Ernst August Gaertner
Ernst August Gaertner (born March 8, 1794 in Magdeburg , † July 30, 1862 in Schönhausen (Elbe) ) was a liberal politician , entrepreneur , dike captain on the Middle Elbe and philanthropist .
Life, family
Gaertner was the son of the Prussian Justice Commissioner Friedrich Wilhelm Abraham Gaertner and Sophie Marie Dohlhoff (* October 4, 1769, † December 22, 1827), a daughter of the mayor of the Palatinate colony Georg Philipp Dohlhoff . The Gaertner family has many connections with Huguenot families. So was z. B. Ernst August Gaertner's grandfather Johann Ernst Gaertner a son-in-law of Moyse Garrigue ; Further connections lead to the well-known Magdeburg citizen families Sandrart and Schwartz , whose ancestors came to Magdeburg as religious refugees from Hainaut. The French religious refugee and Berlin tapist Jean I Barraband is also one of his ancestors .
Gaertner married his cousin Emilie Susanne Henriette Maquet (* February 19, 1803, † April 7, 1875) on May 19, 1822, daughter of the businessman Karl Maquet , who was of Huguenot descent. Her mother Karoline Philippine (* December 19, 1775, † November 17, 1830) was, like his own mother, a daughter of Georg Philipp Dohlhoff. The marriage had six children, all of whom grew up. As an entrepreneur from Magdeburg, Gaertner was initially a business partner of his father-in-law, Karl Maquet. Their business was called "Material, Delicacies, Spedition". After Karl Maquet's death (1823), Gaertner continued the business alone. Gaertner was related by marriage to the Dohlhoff family: his sister Johanna was married to Georg Eduard Dohlhoff .
In June "1830 auctioned ... Ernst August Gaertner, the over-indebted, by then another branch of the Bismarck family owned Castle Schönhausen II.". In Schoenhausen on the Elbe, the family Bismarck 1729-1734, due to had testamentary built available by August II. Von Bismarck, next to the existing Good for a son, yet another Gutswirtschaft for a second heir. It was called Gut Schönhausen II. It was probably similar or even better equipped with associated land holdings than Schönhausen I, which cultivated around 500 hectares of land. In any case, it says: “… Since 1830, the greater part of Schönhausen was in the possession of a bourgeois, the city council Gaertner from Magdeburg. ... "
While his family gradually moved into the Schönhausen II manor from 1832, Gaertner kept his Magdeburg residence, because in 1835 he was quoted as living at Georgenplatz 3 in Magdeburg and a member of the St. Ulrichs community . In Schönhausen, by 1845 at the latest, he met Otto von Bismarck , who took over Gut Schönhausen I after the death of his father. The two neighbors of the manor, the conservative Junker Bismarck and the liberal Magdeburg city councilor and entrepreneur Gaertner, cultivated a good neighborly relationship. In 1849 Bismarck wrote down political discussions for his wife and a meal at the “city council”, that is, his neighbor Ernst August Gaertner.
Public work
The entrepreneur Gaertner, who worked in Magdeburg and was a great-grandson of the Huguenot descendant Moyse Garrigue , received citizenship in his city in 1822. In 1831 Ernst August Gaertner was elected a city councilor in Magdeburg and in the same year also elected the elder of the corporation of the Magdeburg merchants. In 1849 Ernst August Gaertner was initially Bismarck's deputy as dike captain for the Middle Elbe. But in 1851 he completely replaced Bismarck in this responsible position. When Bismarck became the Prussian envoy in St. Petersburg in 1859 , he left the administration of his Schönhausen estate to his neighbor Gaertner . A letter from Otto von Bismarck from Petersburg dated December 9, 1860, testifies to this. It is addressed to “City Councilor Gaertner” and concludes with the words: “Farewell, dear friend, and forgive me for the nuisance (meaning the administration of the property); should the case ever be reversed, so that I am at home and you are in Petersburg, you will find me ready for any kind of service; but also in the distance I am yours with the feelings of a loyal neighbor. "
Ernst August Gaertner used his own private funds to maintain the old Romanesque church , St. Marien and Willibrord , in Schönhausen. It was the patronage church of the Bismarck family and served them as a baptistery and burial place . In 1854, Gaertner had the broken tower and the burial place in the mighty west building of the church extensively renovated with his own resources. He also donated four acres of land for the expansion of the Schönhausen village cemetery .
Gaertner's Gut Schönhausen II was sold "to the German nation" by his descendants in 1885 and was given to Bismarck on his 70th birthday. The Bismarck Museum, which was then established there, existed until 1948. Ernst August Gaertner was the bearer of the Order of the Red Eagle . With this medal, civic engagement and achievement for the benefit of others and the community was honored. At times he was the second highest Prussian order.
literature
- Johannes Fischer: The Palatinate Colony in Magdeburg. Magdeburg's cultural and economic life, 1939.
- Brigitte Neumann: The Bismarcks in the village church in Schönhausen. The parish council of the Evangelical parish Schönhausen / Elbe, 1998.
- Johannes Fischer: The French colony of Magdeburg. Magdeburg's cultural and economic life, 1942.
- Otto von Bismarck-Schönhausen - In the footsteps of the first Reich Chancellor. Community of Schönhausen, 2001.
- Letter to the community of Schönhausen. Archives of the City of Magdeburg, March 15, 2001.
- Hans Rothenfels (ed.): Bismarck letters. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1955.
- Nadja Stulz-Herrnstadt: Berlin bourgeoisie in the 18th and 19th centuries. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2002, ISBN 3-11-016560-0 .
- Bismarck, Prussia, Germany and Europe. Catalog for the exhibition in the Historisches Museum Berlin, Nicolai-Verlag, Berlin 1990.
- Walther Stein (Ed.): Bismarck. Hermann Montanus Verlagbuchhandlung, Siegen and Leipzig 1915.
Individual evidence
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gaertner, Ernst August |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Liberal politician, entrepreneur, dike captain on the Middle Elbe and philanthropist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 8, 1794 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Magdeburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 30, 1862 |
| Place of death | Schönhausen (Elbe) |