Ferdinand von Westphalen

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Ferdinand Otto Wilhelm Henning von Westphalen

Ferdinand Otto Wilhelm Henning von Westphalen (born April 23, 1799 in Lübeck , † July 2, 1876 in Berlin ), Prussian Interior Minister in the reaction era 1850–1858.

family

Ferdinand von Westphalen was the son of Ludwig von Westphalen and his first wife Elisabeth (Lisette) von Veltheim (June 22, 1778; † August 22, 1807). His siblings were

  • L [o] uise (Lisette) (born October 5, 1800 - † August 1, 1863), married von Krosigk
  • Franziska (7 May 1807 - 16 April 1896)
  • Carl Hans Werner (* July 22, 1803; † March 8, 1840), district judge

From the second marriage of his father to Caroline Heubel (* June 20, 1779; † July 23, 1856) there are three half-siblings:

Ferdinand von Westphalen himself was married to Louise von Florencourt (* 1805; † 1861). His children were

  • Ferdinand (born November 14, 1836 - September 10, 1906), known as Nando , government assessor
  • Louise Caroline Wilhelmine Francisca (born January 16, 1839 - † January 14, 1928)
  • Anna Elisabeth Charlotte Jenny (born September 22, 1841)

Life

He received his education at the high school in Salzwedel . He studied from 1816 to 1819 at the universities of Halle , Göttingen and Berlin . From 1826 to 1830 he was district administrator of the Bitburg district , in 1830 a member of the government of Erfurt, and eight years later he was senior government member and conductor of the government department in Trier, and in 1843 he was government vice-president in the Liegnitz district . In 1844 he became government vice-president in Stettin and in 1849 regional president in Liegnitz .

After the German Revolution 1848/1849 and the unexpected death of Friedrich Wilhelm, Count Brandenburg was Westphalen at the suggestion of Leopold von Gerlach of Friedrich Wilhelm IV. On December 19, 1850. Prussian interior minister and interim and Minister for Rural Affairs appointed.

The king praised him at the first audience as "as excellent as he would not have expected". Ferdinand von Westphalen reinstated the provincial estates that were repealed in 1848 to temporarily exercise the powers of the provincial assemblies . He countered all attacks that this was a violation of the constitution with a memorandum of January 16, 1852 and orally and stifled any further public discussion about it.

According to his " repeated application ", von Westphalen was released with the highest decree of October 7, 1858 " from the management of the Ministry of the Interior, leaving the title and rank of Minister of State and with the approval of the statutory pension ".

Ferdinand von Westphalen died in Berlin in 1876 at the age of 77 and was buried in the St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof in Schöneberg . The grave has not been preserved.

Judgments about Ferdinand von Westphalen

Oskar Meding remarked about him: “Personally highly honorable, but politically completely retrograde”.

Karl Marx called him an exemplary aristocrat in a letter to Arnold Ruge in 1842 (via Bruno Bauer ): "As I learn here from my future brother-in-law, an aristocrat comme il faut, one is most annoyed in Berlin about Bauer's bonne foi."

Hajo Holborn , a historian with experience working for the Office of Strategic Services , believed Ferdinand von Westphalen to be the chief conspirator of the entire camarilla in the Prussian government. His spy network monitored friends and enemies, even Prince Wilhelm, the Prussian heir to the throne, when he criticized the Crimean War.

Works

  • Philipp von Westphalen: History of the campaigns of Duke Ferdinand of Braunschweig-Lüneburg , ed. by Ferdinand von Westphalen. 6 volumes. Decker, Berlin 1859–1872 (digitized: Volume 1 , Volume 2 , Volume 3 , Volume 4 , Volume 5 , Volume 6 )
  • Westphalen, the secretary of Duke Ferdinand of Braunschweig-Lüneburg . Decker, Berlin 1866 digitized

literature

  • Friedrich Thimme :  Westphalen, Ferdinand von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 42, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1897, pp. 221-226.
  • Lagai: Westphalen, Ferdinand Otto Wilhelm Henning v. In: Pierers Universal - Conversations -Lexikon. Latest encyclopedic dictionary of all sciences, arts and crafts . Sixth, fully revised edition, volume eighteenth. Vacarins - Zywilst, Oberhausen and Leipzig 1879, p. 462.
  • Rudolf Herrnstadt : The first conspiracy against the international proletariat. On the history of the Cologne Communist Trial in 1852 . Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1958.
  • Jürgen Reetz: Four letters from Jenny Marx from the years 1856 - 1860 . Trier 1970. ( Writings from the Karl-Marx-Haus issue 3)
  • On the personality of Marx's father-in-law Johann Ludwig von Westphalen . Heinz Monz, political view and social position of Johann Ludwig von Westphalen ; Konrad von Krosigk, Ludwig von Westphalen and his children. Fragments of family traditions . Georg Eckert , Jenny Marx and the Florencourt family. Chance finds from the Braunschweig archives . Trier 1973. ( Writings from the Karl-Marx-Haus issue 9)
  • Horst Romeyk: Westphalen, Otto Wilhelm Henning Ferdinand v. In Heinz Monz (ed.): Trier biographical lexicon . Landesarchivverwaltung, Koblenz 2000, ISBN 3-931014-49-5 , p. 504.
  • Ernst Block: lawyer, civil servant and minister of state in Prussia. Important personalities from the Altmark: Life and work of Ferdinand Otto Wilhelm Henning von Westphalen. Born April 23, 1799 in Lübeck; died July 2, 1876 in Berlin . In: Gardelegener Volksstimme. Official gazette of the Altmarkkreis Salzwedel. Gardelegener Kreisanzeiger, Kalbe-Rundschau . Magdeburger Verlag, Magdeburg April 25, 2002.
  • Heinrich Gemkow : From the life of a Rhenish family in the 19th century. Archival finds on the von Westphalen and Marx families . In: Yearbook for West German State History . Volume 34, 2008 special edition, pp. 497-524.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich Gemkow: Edgar von Westphalen. In: Yearbook for West German State History . 25. Jg., Koblenz 1999, p. 404. Manfred Schöncke: Karl and Heinrich Marx and their siblings, Cologne 1993, p. 871-880.
  2. ^ Heinrich Gemkow: Edgar von Westphalen. In: Yearbook for West German State History . 25. Jg., Koblenz 1999, p. 404. Manfred Schöncke: Karl and Heinrich Marx and their siblings, Cologne 1993, p. 871-880.
  3. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 89 No. 3693, fol. 90 r
  4. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon of Berlin tombs . Haude & Spener, Berlin 2006. p. 310.
  5. ↑ Friedrich Thimme, p. 225.
  6. ↑ MEGA, Dietz 1975, Third Department Correspondence Volume 1, p. 25
  7. ^ Hajo Holborn: A History of Modern Germany 1840-1945, Princeton University Press 1982, p. 110
personal data
SURNAME Westphalen, Ferdinand von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Westphalen, Ferdinand Otto Wilhelm Henning von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian Minister of the Interior (1850-1858)
DATE OF BIRTH April 23, 1799
PLACE OF BIRTH Lübeck
DATE OF DEATH July 2, 1876
Place of death Berlin