Heinrich Abeken

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Heinrich Abeken

Heinrich Johann Wilhelm Rudolf Abeken (born August 19, 1809 in Osnabrück , † August 8, 1872 in Berlin ) was a German Protestant theologian and Prussian Real Secret Legation Councilor .

Life

family

Heinrich Abeken was the son of the businessman and later senator of the city of Osnabrück Wilhelm Ludwig Abeken. Since the mother died shortly after the birth of Heinrich's sister Bernhardine, the two siblings grew up in the house of their uncle Bernhard Rudolf Abeken . Heinrich was married to Mary Hutchings Thompson (1802-1836), daughter of an English officer and educator in the Bunsen house , who died a few months after the marriage. In his second marriage from 1866 he was married to Hedwig von Olfers (1829-1919), daughter of the General Director of the Royal Museums in Berlin, Ignaz von Olfers . Heinrich Abeken left no children behind.

Career

Abeken completed his visit to the Ratsgymnasium in Osnabrück in 1827 with the Abitur and then studied Protestant theology at the University of Berlin . In March 1831 he was awarded a licentiate in theology there. In the same year he traveled to Rome , where he initially worked as a private tutor with Christian Karl von Bunsen. At times he also worked at the German Archaeological Institute . In 1834 he became the preacher of the Prussian embassy to the Holy See , where he worked with Otto Nicolai for two years . In 1841 Abeken visited England , commissioned by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. To make agreements under Bunsen's leadership on the establishment of an Anglican-Prussian community bishopric in Jerusalem . In gratitude for his commitment in this matter, King Heinrich Abeken made it possible for him to participate in the great Prussian expedition to Egypt (1842–1845) under the direction of Abeken's friend Richard Lepsius , with which Egyptology was founded as a science in Germany . After his return he accepted a position at the Prussian embassy in Rome.

In 1848 Abeken was appointed to the Prussian Foreign Ministry. In 1853 he was appointed Privy Legation Councilor. Since 1862 he was one of Otto von Bismarck's closest and most important employees . Heinrich Abeken was often employed by him to write official letters and therefore also called the pen of Bismarck . He was highly favored by King Wilhelm I , whom he regularly accompanied on his travels and thereby guaranteed the connection between the King and the Prime Minister. In 1866 Heinrich Abeken was promoted to First Class Council. In addition, Abeken was active as an educated citizen, gave much-noticed lectures and published lively, among other things he published Babylon and Jerusalem anonymously in 1851 , a devastating criticism of the views of Countess Ida Hahn-Hahn .

In 1870 Heinrich Abeken experienced the climax of his political activity as advisor to the king during the crisis surrounding the Hohenzollern candidacy in Bad Ems : Abeken wrote the Emser Depesche , which Bismarck used as the basis for a press release. Its tightened wording contributed to France's declaration of war on Prussia and the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War . In relation to the Kulturkampf , Abeken kept his distance - with all his loyalty - and thus incurred Bismarck's anger.

Heinrich Abeken died of a stroke and was buried in the Dorotheenstadt cemetery . His estate is stored in the Political Archive of the Foreign Office and in the Goethe and Schiller Archive in Weimar .

Works

  • The Evangelical Bishopric in Jerusalem, historical presentation with documents. Besser, Berlin 1842 digitized

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The grave in which his wife Hedwig, who died in 1919, was buried has not been preserved. It was located in the fourth crossing to the left of the main path across from the still existing grave of Martin August Freund. Petra Wilhelmy-Dollinger: The Berlin salons. With historical-literary walks , De Gruyter, Göttingen 2000, p. 426

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Abeken, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Abeken, Heinrich Johann Wilhelm Rudolf (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian and Prussian Real Secret Legation Councilor
DATE OF BIRTH August 19, 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH Osnabrück
DATE OF DEATH August 8, 1872
Place of death Berlin