Claus Kröncke

The monument to Claus Kröncke

Claus Kröncke (born March 29, 1771 in Osten (Oste) (then: Kirchosten ), † November 5, 1843 in Darmstadt ), often incorrectly spelled Krönke in the literature , was a German engineer, civil servant and member of the Second Chamber of the Estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse . He is best known for the Rhine breakthrough he planned and organized in the Hessian Ried .

family

Claus Kröncke came from a family of farmers and dikers and was the son of the househusband Hermann Kröncke (1729–1786) and his wife Catharina Margarethe von Rönn (1735–1784).

On May 15, 1800, he married Dorothea Reuling (1777–1846), daughter of the Hesse-Darmstadt general staff doctor Georg Friedrich Reuling (1739–1799) in Darmstadt . From the marriage emerged:

• Adelheid Kröncke (1801–1831). In 1827 she married the director of the Friedberger teacher training college Wilhelm Curtmann (1802–1871).
• Hermann Kröncke (1802–1841) was Bensheim's district architect.
• Sophie Kröncke (1809–1872) married the Darmstadt court president Friedrich Lotheissen (1796–1859 ) in 1830 and was the mother of the Viennese literary historian Ferdinand Lotheissen (1833–1887).

Professional background

At the Hamburg Commercial Academy, Kröncke studied mathematics with Johann Georg Büsch (1728–1800) . In 1798 he went to Giessen , where he became a Hessian highway inspector and after receiving his doctorate as Dr. phil. held a professorship at the University of Giessen for water, road, mill and bridge construction.

On May 24, 1802, Kröncke succeeded Carl von Wiebeking as Rhine construction inspector and tax council of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt (from 1806: Grand Duchy of Hesse ). Shortly after 1802 he became a member of the “Tax Deputation” and the “Legislative Commission”, which organized tax and administrative reforms in the first two decades of the 19th century and in the first years of the Grand Duchy's existence.

Later he was appointed privy councilor of the Grand Ducal , Oberbauinspektor zu Darmstadt and section director at the Oberfinanzkammer, the central tax authority of the Grand Duchy.

In 1838 Kröncke was retired.

The Rhine breakthrough

At that time the Rhine with its loops was a constant threat to the population due to regular floods and dam bursts. Again and again there was great damage. The marshland in the Hessian Ried also posed a health threat to the residents. In order to reduce these dangers, the Grand Duchy of Hesse planned to cut through the Rhine. Claus Kröncke planned it at Am Geyer and organized the work. Construction work began on March 31, 1828.

The new bed of the Rhine was excavated about 24 meters wide, 6 feet 1 inch deep (which was 1.53 meters) and 3625 meters long. On April 30, 1829, the construction work ended with the breakthrough. The breakthrough was designed in such a way that the current of the Rhine, through erosion, flushed the now much wider (308 m) and deeper river bed itself. The cost of the puncture was 285,000 guilders .

Just a few days after the puncture, the abbreviation was navigable with the ships of the time. The floodplains created by the Rhine breakthrough also largely averted the danger of flooding and additional arable land was gained. The water level of the Rhine sank by 0.75 to 1 m as far as Rheindürkheim . The shipping route was shortened by 9.625 km because the 16 km long Rhine loop no longer had to be crossed. The breakthrough formed a new island in the Rhine, today the Kühkopf European Reserve . It is the largest nature reserve in Hesse . The Rhine formed the border between the provinces of Rheinhessen and Starkenburg . This was not changed, so that the Kühkopf became one of the few areas on the right bank of the Rhine in the province of Rheinhessen due to the puncture.

MP

Claus Kröncke was elected to the second chamber of the constituent estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse as a member of the state parliament for the constituency of Darmstadt in 1820 and held the mandate until 1821.

Honors

Kröncke received numerous honors. A memorial was erected to him during his lifetime. The Kröncke memorial created by the Darmstadt court sculptor Philipp Johann Joseph Scholl is located on the former Bundesstraße 44 , between Gernsheim (Klein-Rohrheim) and Groß-Rohrheim next to the Riedbahn on a bridge.

On July 25, 1839 he was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Zähringer Order of Lions .

In Gernsheim and Groß-Rohrheim, one street is named after Claus Kröncke.

Worth knowing

Claus Kröncke was one of the founders of the Masonic Lodge Johannes der Evangelist zur Eintracht in Darmstadt in 1816 .

literature

Works (selection)

sorted by year of publication

• Attempt of a theory of the wagon with application to road construction . 1st edition: Tasché, Chemnitz 1801; 2nd edition: Tasché & Müller, Giessen 1802.
• The tax system is examined according to its nature and effects . Heyer, Darmstadt 1804.
• Investigations into the value of wood and the importance of saving wood, accompanied by suggestions on how this saving might be achieved on a large scale. A contribution to higher forest science . GF Heyer, Darmstadt 1806.
• Detailed instructions on how to regulate taxes . Tasché & Müller, Giesen 1810.
• Practical treatises on important business in the regulation of taxes . Heyer, Darmstadt 1815.
• On the principles of fair taxation . Groos, Heidelberg 1819.
• About the disadvantages of tithe and the success of previous tithe changes in the principality of Starkenburg . Darmstadt, 1819.
• Lecture by Ober-Baudirektor Kröncke about the Rhine breakthrough on the Geyer. In: Hessen-Darmstadt Chamber of the Estates (2): Negotiations of the Second Chamber of the Estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Leske, 1824, pp. 143–191 ( limited preview in Google book search).
• About the excavation of the tongue of earth on the Geyer for better management of the Rhine between Worms and Oppenheim after the subsequent negotiations at the second chamber of the estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse . Leske, Darmstadt 1826.
• Proposal and preliminary plan for a general private widow and orphan fund for the Grand Duchy of Hesse, together with a comparison of this proposal with the various existing private widow and orphan funds . Leske, Darmstadt 1829.
• Reasons for some provisions in the statutes of the Ludwig and Wilhelminen Foundation . Leske, Darmstadt 1829.
• About the cancellation, redemption and conversion of the tithe, as well as about the buying off of the rent . Heyer, Darmstadt 1831.
• About the replacement of basic pensions . Heyer, Darmstadt 1832.

