Franz von Hopfen

Franz von Hopfen

Franz Xaver Fragner , by adoption Fragner-Hopfen , from 1860 Edler von Hopfen , from 1863 Knight von Hopfen , from 1872 Baron von Hopfen (born May 3, 1825 in Vienna , † March 18, 1901 in Baden near Vienna ) was a Moravian landowner , Banker and politician.

biography

Hops, who came from a Moravian landowner family and were also landowners there, were promoted to the Austrian nobility in 1860, to knighthood with the award of the Order of the Iron Crown in 1863 and to the status of baron in 1872 . He first studied law at the University of Vienna . Then he managed his estate near Misslitz , which he had inherited in 1846, and also devoted himself to economic studies.

He was elected to the Moravian Landtag by the Moravian landowners in 1861 and 1867 and sent by the latter to the House of Representatives , in which, as a member of the German-minded ruling party ("Club of the Center"), he dealt primarily with agricultural issues, but also with trade policy. Elected Vice-President of the House of Representatives as early as 1863, he was its President from 1870 to 1873.

He was appointed shop steward in the mortgage credit department of the Austrian National Bank and in 1858 was transferred to the state goods department. In 1864 he became director of the Austrian Bodencreditanstalt , which under his leadership from 1867 to 1873, together with the Wiener Bankverein, which it founded, assumed a dominant position in the financial world and developed a lively start-up activity. During this time Hopfen also became Vice President in 1867 and President of the Southern Railway Company in 1874 . He financed u. a. the Floridsdorf locomotive factory , the Austrian Arms Factory and the construction of the Hungarian Northern Railway.

After the stock market crash of 1873 (see: Gründerzeit ) also caused a major fiasco for some company foundations in which Hopfen was personally involved and thus also suffered his personal reputation, he withdrew from both economic and political life , however, remained a simple member of the Reichsrat until 1879 .

literature

• Hops Franz Frh. Von. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 2, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1959, p. 414.
• Hannes Stekl:  hops, Franz Freiherr von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , pp. 609 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Heinrich Benedikt: The memories of the Austrian statesman and financier Franz Freiherr von Hopfen (1825-1901) , in: "Communications of the Institute for Austrian Historical Research" (MIÖG), Volume 61, Page 359, 1953

Web links

Commons : Franz von Hopfen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• portrait
• Short biography
• Galician railroad scandal. The Fatherland, December 30, 1872 [1]
• Local news. Baron Franz von Hopfen †. Badener Zeitung, March 20, 1901 [2]
• Local news. Franz Baron von Hopfen †. Badener Zeitung, March 23, 1901 [3]