Carl Wendt (economist)

Carl Wendt (born October 12, 1731 in Sorau , † August 6, 1815 in Kiel ) was a German doctor, government official and chief president of Kiel.

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Carl Wendt was a son of Christian Wendt (* 1684 in Itzehoe ; † 1774) and his wife Marie Margarethe, née Lichtenberg. The father was a mission college secretary and inspector of the Royal Orphanage in Copenhagen . From 1723 he worked as a pastor in Kassel , then as superintendent in Sorau.

Wend attended a Latin school in Sarau until 1749 and then studied medicine at the University of Halle. He completed his studies in 1752 with a doctorate to become Dr. med. from. The following year he followed a call from Minister Carl Adolph von Plessen (1678–1758) and opened his own practice in Copenhagen . In 1755 he was appointed court master of the two sons of Mogens Scheel von Plessen (1713–1749). He traveled with the children of the chief ceremonies to the Sorø Akademi and then accompanied them on their gentlemanly journey through Europe. Meanwhile, the younger brother died in Geneva in 1758 . The further trip with the older brother Christian Ludwig Scheel-Plessen (1741-1801) led via Göttingen to Holland . In 1764 they reached Denmark again.

From then on Wendt worked for the family of Christian Detlev Reventlow (1710–1775). He began as court master of Christian Ditlev Reventlow and his brother Johann Ludwig (1751-1801) and traveled with them again to Sorø. He then accompanied her during her studies in Leipzig and on a cavalier tour that led to Switzerland, Italy, France, England, Holland and Germany in 1769/70. In 1770/71 the Reventlows studied mining in Sweden and Norway, where Wendt traveled with.

Wendt developed very close relationships with the Reventlow family. He worked as their financial advisor. After the brothers' father died in 1775 and their mother, Charlotte Amalie Reventlow, née von Holstein, became a widow, he de facto managed family affairs and was called in as an advisor for all important decisions. Wendt had his residence in the house of the Reventlows and in 1781 bought the country house Hummeltofte near Lyngby north of Copenhagen . Charlotte Amalie Reventlow moved in there and stayed here until the end of her life in 1792. According to rumors, they married secretly because they were not of the same class. These were allegations made by the family, for which no evidence exists. According to reports that were made at the time of Reventlow's death in particular, it can be inferred that Wendt was the person with whom Reventlow was most closely connected. Wendt separated from the property in 1797.

Because of his relationship with the Reventlows, Wendt got a job with the central administration. From 1775 he was a member of the directorate of the Royal General Nursing Institution. In 1781 he became a commissioner at the Royal Oktroierte Bank, and a year later he became secretary of the bank management. Thus began his career in the Danish financial administration. When Andreas Peter Bernstorff headed the Danish government again in 1784 and installed the Reventlow brothers, whom Wendt had previously looked after, in important positions, this also meant an advantage for Wendt.

In June 1784, Wendt became a deputy to the Finance College. He was a member of the management of the bank and bill of exchange and the extraordinary finance commission. In the following years he received calls to several committees, including 1787 in the finance commission and the commission for the improvement of the poor. In 1791 he took part in the commission that should work out the abolition of the slave trade. From 1788 he worked as an advisor to the Finance College at the Secret State Council.

When the English took and besieged Copenhagen in the autumn of 1807, Wendt stayed with court and government in Rendsburg . He administered the royal treasury and belonged to the interim treasury administration in Kiel from 1808 . This gave him extensive rights to participate in the financial management of the duchies. In 1812 he was supposed to prepare the establishment of a credit association in Kiel. In 1813 he participated in the implementation of the "Ordinance due to a change in the monetary system of the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway, as well as the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein" created by Ernst Heinrich von Schimmelmann . With this currency reform, the Danish national bankruptcy should end. However, since the monetary system in the duchies was better positioned than parts of Denmark and the reform threatened to be affected by the Danish crisis, the rulers in the provinces fought bitterly against the measures. Wendt was able to mitigate the negative effects associated with the reform for the general state feeling in the duchies. Months after the introduction of the new currency, he found that the duchies and the Kingdom of Denmark were too different from each other to remain in the same monetary system.

In 1813, Wendt took over the office of Chief President of Kiel. He was nominally in charge of the entire administration of the city. In reality it was more of a sinecure that was meaningless in the daily work of the administration. After his death there was no successor in office for years.

Wendt was a recognized administrative specialist. In 1777 he was appointed Justice Council, 1781 Budget Council, 1789 Conference Council and 1812 Secret Conference Council. He thus reached the highest position that a non-nobleman could achieve. He never gained political influence in the narrower sense, but was indispensable for those in power due to his expertise, commitment and extensive knowledge. He died unmarried in early August 1815 in Kiel.

literature

• Claus Bjørn: Wendt, Carl . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 386-388.