Johann Jakob von Wittgenstein

Johann Jakob von Wittgenstein

Coat of arms of the Cologne von Wittgenstein

Wittgenstein family grave, Melaten cemetery

Johann Jakob von Wittgenstein (born February 24, 1754 in Cologne ; † March 15, 1823 there ) was a German lawyer , businessman , banker and politician .

family

Wittgenstein was born in Cologne in 1754 as the son of the married couple Melchior Dittmar von Wittgenstein and Maria Elisabeth, born in Cologne's Trankgasse 9 in the “Wittgensteinschen Hof” . Born von Heck. Wittgenstein junior attended the Cologne Laurentianer-Gymnasium at the law school in the city center and then studied law at the University of Cologne and the Georg-August University in Göttingen . After completing his studies and only briefly at the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Wetzlar , Wittgenstein became in 1778 syndic of the city of Cologne. After the death of his father, who had presided over a third term as mayor of the city in 1786/87, Wittgenstein was elected mayor by the council in 1790 despite his young age . From Wittgenstein's marriage to Theresia, nee Haes, widowed Coels (1758–1835), was descended from Heinrich von Wittgenstein (1797–1869). He later married a daughter of the banker Schaaffhausen and continued the family tradition as an entrepreneur and politician. His stepdaughter from his wife's first marriage was Elisabeth "Lisette" Coels, who was married to the entrepreneur and politician Peter Heinrich Merkens . Their marriage against the will of the bride's parents - Merkens was still penniless and Protestant at the time, the bride Catholic - led to years of estrangement.

Mayor and Maire

Johann Jakob von Wittgenstein was by his rich urban terms under Napoleonic rule in 1803 to the mayor appointed by Cologne and held the office until 1814 held. During this time he was from May 28, 1796 to March 21, 1797 President of the municipal administration . Then he led the administration with Heinrich Josef von Groote from March 21, 1797 to June 23, 1797. From August 18, 1803, he officiated until January 15, 1814 as Maire of the independent canton of Cologne in the Arrondissement de Cologne . During his tenure in office, the French administration commissioned Ferdinand Franz Wallraf to propose objective, new French street names for the streets of Cologne on August 9, 1812 . The result was the Itinéraire de Cologne , the only French street directory in Germany. In addition to his office as Mayor, Wittgenstein also chaired the Chamber of Commerce and was the head of the city's poor, sick and schooling system.

After the end of the French era , von Wittgenstein, now under Prussian aegis , continued his office as mayor of the city until May 11, 1815.

The former bourgeois country estate of the Wittgensteins in Roisdorf , the "Villa Wittgenstein", and Wittgensteinstraße in the Lindenthal district are reminiscent of the family .

literature

• Hermann Keussen :  Wittgenstein, Johann Jacob von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, p. 623 f.
• Carl Dietmar: Die Chronik Kölns , Chronik Verlag, Dortmund 1991, ISBN 3-611-00193-7
• Gisela Mettele: Bourgeoisie in Cologne 1775 - 1870 : Community spirit and free association / Gisela Mettele: Oldenburg 1998; City and bourgeoisie; Volume 10 Zugl. Frankfurt (Main) Univ., Diss., 1994, ISBN 3-486-56386-6
• Wolfgang Herborn: On the reconstruction and edition of the Cologne mayor list up to the end of the Ancien Regime , in: Rheinische Vierteljahresblätter 36 (1972)
• Konrad Adenauer u. Volker Gröbe: Streets and squares in Lindenthal . JP Bachem Verlag, Cologne 1992, ISBN 3-7616-1018-1
• Max von Spiessen: Book of arms of the Westphalian nobility . Plate 340, top right: Family coat of arms of the von Wittgenstein family

Individual evidence

1. ↑ HAStK FV437. JJ v. Wittgenstein, in: Gisela Mettele, Bürgerertum in Köln 1775-1870 , p. 79
2. ^ Hans Vogts / Fritz Witt: Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , in Paul Clemen: The profane monuments, Volume II, IV, p. 342
3. ↑ Gisela Mettele, Bürgerertum in Köln 1775-1870 , p. 45 with reference to: ADB (vol. 5), 461 u. ADB (Vol. 43), 623
4. ↑ Konrad Adenauer u. Volker Grobe, p. 166.
5. ↑ Klara van Eyll : "Merkens, Peter Heinrich" in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 17 (1994), pp. 153–155 [online version]; URL: [1] In this article, the date of December 25, 1778 , which is often mentioned , is corrected.
6. ^ Archives NRW, On Cologne City History , Part 1
7. ↑ Family coat of arms of those von Wittgenstein in: Max von Spiessen: Wappenbuch des Westfälischen Adels , plate 340 (actually the color of the two posts in the shield should be black, and the other tincture black-silver, see hatching of the coat of arms on the two large ones Funerary monuments at the Melaten cemetery in Cologne)