Heinrich Johann Friedrich Ostermann

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Heinrich Graf Ostermann (1687–1747)
Memorial plaque on Ostermannstrasse in Bochum
Coat of arms of Count Ostermann (since 1730)

Heinrich Johann Friedrich Ostermann ( Russian Андрей Иванович Остерман / Andrei Ivanovich Ostermann , scientific. Transliteration Andrei Ivanovich Osterman ; * 9. June 1687 in Bochum , † May 20 jul. / 31 May  1747 greg. In Beryozovo , Siberia ) was a Russian diplomat and statesman of German origin.

He was born as the son of pastor Johann Conrad Ostermann in Bochum. The Ostermanns were a respected family that produced mayors, lawyers, judges and pastors; Today's Rietkötter brewery is considered her home . He went to school in the grammar schools in Dortmund and Soest .

After Ostermann had to flee to Holland as a law student in Jena because of a duel in which he had killed a noble opponent in a very intoxicated state , he entered Russian sea service in 1704. There he soon won the trust of Peter I and then played a prominent role in the Russian civil service. After marrying Marfa Ivanovna Streschnewa (1698–1781), a lady of the Russian aristocracy, he largely adapted to the country's lifestyle, adopted a Russian name, but remained a Protestant.

Thanks to his language skills, he became the right hand of Vice Chancellor Peter Pavlovich Schafirow , whom he assisted in successfully working out the Peace of the Prut on July 23, 1711. Ostermann also led the negotiations in the Åland Congress and the peace negotiations at Nystad on September 10, 1721, whereupon he was appointed baron and privy councilor and in 1725 imperial vice-chancellor.

Under Ostermann, Russia achieved an importance in pan-European and Western European politics that it had never had before. During his political activity Ostermann mostly strove for a Russian-Austrian alliance and tried above all to prevent Poland from advancing and to give Russia access to the Black Sea . He achieved the neutralization of Poland in 1734 with the accession of the weak ruler August III, which he promoted . there, the Black Sea access in the Russo-Austrian Turkish War . After the latter, however, tensions developed between Russia and Austria in the Balkans .

Empress Katharina I appointed Ostermann on her deathbed in 1727 as head steward and member of the Regency Council while her successor Peter II was a minor . In 1727 he was appointed general post director. In 1730 Ostermann was raised to the status of hereditary count and in 1734 entrusted by the Empress Anna I with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Also in 1730 he was awarded the Order of the Black Eagle by King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia . When Ivan VI in 1740 was appointed Anna's successor, Ostermann maintained his influential position as Grand Admiral .

However, Empress Elisabeth's accession to the throne in the following year brought about his overthrow. Elisabeth had him arrested in 1741, partly because of his pro-Austrian policy.

Ostermann was sentenced to be executed by the wheel on the accusation of having caused Elizabeth to be excluded from the succession to the throne of Anna I and to have suppressed Katharina's will . On January 27, 1742, immediately before the execution, the sentence was converted into lifelong exile to Siberia, where Ostermann died five years later in 1747.

One of his sons was Iwan Ostermann , later, until 1797, also Russian Chancellor.

literature

Individual proof

  1. ↑ Awards 1730: List of Knights of the Royal Prussian High Order of the Black Eagle. Decker, Berlin, 1851, p. 4, no. 45 .

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Ostermann, Heinrich Johann Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ostermann, Andrei Iwanowitsch
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian diplomat and statesman
DATE OF BIRTH June 9, 1687
PLACE OF BIRTH Bochum , Germany
DATE OF DEATH May 31, 1747
Place of death Beryosov , Siberia