Hans David Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg

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Count Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg, Rome 1827, drawn by Wilhelm Hensel
Count Ludwig Yorck, portrait of old age
Countess Bertha Yorck von Wartenburg, b. von Brause (1807–1845), 1836, drawn by Wilhelm Hensel
Countess Nina Yorck von Wartenburg, b. von Olfers (1824–1901), before 1849, drawn by Marie von Olfers
Mausoleum of Count Yorck in the park of Klein Oels
Sarcophagi Ludwig, Bertha and Nina Yorck in the crypt of the mausoleum of Count Yorck in the castle park of Klein Oels

Count Hans David Ludwig Heinrich Julius Florian Theodor Yorck von Wartenburg (born May 31, 1805 in Mittenwalde ; † July 12, 1865 at Klein Oels Castle ) was a Prussian Fideikommissherr on Klein Oels, a politician , art collector and briefly President of the Prussian province of Silesia .

Life

family

Ludwig was the only surviving son and thus heir of the Prussian Field Marshal Ludwig Graf Yorck von Wartenburg and his wife Johanna, née Seidel (1768-1827), a Namslau merchant's daughter. Ludwig's first marriage was on May 6, 1829 in Berlin, Bertha von Brause (1807-1845), the daughter of the then commander of the Prussian cadet institutions, Johann Georg Emil von Brause . Eight children emerged from this marriage, among them the philosopher Paul Yorck and the founder of the Schleibitzer line, Peter Graf Yorck von Wartenburg (1838–1895). Since August 21, 1849, Ludwig Yorck was married to Nina von Olfers (1824-1901), a daughter of Ignaz von Olfers , sister of Marie von Olfers , who gave birth to three other children, including Count Maximilian Yorck von Wartenburg .

Adolescence

Born in Mittenwalde, where his father was in the garrison as Colonel and Chief of the Feldjäger Regiment, Ludwig first spent his childhood in Marienwerder and Königsberg . In 1814 the family moved to Breslau . There he attended the Friedrich Gymnasium and prepared for a visit to the university under the supervision of Heinrich Steffens . From 1822 he studied philology and law at the University of Breslau . In 1824 he moved to the University of Berlin . Wilhelm von Willisen , an old student of Prof. Steffens and a friend of August Varnhagens , introduced him to the Berlin sites of science and art as well as to the houses of Berlin society .

On the advice of his father, Ludwig went on a two-year study trip through Europe in the spring of 1825. Accompanied by his mentor and friend Wilhelm von Willisen, he traveled to Switzerland , France , England and Italy . During this time he acquired a profound knowledge of the languages, literature, and geography of those countries and developed an expert love for the visual arts .

Majorate

After his mother's death, he was called back home, and in 1827 he volunteered in the Guard Dragoon Regiment of the Prussian Army in Berlin and was promoted to officer in 1828 . Together with Willisen, he frequented the Rahel Varnhagens salon , where he met Bertha von Brause, who was widely courted for her beauty and cleverness. After the engagement and wedding to Bertha, Yorck said goodbye to the military and moved to Klein Oels on his father's property. Shortly afterwards, the father died and Ludwig took over the rule in October 1829. Together with his wife he transformed the old Malteser - Kommende Klein Oels into a Silesian Arcadia . The castle with the extensive landscape park , in which the family mausoleum designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel was located, became a meeting point for scholars and artists. Varnhagen, Steffens, Christian Daniel Rauch , Johann Theodor Mosewius , Friedrich von Raumer , Ludwig Tieck , Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Solger , Anton Grigorjewitsch Rubinstein , Franz Liszt were among the guests of the Yorcks. With the purchase of Ludwig Tieck's library, Yorck laid the foundation stone for the largest private library in Silesia, which once had over 150,000 volumes and contained incunabula from the Reformation period as well as first editions of ancient Spanish literature up to the Romantic period . Yorck also made a name for himself as a collector of autographs and copperplate engravings , the latter in particular by Giovanni Battista Piranesi .

Politician

As a member of the district assembly newly created in Prussia in 1832, he vigorously demanded the reorganization of argar relations . In 1847, as a member of the gentlemen's curia of the United State Parliament, he represented the concerns of the reform forces: the abolition of patrimonial jurisdiction and Dominial police power, public and oral judicial proceedings, the expansion of municipal rights and periodic sessions of the State Parliament. In the debate about the Jewish laws , Yorck vigorously called for the total emancipation of the Jews and finally set the boldest accent when there was a dispute over the legal name of the Jewish communities ("Synagogue Association" or "Jewish Community") with an interjection: "Jewish Church." ! " .

The first Prussian Prime Minister Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg appointed him on March 18, 1848, as Chief President of the Province of Silesia . At the request and suggestion of Yorck, however, the Lord Mayor of Wroclaw Julius Pinder took over this office a few days later .

Yorck also belonged to the second united Prussian state parliament , which regulated constitutional legislation in Prussia, but was not elected to the Prussian or Frankfurt National Assembly.

Until the Treaty of Olomouc he remained a member of the Prussian manor house . After 1850 he allied himself with the men around Moritz August von Bethmann-Hollweg and was one of the founders of the Berliner Wochenblatt . Yorck was later a member of the party loyal to the constitution , in which all liberal factions came together. Under his chairmanship, the Silesian Program was adopted in 1858 , for which he - again a hereditary member of the Prussian mansion since 1854 - stood. In the last years of his life, increasing hearing loss prevented his participation in political debates.

Ludwig Yorck died surprisingly of pneumonia with an accompanying stroke. He was buried in the family's mausoleum at Klein-Oels Castle.

Honors

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the fate of the precious Graf Yorck'schen Majoratsbibliothek and the family archive after 1945 see: Karlfried Founder : On the philosophy of Count Paul Yorck von Wartenburg . Aspects and new sources, Göttingen 1970, p. 14ff.
  2. ^ Karlfried founder: On the philosophy of Count Paul Yorck von Wartenburg. Aspects and new sources . Göttingen, 1970, p. 72.
personal data
SURNAME Yorck von Wartenburg, Hans David Ludwig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Yorck von Wartenburg, Hans David Ludwig Heinrich Julius Florian Theodor Yorck (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian politician, majorate, art collector
DATE OF BIRTH May 31, 1805
PLACE OF BIRTH Mittenwalde
DATE OF DEATH July 12, 1865
Place of death at Klein Oels Castle