David cow

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David Kuh (born April 11, 1819 in Prague , Austrian Empire ; died January 25, 1879 there ) was a German-Bohemian journalist and politician .

Life

David Kuh came from a Jewish family; his father Samuel Rafael was a cutlery dealer in Prague. Initially he was interested in training in medicine and studied this discipline at the University of Prague . At the age of 22 he moved to Vienna in 1841 , where he first attended medical lectures and then legal lectures. He then held the post of tutor at the factory owner Brandeis from 1842 to 1844. In 1844 he decided to become an actor and first devoted himself to the practice of this trade in Moravia . On his journeys he finally came to Esseg , where he worked as a performer and chief director at the Deutsches Theater.

In Esseg, the contrasts between the Slavic-Croatian population on the one hand and the Magyar magnates and the German bourgeoisie on the other made themselves felt in threatening tensions. Encouraged by these national conditions in Esseg, Kuh gave up the acting profession and became active as a journalist. He published the newspaper Der Volksredner and campaigned in it to defend the interests of the Germans and Hungarians against the aspirations of the Slavs. Through his articles, he came into conflict with fanatical Croatians and the police and eventually had to flee. On an adventurous hike he reached Budapest and found a job that appealed to him with the True Ungar , a newspaper published by Saphir, a brother of the famous satirist . He only kept this for a short time. The Hungarian revolution was suppressed and Kuh, who was unable to follow the example of his boss, who escaped because of illness, was arrested and, as a supporter of Kossuth and revolutionary journalist , was sentenced to five years in prison in 1848, which he received in the Theresienstadt fortress in Bohemia had to atone. After 18 months in prison, he regained his freedom as a result of the amnesty of July 1850 and returned to Prague. In 1851 he married Johanna Graf (1831–95), with whom he had three sons and five daughters.

Kuh immediately resumed his political writing and initially worked as a Bohemian correspondent for Wanderer Wiens , a respected Viennese journal. But soon he ventured back to the public with an independent paper, the Prague magazine, Chronik für Österreichische Literatur, Kunst und Geschichte , which he founded together with Wilhelm Kuhe . This journal was received in October 1851 after a quarter of existence. Kuh was happier with the publication of the daily messenger from Bohemia , a political daily newspaper representing the line of the German nationalists, which appeared for the first time in February 1852 and which, if not long, survived its founder. He devoted more than a quarter of a century to this journal.

In his editorials in the Tagesbote , Kuh discussed world politics as well as the local events of Austrian and Bohemian daily politics. Bold advocacy of the ideas of liberalism , relentless struggle against reactionary aspirations, defense and promotion of the new Austrian constitutional state and enthusiastic commitment to the rights of Germans in Bohemia characterized Kuh's political convictions, which he advocated journalistically every day. The publicist retained independence on all sides. The grueling work for his messenger of the day cost him many victims and he had to make financial contributions from his own treasury to receive it.

In the conception and treatment of Austrian conditions, Kuh took the standpoint of Schmerling's February constitution issued in 1861 , although as a friend of the Magyars and a precise expert on Hungarian conditions, he advocated the necessity of a dualistic form of government from the outset, which was legally established in 1867 pleased. For the Magyars he called for hegemony on the other side, for the Germans political leadership on this side of the Leitha . This political direction, which he steadfastly defended, brought him into opposition to the efforts of the Slavic peoples of Austria, which the free-thinking man saw in league with feudal and clerical factions. The feud between the German newspaper published in Prague and the Czechs was the fiercest. Kuh was violently attacked in their newspapers, with malicious comments on his Jewish origins generally not missing.

In addition to Kuh, Franz Klutschak and Eduard Bruna showed journalistic commitment for the Germans against Czech editors, but they were much more conciliatory towards the other ethnic group. Kuh caused a great stir in 1860 when he stated in his newspaper that the Bohemian manuscripts allegedly found by the Czech linguist Václav Hanka were forgeries. Hanka then sued him for insulting his honor, but did not reveal the name of his informant Anton Zeidler in the subsequent process. He did not see the confirmation of his falsification allegation later.

Kuh was also directly active as a politician for some time. In 1862 he was elected to the Bohemian Landtag by the rural communities of Brüx and Görkau , to which he belonged until 1873; In 1872 he was also a member of the Reichsrat for a short time. He proved himself as a quick-witted speaker and was one of the founders of the German Freedom Party . He took an active part in German club life in Prague. Under the pseudonym Emil Dornau he wrote poems in his youth (album of memories) , under the name Dr. Remember theatrical presentations. He also wrote feature articles , for example about his internment in Theresienstadt, and aphorisms . In the last years of his life he founded a printing company which his widow continued to run after he died of a heart attack on January 25, 1879 at the age of almost 60 in Prague. His son Oskar Kuh (1858–1930) was also active in journalism and politics.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Cow, david
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Bohemian journalist and politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1879
Place of death Prague