Thank God Johann Christian Kunth

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Memorial stone for Gottlob Johann Christian Kunth at the entrance to Tegel Castle .

Gottlob Johann Christian Kunth (born June 12, 1757 in Baruth ; † November 22, 1829 in Berlin ) was a German politician and educator. Today Kunth is best known as the educator and paternal friend of the Humboldt brothers.

Life

He was a son of Johann Siegmund Kunth (1700–1779), superintendent and song writer, and Friederike Juliane Hausherr (1723–1804). From 1772 he attended the pedagogy in Halle and studied law in Leipzig . However, his financial situation forced him to give up his studies in 1776. In 1777 he came to Tegel Castle , the residence of the von Humboldts, as court master . Marie-Elisabeth von Humboldt (née Colomb) employed him as the educator of her sons Wilhelm and Alexander , whom he - committed to the ideals of the Enlightenment - gave home lessons in mathematics, German, Latin, Greek, French, and history and whose development he had a lasting influence. He also planned and designed the further education of the two. So organized reconnaissance and private lectures by Marcus heart and participation in the literary salons of Henriette Herz in the house of the famous couple.

As a close confidante of the landlord Alexander Georg von Humboldt , he took over the management of the estate and advice for the widow Marie-Elisabeth after his early death in 1779. After their death he was the executor and asset manager for the two sons. The layout of the palace gardens also goes back to Kunth's plans.

Wilhelm von Humboldt later campaigned for Kunth to work for the Prussian statesman and reformer Freiherr vom Stein .

In December 1808, Interior Minister Dohna applied to the King for the appointment of the "Secret Councilor Kunth" to the State Council in the "Section of the Commercial Police" of the Interior Ministry. According to Dohna, Kunth has "for the last 15 years, to the complete satisfaction of the State Ministers von Struensee and von Stein, worked on the most important factory transactions at the General Factory Department and the Manufactory College."

In 1810 he established the Technical Deputation for Trade and Industry in Berlin and became its director. In the same year he joined the lawless society in Berlin .

At the suggestion of Minister Hans Graf von Bülow, head of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and the Entire Building Industry, King Friedrich Wilhelm III. by cabinet order of December 1824 "the real secret chief government councilor and general trade commissioner Kunth as a member of the state council" and assigned him to "the place of the secret chief financial councilor of Beguelin of the department for trade and industry" in the council of state.

In 1806 he married Margaretha Marawiakowska (according to other sources: Malgorzata Mankwiatowska) (1783? –1863), with whom he had four children: Adelheid Sigismunde Elisabeth Kunth (1808–1834), Bertha Kunth (1810–1879), Heinrich Kunth (1811–1811– 1850) and Adalbert Sigismund Ernst Kunth (1814–1858). A nephew was the botanist Karl Sigismund Kunth (1788-1850), who worked for Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland's American travel agency .

Following his request, Kunth was buried near the gravesite of the von Humboldt family in the park of Schloss Tegel. A memorial stone at the entrance to the castle has been a reminder of the pedagogue since 1993. The Kundtanger in the Lichtenberg district of Falkenberg has been named after him since January 2006 . The street belongs to the Wohnen am Gehrensee housing estate, in which various streets are named after friends and companions of the Humboldt family.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Andreas W. Daum: Alexander von Humboldt . CH Beck, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-406-73435-9 , pp. 13 .
  2. ↑ GStA PK I. HA Rep. 89 No. 27644, fol. 1 r
  3. ↑ Handbook about the Royal. Prussian Court and State for the year 1824, p. 69.
  4. ^ Collection of laws for the Royal Prussian States. 1825, p. 1.
  5. ^ Andreas W. Daum: Alexander von Humboldt . CH Beck, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-406-73435-9 , pp. 78 .
  6. ↑ Kundtanger. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert ) - the Kundtanger spelling is correct
personal data
SURNAME Kunth, Gottlob Johann Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German educator and politician
DATE OF BIRTH June 12, 1757
PLACE OF BIRTH Baruth
DATE OF DEATH November 22, 1829
Place of death Berlin