Johann Gerhard Christian Thomas

Gerhard Thomas

Johann Gerhard Christian Thomas (born February 5, 1785 in Frankfurt am Main ; † November 1, 1838 there ) was a German politician and legal historian.

life and work

Gerhard Thomas was born in Sachsenhausen as the son of a businessman. He attended grammar school in Frankfurt and studied law in Giessen from 1802 to 1805 , and in Würzburg from 1805 to 1807 . After graduating, he settled as a lawyer in his hometown.

1809 named him Carl Theodor von Dalberg for archivist and gave him tasks in the management of the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt . After the restoration of the Free City of Frankfurt , Thomas became senator and head of the police office in 1816 , member of the Legislative Assembly from 1818 to 1831 , city judge from 1821 to 1826, syndic from 1833 to 1836, judge of appeal in 1834 and member of the archive and library inspection.

In 1824 and 1829 Thomas was elected Young Mayor by Kugelung , and in 1832, 1835 and 1838 Senior Mayor . He died of a sudden stroke during his last term in office .

One of his tasks in 1833 was the investigation into the Frankfurt Wachensturm . In 1828 he represented the interests of the city in the negotiations for the Central German Trade Association , in 1836 when he joined the German Customs Union . From 1833 to 1837 he was the Bundestag envoy of the Free City of Frankfurt, a task that required great diplomatic skill in the difficult time after the guard storm.

Thomas was friends with Johann Karl von Fichard , Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm , the Boisserée brothers and the Brentano family . In 1829 he founded the Frankfurter Kunstverein with the historian Johann Friedrich Böhmer and the art historian Johann David Passavant .

Thomas had been married to Rosette Städel (1782–1845), a daughter of the Frankfurt banker Johann Jakob Willemer , with whom he had four children, since 1819 . His uncle was the long-time Frankfurt statesman Georg Steitz .

Publications

• Tauler's Mysticism (1826)
• About the oldest Frankfurt city law and wetterauische Weisthümer (in Johann Karl von Fichards Wetteravia , 1826)
• Treatise on the Origin of Criminal Law in Germany (1831)
• Frankfurter Annalen from 793 to 1300 (in: Archive for Frankfurt's History and Art Volume 2, 1838)
• The Oberhof in Frankfurt am Main and Franconian Law in relation to it (1841)

See also

• List of city leaders of Frankfurt am Main

literature

• Rudolf Jung :  Thomas, Johann Gerhard Christian . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 38, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1894, pp. 91-93.
• Wolfgang Klötzer (Hrsg.): Frankfurter Biographie . Personal history lexicon . Second volume. M – Z (=  publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission . Volume XIX , no. 2 ). Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-7829-0459-1 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Johann Gerhard Christian Thomas in the catalog of the German National Library

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann Ernst Friedrich Danz	Frankfurt envoy to the German Confederation from 1833 to 1837	Johann Friedrich von Meyer