Friedrich Wilhelm Karl von Arnim

Friedrich Wilhelm Karl von Arnim (born August 21, 1786 in Preußisch-Minden ; † May 3, 1852 in Gerswalde ) was a police chief of Berlin .

Life and family environment

Friedrich Wilhelm von Arnim came from the Gerswalder line of the widespread Uckermark noble family of the von Arnim . He became the second son of the royal Prussian government president Karl Ludolf Bernhard von Arnim , heir to Gerswalde in the Uckermark , an estate that had been owned by the family since 1437 and remained there until the land reform in the Soviet zone of occupation in 1945. He attended the Joachimsthalsche Gymnasium in Berlin and then studied law and cameralia at the University of Halle . He died in Gerswalde on May 3, 1852.

Professional career

As a result of the Tilsit Peace of 1807 and the establishment of the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was also made up of the former Prussian areas west of the Elbe , initiated by Napoleon , Friedrich Wilhelm von Arnim became a subject of King Jerome of Westphalia , a brother of Napoleon. As its subject, he had to enter its civil service. Jerome used him in the diplomatic service and sent him first as legation secretary to Paris , then until 1811 to St. Petersburg in the same function .

After the outbreak of the Wars of Liberation , Friedrich Wilhelm von Arnim immediately sided with the Prussian side and served as an officer in the Prussian army . He became adjutant to General von Thielemann and took part in the campaign in France in this capacity.

After the war he left the army and started a civil civil service career. He became district administrator of the Templin district , an office which he held for twelve years to the satisfaction of the Prussian government. Then King Friedrich Wilhelm III called him . to Berlin and appointed him police chief of the city. He was quickly popular with the population because he conducted his office impartially and brusquely rejected all requests for preferential treatment of celebrities during the cholera epidemic. Since he was not allowed to speak directly to the king, he demanded and received his dismissal from civil service. Although the king praised him by the highest cabinet order of January 2, 1832 and honored his administration, he stuck to his decision to leave the civil service. He returned to the Uckermark as a private citizen in order to cultivate his land from now on and to devote himself to agriculture until his death . He was a member of the Berlin Freemasons Lodge on the three golden keys .

literature

• v. Arnim-Gerswalde:  v. Arnim, Friedrich Wilhelm Karl . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 567.