Gerhard Siebel

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Johann Gerhard Siebel (around 1817)

Johann Gerhard Siebel (born May 8, 1784 in Elberfeld (today a district of Wuppertal ); † October 8, 1831 in Baden-Baden ) was an Elberfeld businessman, local politician ( municipal councilor ), diplomat and publicist. He wrote under the pseudonym Götz vom Rhein .

Siebel was born the son of a wealthy Elberfeld textile merchant and was baptized on May 19, 1784 in Elberfeld. Already in his youth he stood out for his very distinctive linguistic and poetic talent.

Siebel traveled to Warsaw in 1806/07 - commissioned because of his knowledge of the French language - as a 22-year-old to visit Napoleon in order to persuade Napoleon to relax his trade restrictions, which at the time seriously damaged the Bergisches Land . He achieved the re-opening of trade with Italy. Two further trips took him to Paris in 1808 and 1811 as a member of business delegations to Joachim Murat , the Grand Duke of Berg - this time without the diplomatic mission being successful.

Siebel's last encounter with Napoleon took place in 1811 in the Düsseldorf court garden on the occasion of an industrial exhibition. Napoleon looked at Siebel and said: “Eh bien, vous êtes très riche?” (“Well, you are probably very rich”?) Siebel replied unabashedly “Sire, je suis à mon aise” (“Your Majesty, I have what I need . ”) The anecdote is passed down in the memoirs of Johann Wilhelm Fischer .

In 1815 he was a co-founder of the Hermann Masonic Lodge for the Land of Mountains in Elberfeld. He worked as a committed publicist, including in the magazine Hermann , and converted the Elberfeld rifle guild into the Bergisches Landsturm . In addition, he wrote poetic works and was a knowledgeable art collector. He died in Baden-Baden and was buried in the castle cemetery in Godesberg near Bonn .

He was the son of Elberfeld's mayor Johann Wilhelm Siebel .

literature

  • Marie-Luise Baum (ed.): Wuppertal biographies ; 2nd episode; Wuppertal 1960; P. 115 ff
  • Gerhart Werner: Wuppertal in Napoleonic times ; Wuppertal 1967

Web links

Commons : Gerhard Siebel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Siebel, Gerhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Siebel, Johann Gerhard (full name); Rhein, Götz vom (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German businessman, municipal councilor, diplomat and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1784
PLACE OF BIRTH Elberfeld
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 1831
Place of death Baden-Baden