a Bruckner score. In:  Die Zeit , supplement Abendblatt , No. 767/1904, November 14, 1904, p. 2, bottom center (online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / zei.
  53. ↑ Neues Wiener Tagblatt , No. 157, Vienna on June 8, 1905, p. 7.
  54. ^ The university building in Graz. In:  Wiener Zeitung , supplement Wiener Abendpost , No. 43/1871, February 22, 1871, p. 170, center left (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wrz
  55. ↑ Karl Lemayer: obituary in Bettelheim's biographical yearbook. 9th volume, pp. 117ff.
  56. ^ Gertrud Elisabeth Zündel: Karl von Stremayr . Unprinted dissertation, Vienna 1944, p. 190.
  57. ^ Hardt-Stremayr: Memories of a Liberal Austrian. Tagblatt, Oct. 28, 1923.
  58. ^ Weber's accompanying letters from Kaiserfeld to Stremayr. Neue Freie Presse, Sep 1 1907, no.15.455.
personal data
SURNAME Stremayr, Karl von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stremayr, Carl Borromäus Anton Franz Seraph Ritter von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian lawyer and politician, member of the state parliament
DATE OF BIRTH October 30, 1823
PLACE OF BIRTH Graz
DATE OF DEATH June 22, 1904
Place of death Pottschach