Franz Joseph von Thurn and Taxis

Franz Joseph Maximilian Maria Antonius Ignatius Lamoral Prince of Thurn and Taxis (born December 21, 1893 in Regensburg ; † July 13, 1971 in Schloss Haus (Neueglofsheim) ) was Hereditary Prince of the von Thurn und Taxis family until 1918 . As head of the family, he called himself Prince von Thurn und Taxis from 1952 and was well known until his death in 1971.

Life

Coat of arms of the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis

Franz Joseph was the eldest son of Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis and Archduchess Margarethe Klementine of Austria . When he was baptized, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I was godfather. He had six younger brothers and a sister. One of his brothers was Max Emanuel Prince von Thurn und Taxis (1902-1994), who became a member of the Benedictine order as Father Emmeram .

After receiving a humanistic training from private teachers and successfully completing his school leaving examination, he began studying at the universities of Strasbourg and Leipzig in the winter semester of 1912 . Because of the outbreak of the First World War , he was unable to complete his studies and on August 6, 1914, he joined the Prussian elite regiment Gardes du Corps . During the war he was promoted to first lieutenant and returned to Regensburg after the end of the war in January 1919.

Franz Joseph Prince von Thurn und Taxis married Elisabeth von Braganza (1894–1970) on November 23, 1920 in Bronnbach near Wertheim . Together with his wife he lived at Schloss Haus (Neueglofsheim) in Thalmassing , where he managed the estates and pursued his interests such as hunting, history and art. He later bequeathed his large private library to the Prince Thurn and Taxis court library .

The marriage to Elisabeth von Braganza had five children, four of whom reached adulthood. In the time of National Socialism he was drafted after the outbreak of World War II due to the attack on Poland at the age of 46 and took part in the western campaign against France until the end of June 1940 . He was then stationed as an occupation officer in France for two and a half years until he was dismissed from the Wehrmacht by General Keitel retrospectively on March 31, 1944, following a decree by Hitler on the “ incapacity of the German aristocracy ” . His only son Gabriel died on December 17, 1942 in the Battle of Stalingrad . Hereditary Prince Gabriel found his final resting place in the Heroes' Cemetery of the 113th Infantry Division in Bol Rossoshka, about 30 kilometers west of Stalingrad .

Franz Joseph von Thurn und Taxis lived in the Schloss Haus for most of the year, but spent the winter in Regensburg 's St. Emmeram Castle . In addition to managing the family estates, he increasingly devoted himself to coming to terms with the history of Regensburg and the former St. Emmeram Abbey , the residence of the von Thurn und Taxis family.

On December 21, 1963, Franz Joseph von Thurn und Taxis received the honorary citizen's letter of the city of Regensburg, " in appreciation of the high service rendered to economic, social and cultural issues ". He was an honorary member of the Catholic student association KDStV Rupertia Regensburg.

In 1966 he opened the new Marstallmuseum with its holdings of magnificent carriages and sleighs. After the archive director Max Piendl found out in his investigations into the building history in 1961 that the monastery library hall had been painted by Cosmas Damian Asam in 1730/31 and whitewashed in 1812, Franz Joseph von Thurn und Taxis had the late baroque frescoes exposed and continued until 1969 restore.

He outlived his wife, who died on January 12, 1970, by only one and a half years. He died after a serious illness on July 13, 1971 and was buried in the crypt chapel of St. Emmeram Castle. In Regensburg, Erbprinz-Franz-Joseph-Strasse was named after him. After the death of Prince Franz Joseph, the top management of the entire family property, the house and family property specified in the princely wills and in the house law from the 18th century , passed to his next younger brother Karl August, the 10th Prince . Head of the overall administration or general director was his son, Hereditary Prince Johannes. "