• About pension funds . Jonghaus, Darmstadt 1840.
• About the ecclesiastical widows' funds in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, u. via the Count of Erbach-Fürstenauische Diener-Wittwenkasse. A contribution to the calculations for the establishment and examination of the civil servants' widow funds . Jonghaus, Darmstadt 1842.

Secondary literature

in alphabetical order by authors / editors

• Gerold Bielohlawek-Hübel: How the Kühkopf came about. Crown book. The work of the Grand Ducal Darmstadt Director of Hydraulic Engineering, Dr. Claus Kröncke. Forum-Verlag, Riedstadt 2004, ISBN 3-937316-03-5 .
• Eckhart G. Franz , Peter Fleck, Fritz Kallenberg: Grand Duchy of Hesse (1800) 1806–1918 . In: Walter Heinemeyer , Helmut Berding , Peter Moraw , Hans Philippi (ed.): Handbook of Hessian History . Volume 4.2: Hesse in the German Confederation and in the New German Empire (1806) 1815–1945. The Hessian states until 1945 = publications of the historical commission for Hesse 63. Elwert. Marburg 2003. ISBN 3-7708-1238-7
• Jochen Lengemann : MdL Hessen. 1808-1996. Biographical index (= political and parliamentary history of the state of Hesse. Vol. 14 = publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse. Vol. 48, 7). Elwert, Marburg 1996, ISBN 3-7708-1071-6 , p. 227.
• Klaus-Dieter Rack, Bernd Vielsmeier: Hessian MPs 1820–1933. Biographical evidence for the first and second chambers of the state estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse 1820–1918 and the state parliament of the People's State of Hesse 1919–1933 (= Political and parliamentary history of the State of Hesse. Vol. 19 = Work of the Hessian Historical Commission. NF Vol. 29) . Hessian Historical Commission, Darmstadt 2008, ISBN 978-3-88443-052-1 , No. 484.
• Helmut Schulz:  Kroencke, Claus. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-428-00194-X , p. 58 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

• Kroencke, Claus. Hessian biography (as of February 21, 2014). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). Hessian State Office for Historical Cultural Studies (HLGL), accessed on October 23, 2014 . 
• Claus Kröncke - Der Rheindurchstich , accessed on August 23, 2020
• The story of the Kühkopf
• Land gain an argument

Remarks

1. ↑ On May 1, 1829, Claus Kröncke wrote a letter to the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt reporting on the rift through the Rhine:

   “Most transparent Grand Duke, most gracious lord.

   To Your Royal Highness I dare to make the most submissive direct report that the opening of the Rhine gorge on the Geyer took place yesterday when the water level was six feet and one inch.

   Since I could not be present at the last piercing work due to illness, I will most graciously be allowed to insistently add the assurance that after the strong inflow of water (which both Waibler, Waibler, when the Grand Ducal hydraulic engineering inspectors Geilfus, Amelung and Schuhknecht, who were also present, far exceeded expectations) the happy consequences of this great work listed under the most glorious government are beyond doubt. Hail and blessings to the most exalted regent for this great benefit shown in the entire Rhine region!

   The opening of the breakthrough was accomplished in an hour and a half, and before it had taken place across the entire width of the canal, the entire length of the breakthrough was navigated with a large anchor, and the current was found to be so strong that, regardless of the low water level, it was Immediately in several places the bank showed breakage.

   In the next week, according to this report, medium-sized ships, e.g. the Gernsheimer Marktschiff, will probably use the piercing for their voyage, and it is furthermore to be expected that after the entry of a high current water such a deepening and widening of the canal will take place, which make it useful for the entire navigation of the Rhine.

   I die in deep awe,
   Your Royal Highness

   Most submissive
   Kröncke
   Darmstadt, May 1st, 1829 "

   ( 175 years of the Rhine breakthrough ; accessed on October 4, 2016).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Reuling, Georg Friedrich in the catalog of the German National Library
2. ^ Georg Friedrich Reuling on the website of the Association for Computer Genealogy
3. ^ Curtmann, Jakob Georg Wilhelm. Hessian biography. (As of January 19, 2014). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
4. ↑ Kroencke, Emil Ludwig Hermann. Hessian biography. (As of March 11, 2010). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
5. ↑ Lotheissen, Friedrich. Hessian biography. (As of March 11, 2010). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
6. ^ Franz / Fleck / Kallenberg: Grand Duchy of Hesse , p. 703.
7. ^ Franz / Fleck / Kallenberg: Grand Duchy of Hesse , p. 703.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Claus Kröncke - The Rhine piercing ; Retrieved May 25, 2008.
9. ↑ ^{a b} Immanuel Kant School in Rüsselsheim: The Kühkopf-Knoblochsaue nature reserve. ( Memento of the original from March 21, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 33 
10. ↑ Hans Georg Ruppel, Birgit Groß: Hessian delegates 1820-1933. Biographical evidence for the estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse (2nd Chamber) and the Landtag of the People's State of Hesse (= Darmstädter Archivschriften. Vol. 5). Verlag des Historisches Verein für Hessen, Darmstadt 1980, ISBN 3-922316-14-X , pp. 163–164.
11. ^ Homepage of the lodge ; accessed on August 23, 2020.
12. ^ Franz / Fleck / Kallenberg: Grand Duchy of Hesse , p. 703.