Friedrich Wilhelm Otte the Younger

Friedrich Wilhelm Otte (born December 9, 1763 in Krieseby ; † September 8, 1850 in Kollerup ) was a German - Danish civil servant and writer who advocated the lifting of serfdom in Schleswig-Holstein . Friedrich Wilhelm came from a merchant family in Eckernförde , his grandfather Christian Otte was the founder of the then largest shipping company in the duchies.

Life

Otte was the son of Johann Nikolaus Otte (* May 6, 1714; † April 17, 1780) and his wife Elisabeth Friderica von Gössel. His father lived as a farmer on Gut Krieseby. In 1747 he had inherited the shipping company founded by his father Christian, together with his brothers Friedrich Wilhelm and Georg . In 1758 he founded a faience factory and a flour factory on his estate for the production of fine flour that was used to powder wigs. In 1765 the flourishing faience manufacture was relocated to Eckernförde. However, there was no success. In 1771 Johann Nikolaus Otte had to sell the factory and estate Krieseby. In 1768 he had already been appointed Oberlandinspektor. The division of the royal estate Satrupholm carried out by him was considered a "model for the leasing of state estates ".

Friedrich Wilhelm Otte began studying camera studies at the University of Kiel in 1782 , but spent his studies at various universities and on trips. In doing so he came into contact with the ideas of the French Revolution , which had a lasting impact on his further work. In 1791 Otte, like his father, joined the royal Danish service as a land inspector at the State Commission for the Duchy of Schleswig , the executive body of the agricultural reform in Denmark. As a land inspector he was z. B. busy with the abolition of the field community in various parishes in Schleswig-Holstein. In the course of this activity, Otte advocated his employer and journalistically that the social consequences of these reforms should also be taken into account. The economic position of small farmers, landless people and day laborers deteriorated significantly. B. through the loss of the rights to use the common land. With his zeal for reform, he not only made friends. So his career stalled. It was not until 1809 that he became a member of the land commission. In 1802 he became a chamber councilor , in 1808 a judicial councilor and in 1830 a budget councilor.

He owned several estates one after the other, mostly in fishing ( Arrild , Toestorf, Pohlsee , Wasserleben and Kollerup), on which he tried to introduce the social reforms he advocated.

As an enlightener and advocate of the idea of ​​equality, FWO defended the ideals of the French Revolution in 1801 and admired Napoleon. He saw the guilt for the revolutions in the repression by the government. He therefore spoke out in favor of the population having a say in reforms etc. In old age he became more conservative. From 1829 he supported the Greek struggle for freedom in the newspaper Tritogenia . In 1830/31 he published the weekly Der Truthsfreund , in which he defended the state administration against the attacks published by Uwe Jens Lornsen and Theodor Olshausen in the Kieler Correspondenzblatt : The king was the best guarantee for the proper implementation of sensible reforms, a meeting of the estates would only come advisory role. In any case, he feared that an assembly of estates in which the rich and educated dominated would not take into account the welfare of the entire population. Before a constitutional reform, the general prosperity and the education of the majority of the population must first be raised.

Works

• Remarks about fishing, from the wallet of two friends, on a trip on foot in the summer of 1791 , Schleswig 1792.
• About the brandy distilleries in Flensburg and the prohibited trade in Russian brandy in Norway, Flensburg 1794.
• About the advantages and permissibility of the effective prevention of the previous surreptitious trade in Russian brandy in Norway, Flensburg 1794.
• Economic-statistical description of the island of Fehmarn Schleswig 1795.
• Bold statement about the so-called bold judgment of the writings of Doctor Thiess Schleswig published on the new church agenda in 1798.
• The English in the Baltic Sea, for the benefit of the Vatherlandsvertheidiger Altona 1807.
• For the jubilee of Superintendent General Adler Schleswig in 1833.
• Journey through Norway in the summer of 1832 Berlin 1835.

literature

• Hans Beyer: Friedrich Wilhelm Otte, land inspector, revolutionary friend, publicist. In: Yearbook of the Angler Heimatverein. Volume 20, 1956, pp. 154-173.
• Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Friedrich Wilhelm (1763-1850) . In: SHBL 9, 265-268

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Date of death according to SHBL , deviating DNB: 1851
2. ^ Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . In: SHBL 9, 269-271. 270