Jean-Georges Humann

Jean-Georges Humann (painting by Gabriel-Christophe Guérin )

Jean-Georges Humann (born August 6, 1780 in Strasbourg , † April 25, 1842 in Paris ) was a French statesman.

biography

Humann, the son of poor parents, brother of Johann Jakob Humann , joined a tobacco factory as an apprentice in 1794 and later founded his own business, which soon took off.

Alsace owes the Canal du Rhône au Rhin mainly to him . In recognition of his unselfish service, his fellow citizens voted him a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1821, where he joined the opposition.

After the July Revolution , he became Minister of Finance in October 1832 and introduced numerous reforms. He succeeded in increasing the income of the state treasury and in establishing new means of transport; he created a law on the savings banks, but resigned his office in 1834 when his intention to carry out the conversion of the state pension was thwarted by the opposition of his colleagues.

In 1837 King Ludwig Philipp appointed him a peer , and in 1840 he took over the Ministry of Finance for the second time. The party activities in France, the significant costs of public works, the burdens of the military budget and the construction of the railways prevented him from re-establishing the balance in his finances.

literature

• Comte Apollinaire-Antoine-Maurice d'Argout: memorial ceremony of Mr. Humann, peer of France, finance minister: a speech… delivered at the session of the chamber of peers ,… 1843 (“Eloge funèbre de M. Humann,… prononcé… dans la séance de la Chambre des Pairs, du 4 Juillet 1843 “). Berger-Levrault, Strasbourg 1843 (special dr. From Moniteur universel ).
• Baron Corvaïa: L'emprunt, projet financier présente à M. Humann suivi d'un catéchisme populaire financier mis à la portée des prolétaires . Delloye, Paris 1841.
• A. de Marsan; AJ Duvergier: M. Humann. Biography. In: Mémorial historique de la Noblesse, 1839, 6ème Livraison, 1ère série, 61 pp.
• Félix Ponteil: Un type de grand bourgeois sous la monarchie parlementaire Georges Humann (Collection de l'Institut des hautes études alsaciennes; 24). Edition Ophrys, Paris 1977, ISBN 2-7080-0451-4 .
• Louis Spach : M. Georges Humann, Ministre des Finances . Berger-Levrault, Strasbourg 1870 (special print from L'impartial du Rhin ).