Honors

• 1959 Bavarian Order of Merit
• 1963 Large Federal Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder Ribbon, presented by Alfons Goppel .
• 1963 honorary citizen of the city of Regensburg

ancestors

Pedigree Franz Joseph von Thurn und Taxis (1893–1971)
Great grandparents	Prince Maximilian Karl von Thurn and Taxis (1802–1871) ⚭ 1828 women Wilhelmine von Dörnberg (1803–1835)		Duke Max Joseph in Bavaria (1808–1888) ⚭ 1828 Duchess Ludovika Wilhelmine of Bavaria (1808–1892)		Archduke Joseph Anton Johann of Austria (1776–1847) ⚭ 1819 Archduchess Maria Dorothea of ​​Württemberg (1797–1855)		Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1818–1881) ⚭ 1843 Princess Clementine d'Orléans (1817–1907)
Grandparents	Prince Maximilian Anton von Thurn und Taxis (1831–1867) ⚭ 1858 Duchess Helene in Bavaria (1834–1890)				Archduke Joseph Karl Ludwig of Austria (1833–1905) ⚭ 1864 Princess Clotilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1846–1927)
parents	Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis (1867–1952) ⚭ 1890 Archduchess Margarethe Klementine of Austria (1870–1955)
Franz Joseph von Thurn and Taxis (1893–1971)

literature

• Wolfgang Behringer: Thurn and Taxis, the history of their post office and their companies . Munich, Zurich 1990, ISBN 3-492-03336-9 .
• Martin Dallmeier, Martha Schad : The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis, 300 years of history in pictures . Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 1996, ISBN 3-7917-1492-9 .
• Fabian Fiederer: "... hold on to all old traditions". The living environment and self-image of the high nobility using the example of the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis in the time of Prince Albert I (1888–1952). In: Thurn und Taxis Studies - New Series No. 5, Publisher: Pustet, F / Pustet, Friedrich GmbH, 2017, ISBN 978-3-7917-2795-0 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Franz Joseph Fürst von Thurn und Taxis , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 43/1971 of October 18, 1971, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of the article freely available)
2. ↑ Article 109 WRV ( Weimar Constitution of August 11, 1919) stipulates that the privileges or disadvantages under public law of birth or status are to be abolished. Denominations of nobility are only [no longer] part of the name and may no longer be awarded. In the case of the descendants of the former Princely House of Thurn and Taxis , all family members have since then carried the family name Prinz or Princess von Thurn und Taxis . The name Fürst von Thurn und Taxis , which goes back to the no longer existing and inheritable primogeniture nobility , using the first-born title "Fürst" as part of the name (only for the heads of the family) was irrelevant under civil status (in this family verifiably since 1982), but becomes in non-official contexts Similar to the provisions of the pseudonym as a form of courtesy based on the tradition of the family, both in literature and in society predominantly used. Wikipedia does not know whether the name that is relevant for registration purposes has always remained Prince von Thurn und Taxis . In some similar cases, title holders authorized under nobility law succeeded after 1945 to have the part of the name Fürst entered in their documents due to the goodwill of the local authorities. See Wilfried Rogasch : Schnellkurs Adel , DuMont, Cologne 2004, ISBN 978-3-8321-7617-4 , p. 17 f.
3. ↑ Dallmeier, Schad: The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis. P. 156.
4. ↑ Information from Dallmeier, Schad: Das Fürstliches Haus Thurn und Taxis. P. 156.
5. ^ According to Dallmeier, Schad: The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis. P. 155 and 157, as well as the European family tables Volume 5 , Plate 132 "Schloss Bronnbach". What is meant is Bronnbach Monastery, which was owned by the Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg dynasty from 1803 to 1986 and temporarily served as a castle after 1802, see archived copy ( memento of the original from October 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link became automatic used and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
6. ↑ Dallmeier, Schad: The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis. P. 157.
7. ↑ Dallmeier, Schad: The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis. Pp. 157-158 f.
8. ↑ Dallmeier, Schad: The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis. P. 158.
9. ↑ Data from Dallmeier, Schad: The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis. P. 159.
10. ↑ Data from Dallmeier, Schad: The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis. P. 159.
11. ↑ Dallmeier, Schad: The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis. P. 158 f.
12. ^ Honorary citizen of the city of Regensburg

predecessor	Office	successor
Albert I.	Head of the Thurn and Taxis family from 1952 to 1971	Karl August