Heinrich zu Schoenaich-Carolath

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Heinrich zu Schoenaich-Carolath on the front page of the Berliner Illustrirten Zeitung from January 18, 1892

Heinrich Ludwig Ferdinand Erdmann Deodatus Prince zu Schoenaich-Carolath , Reichsgraf and Reichsfreiherr von Schoenaich (born  April 24,  1852 at Schloss Amtitz near Guben ; † June 20, 1920 in Berlin ) was a German politician as well as a freelance nobleman and majorate at Schloss Amtitz. He worked as district administrator of the Guben district , as a member of the Prussian manor house and the Reichstag .

Live and act

Origin, childhood and youth

Heinrich Prinz zu Schoenaich-Carolath comes from the Lower Lusatian aristocratic family Schoenaich-Carolath , who were raised to the rank of count in 1700 . A branch of the family was admitted to the Prussian princehood in 1741 according to the birthright. The respective head of the family carried the title of Prince of Carolath-Beuthen , the others were called Prince of Schönaich-Carolath . As the youngest son of Ludwig Ferdinand Karl Erdmann Alexander Deodatus Prinz zu Schoenaich-Carolath (born June 26, 1811 in Cölmchen; † January 22, 1862 in Amtitz) and Wanda Countess Henckel von Donnersmarck (born November 1, 1826 in Breslau; † 11. February 1907 in Florence) Heinrich Prinz zu Schoenaich-Carolath was born on April 24, 1852 at Schloss Amtitz, southeast of Guben. His brother Karl Ludwig Erdmann Ferdinand Prince zu Carolath-Beuthen (born February 14, 1845 in Dresden; † July 6, 1912 in Homburg vor der Höhe) inherited the title of prince from the father's uncle, General Heinrich Karl Wilhelm, Prince of Carolath, who died in 1864. Beuthen (November 29, 1783 - July 14, 1864).

After his parents divorced, he grew up with his grandmother Countess Julie Henckel von Donnersmarck in Breslau from the age of six. From 1862 he spent his youth again with his mother. She cared little about his upbringing. Instead, he had to accompany her on trips to Switzerland , Nice and Paris . His guardian since the death of his father, Prince Hatzfeldt zu Trachenberg , finally felt compelled to take the boy from his mother and send him to the Knight's Academy in Liegnitz on August 1, 1867 . He attended these from the lower secondary to the lower secondary, after which he left the institution in Easter 1870 to prepare for military service.

As a flag boy he joined the Prussian Hussar Regiment No. 15 in Düsseldorf in 1870 . With this he took part in the Franco-German War , fought in the Battle of Spichern , among others . On December 31, 1870, he was promoted to second lieutenant. After the war he followed his regiment to the new garrison in Wandsbeck and Itzehoe . In May 1875 he left the Hussars , he took the missing school leaving certificate through an investigation and studied as a lieutenant à la suite 1875-1877 Law at the University of Bonn .

District Administrator

Subsequently, Schoenaich-Carolath dealt for a short time with the administration of his rulership Amtitz . In November 1878 he was appointed District Administrator of the Gubener Kreis , after having represented the previous District Administrator Kurt von Reventlou since October 1877 . He introduced the district ordinance of 1872, regulated the separation of the town of Guben from the district in 1881, had village streets paved, 57 km of new roads were built and provided help with floods on the Neisse , Oder and Lubst , including von Schiedlo , the almost annual flood was exposed and a few years later was completely abandoned. When he resigned in 1890, more than 4,000 residents of his district petitioned him not to leave his post. In recognition of his achievements, the outgoing district administrator received the honorary citizenship of the city of Guben.

Member of the manor house and member of the Reichstag

The German Reichstag in words and pictures by Julius Braatz 1892 - Above in the middle Heinrich zu Schoenaich-Carolath. Prince von Bismark was among the other members of the Reichstag

He was lord of the Amtitz by inheritance and expanded the property to include the rule of Starzeddel and the goods Raubart and Vettersvelde. The possession of the registry office in Amtitz entitled Schoenaich-Carolath to a seat and vote in the Prussian manor house , at whose meetings he first attended on March 14, 1883 and in whose committee for the state budget he was elected in 1891. Often, however, he did not appear at the meetings because he judged the manor to be ineffective, especially after he switched from the Conservatives to the Liberals. He was also a member of the Lower Lusatia municipal council .

Since the election in 1881 he was a free conservative member of the Reichstag , where he took over the constituency of Guben-Lübben from Jesco von Puttkamer . Since 1890 he was a member of the National Liberal Party . He was a member of the Reichstag from 1881 to 1918.

Heinrich to Schoenaich-Carolath was committed to the living women's movement in 1900. With many prominent contemporaries and -genossen, including Wilhelm Dilthey , Minna Cauer , Heinrich Rickert or Adolf Harnack he was one of 1893 by Helene Lange founded Association for the organization of high school courses for women to who campaigned for the right of women to study at university. In 1918 Schoenaich-Carolath was one of those MPs who campaigned for women's suffrage, and with a coalition of parties that formed the majority, he submitted a corresponding motion, which, however, was no longer put to the vote because of the outbreak of revolution.

He supported Otto von Bismarck's social legislation , but rejected his socialist law. He was therefore also called the "Red Prince". There was an open conflict with Wilhelm I on military issues. He rejected the imperial grace on military matters. Heinrich zu Schoenaich-Carolath was therefore removed from (inactive) military service in 1885. For this reason, his application for the title of Your Highness was denied. A corresponding request from 1906 was also unsuccessful. In 1897 he was active in fundraising for the victims of the floods in Silesia . He was accused of having used this for election agitation.

In the manor he belonged to a liberal-conservative group. The critical attitude towards Wilhelm II is also clear from the fact that Heinrich zu Schoenaich-Carolath indicated to journalists that the emperor would comply with his “ spiritualistic inclinations” when making personnel decisions . For his part, the emperor referred to him as Butter Heinrich.

In addition to his political mandates, he was chairman of the Society for the Dissemination of Popular Education and Vice President of the Comenius Society. He was also a member of the supervisory board of the Schlesische AG for mining and zinc smelting operations. Heinrich zu Schoenaich-Carolath was an active Freemason and Grand Master of the Great Lodge of Prussia called Royale York zur Freundlichkeit . In 1891 he became an honorary member of the Niederlausitz Society for Anthropology and Antiquity .

On October 4, 1888, he married Princess Margarita von Schönburg-Waldenburg (* July 18, 1864 in Droyßig ; † January 21, 1937 in Starzeddel, today Starosiedle, municipality of Gubin ), daughter of Hugo zu Schönburg-Waldenburg (1822-1897) . There were no children from the marriage.

literature

  • Reichstag manual. 5th - 13th Election period, Berlin 1881–1912 (with picture, digitized version )
  • Minutes of the Prussian State Ministry . Volume 7, p. 456.
  • Ludwig Maenner: Prince Heinrich zu Schoenaich-Carolath. A parliamentary life during the Wilhelmine era (1852–1920) . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart and Berlin 1931 (with two pictures: a portrait with a facsimile signature and Amtitz Castle).
  • Werner Herzog: Prince Heinrich von Schoenaich-Carolath 1852–1920. Freemasons and politicians in the German Empire . Stock & Stein, Schwerin 1999, ISBN 3-932370-58-9 .
  • Niederlausitz messages. Volume 15, Guben 1922, pp. 1-2; Volume 20, Guben 1931, pp. 246-249.
  • Rudolf Knaack: Schönaich-Carolath, Heinrich Prinz zu. In: Friedrich Beck and Eckart Henning (eds.): Brandenburgisches Biographisches Lexikon (= individual publication by the Brandenburg Historical Commission, Volume 5). Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam 2002, ISBN 3-935035-39-X , pp. 354-355.
  • Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder : Internationales Freemaurerlexikon . Herbig, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-7766-2161-3 , p. 171
  • Herrmann AL Degener : Who is it? 4th edition, Degener, Leipzig 1909
  • Hermann Kalkoff (Ed.): National Liberal Parliamentarians 1867–1917 of the Reichstag and the individual state parliaments. Nationallib's font distribution office. Party of Germany, Berlin 1917.
  • Hermann Christern : German Biographical Yearbook. Transition Volume 2: 1917-1920. Deutsche Verlagsanstalt Stuttgart, Berlin et al. 1928.
  • Wilhelm Kosch and Eugen Kuri: Biographical State Handbook. Francke, Bern et al. 1963.
  • zu Carolath, Heinrich Prinz, Reichsgraf zu Schönaich. In: Max Schwarz : MdR. Biographical handbook of the Reichstag . Verlag für Literatur und Zeitgeschehen, Hannover 1965, p. 287.
  • Bernd Haunfelder : The Liberal Members of the German Reichstag 1871-1918. A biographical manual . Aschendorff, Münster 2004, ISBN 3-402-06614-9 , pp. 364–365.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Angelika Schaser: Helene Lange and Gertrud Bäumer. A political community. Cologne: Böhlau, 2010, p. 72.
  2. ↑ Application of the majority parties in the Reichstag on the right to vote, No. 2002, p. 3153, printed matter, vol. 325, 1918, URL: http://www.reichstagsprotocol.de/Blatt_k13_bsb00003430_00000.html (2.1.2017).
  3. ↑ cf. the Reichstag speech by Heinrich Prinz zu Schoenaich-Carolath, published in: Stenographic reports on the negotiations of the Reichstag. VII legislative period. V. Session 1889/90. Volume 2, Norddeutsche Buchdruckerei and Verlags-Anstalt, Berlin 1890, 52nd session, Saturday, January 25, 1890, pp. 1241–1243 and 1247 ( see: Reichstag speech by Heinrich Prinz zu Schoenaich-Carolath on January 25, 1890 )
  4. ^ Protocols of the Prussian State Ministry. Volume 7, No. 343, pp. 245f., Meeting on October 27, 1888 ( digital version , PDF file; 2.83 MB)
  5. ^ Protocols of the Prussian State Ministry. Volume 8 / II, p. 634, ( digital version , PDF file; 2.19 MB)
  6. ^ John CG Röhl : Wilhelm II. The structure of the personal monarchy. CH Beck, 2001, p. 671 ( partial digitization in the Google book search)
  7. ↑ genealogy.euweb.cz
personal data
SURNAME Schoenaich-Carolath, Heinrich to
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schoenaich-Carolath, Heinrich Ludwig Ferdinand Erdmann Deodatus Prinz zu (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (NLP), District Administrator, MdR
DATE OF BIRTH April 24, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH Amtitz Castle near Guben, today Gębice
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1920
Place of death Berlin