Friedrich Wilhelm Pax

Friedrich Wilhelm Pax (born March 6, 1798 in Magdeburg ; †  July 2, 1867 there ) was a German high school teacher and left-liberal politician.

education and profession

Pax attended high schools in Magdeburg and completed military service as a one-year volunteer . He then studied from 1820 in Berlin and Halle. After that he worked from 1825 on the pedagogy of the monastery Our Dear Women Magdeburg. In 1827 he moved to the Domgymnasium . There he rose to the position of (high school) professor until 1839.

Friends of light and political opposition

Friedrich Wilhelm Pax was one of the co-initiators of the oppositional and rationalist light friends movement . Together with Rabbi Ludwig Philippson, he formed the left wing of the Friends of Light in Magdeburg.

On the occasion of a ceremony to mark the millennium of the Verdun Treaty , he called for the unification of Germany in the liberal sense in his celebratory speech. He promoted and wrote for the "Magdeburger Wochenblatt for matters of bourgeois life" and in 1844 was one of the founders of the "Citizens' Assembly" in Magdeburg, of which he was also chairman from 1846. This not only developed into a reservoir for the opposition in Magdeburg, but similar groups emerged in almost all Prussian provinces and in other German states. Pax contributed significantly to the expansion of the organization.

Even in the political opposition, which was not yet divided, he was more on the left wing. Pax endeavored to integrate all sections of the population up to and including the lower class into the political opposition. In addition to the demand for a constitution and national unification, the social question also played an important role for him. He was involved in founding a diverse range of associations and a. a support association, a savings association, Sunday school and an educational association.

Revolution of 1848/49

He owed his popularity to his election as a city councilor in 1847 and a member of the Prussian National Assembly in 1848 . In parliament he belonged to the left center. However, he hardly emerged during the negotiations. With the beginning of the counter-revolution, he appeared as a proponent of the tax refusal campaign. Later he was an opponent of the constitution of December 1848.

In Magdeburg he founded the Association for the Protection of People's Rights with the aim of gathering left-liberal and democratic forces. This organization was also founded in other places and in April 1849 the Central Association for the Protection of People's Rights was founded under the leadership of Pax. 44 branch associations belonged to it from the province of Saxony .

Not least supported by this organization, Pax was elected to the second chamber of the Prussian state parliament in 1849 .

Late years

After the revolution, Pax was spared prosecution, probably because of the advocacy of influential people. He was also able to keep his position as a teacher. It was no longer politically effective. Instead, he was committed to the trade school in Magdeburg.

After his death, the Pax Foundation was established. This awarded the "Paxanismus" as a scholarship for gifted students in order to enable them to attend the higher classes of the grammar school.

Web links

• Friedrich Wilhelm Pax in the Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon