Hans Georg Steiner

This article deals with the Swiss manufacturer, for the German math teacher see Hans-Georg Steiner

Hans Georg Steiner (born August 27, 1654 in Winterthur ; † September 26, 1734 there ) was a cotton manufacturer and mayor of the city of Winterthur.

Life

Hans Georg was born on August 27, 1654 as the son of Melchior Steiner , an important salt merchant , and Margaretha Sulzer. His older brother Johann Steiner was mayor of Winterthur from 1701 until his death and the richest resident of the city. After the death of his father, Hans Georg built his own business and became the city's most important cotton manufacturer. In 1717 he employed 52 of the 80 kämblers working in Winterthur and owned 13 ovens for drying the wool, making him one of the most taxable people in town.

Steiner became the Grand Councilor of Winterthur in 1703. When his brother died in 1721, there was one of the few fighting elections in the Schulthessen election in Winterthur. The town clerk Hans Ulrich Hegner lost. Steiner, who became the new Schultheiss of Winterthur and also Winterthur magistrate of Hinwil. When his brother was in office, the city of Zurich Winterthur already banned the trade in silk and restricted the cotton industry to the raw processing of wool. Since Hans Georg Steiner saw this as a violation of the economic freedom of Winterthur guaranteed in the town charter and in the case of seizure, he had the University of Leipzig and the University of Altdorf near Nuremberg prepare reports that defended the Winterthur positions in this dispute. The city also distributed leaflets on this topic in the countryside, creating a good mood. Zurich then threatened a military strike against Winterthur if the city did not comply with the demands. On the part of Zurich, unjustified speculations were also made that Steiner would make contact with the House of Habsburg .

In January 1723, the dispute finally escalated when Steiner was arrested by Zurich in Töss from an ambush. Steiner was then imprisoned for a long time in Zurich and attempts were made to prove that he had been bribed by Lieutenant Colonel Schram von Stockach , but this did not succeed. Despite everything, he was fined 500 pounds. During this maneuver, Zurich also took advantage of the hostilities of the Hegner and Heinrich Bürkli families against Steiner. One of the consequences of the severity of the dispute was that Zurich instructed the officials stationed in Winterthur and Töss as well as the governor of Kyburg to keep an eye on the city. This escalation can also be seen as a show of force by the capital, which Winterthur tried not to let become too powerful.

swell

• Werner Ganz : History of the City of Winterthur . Introduction to its history from the beginning to 1798. In: 292nd New Year's sheet of the Winterthur City Library . Winterthur 1960, p. 92, 93, 141-143 .
• Johann Conrad Troll : History of the City of Winterthur, edited from documents . Fifth Part - Political History of the Municipal City of Winterthur. Steiner'sche Buchhandlung, Winterthur 1845, p. 113-132 . (The book on Google Books)

Web links

• Martin Lassner: Steiner, Hans Georg. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .