Johann Karl Adam Murhard

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The Murhard brothers, Eduard Handwerck, lithograph around 1840

Johann Karl Adam Murhard (born February 23, 1781 in Kassel ; † February 8, 1863 there ) was a German economist , doctor of law , archivist and writer . Modern research counts him, together with his brother Friedrich (1778-1853) with their scientific and journalistic work, to the intellectual trailblazers of German political and economic liberalism in the Vormärz .

The brothers donated the Murhard library to the city of Kassel .

Family and education

Murhard came from an old and well-established family of officials; his father was the government procurator Henrich Murhard (1739-1809), his mother was his wife Maria Magdalena, née Fischer (1747-1807).

He attended the Lyceum Fridericianum (today Friedrichsgymnasium) in Kassel and studied law and political science at the Georg August University in Göttingen and the Philipps University in Marburg . In 1800 he received his doctorate in Marburg. In 1802 he went on an extensive hiking trip to Paris with his friend and fellow student Philipp Ferdinand Brede (1781–1807). He presented his first scientific publications in 1805.

He remained unmarried.

Professional activities

Murhard began his professional activity in the archive of the Oberrentkammer in Kassel, where he was promoted to archivist in 1804. He was a member of the commission to examine the archives of the Kingdom of Westphalia and was appointed to the Council of State in 1809 . In 1810 he was appointed head of the Department of Commerce and Industry in the Ministry of Finance and in 1812 the liquidator of the public debt.

In 1812 he published the magazine "Westphalia under Hieronymus Napoleon".

In 1816 he was appointed government secretary in Fulda, in 1818 he followed his brother to Frankfurt am Main and from then on devoted himself to political writing with him.

Murhard was a supporter of Adam Smith's theories and represented in his numerous writings classical economics in the transition to industrial society in Kurhessen, which he wanted to present to a broad audience with his works. Here he also incorporated the ideas of the French Revolution and English liberalism. In one of his first works, he no longer interprets “state wealth” in the mercantilistic sense and with the sole aim of filling the state treasury, but “... in the liberal understanding ... as an opportunity to improve the material living situation for all citizens ".

In addition to a series of books and numerous magazine articles, he published 88 keyword articles for the 4th to 7th edition of the Conversations-Lexicon (full title: Neuestes Conversations-Lexicon, or general German Real Encyclopedia for educated classes. Completely revised by a society of scholars ) which was published by Brockhaus-Verlag in Leipzig from 1817 .

Political persecution

The Hessian state government brought legal proceedings against his brother several times for political writing. One was also extended to Johann Karl, who had followed his brother to Frankfurt in 1818 and published in the “Allgemeinepolitische Annalen”, a national political journal founded by Friedrich in Frankfurt at the request of the publisher Johann Friedrich Cotta . When Friedrich was expelled from Frankfurt for his journalistic activities and temporarily arrested, was not allowed to leave the city until 1830 and was banned from practicing and publishing, the travel ban also affected him as a bystander.

The testament

The brothers Friedrich Wilhelm August and Johann Karl Adam Murhard, who stood in their hometown in the shadow of the Brothers Grimm throughout their lives, bequeathed all of their assets to their hometown Kassel in their will of 1845, with the condition that a “... public library ... for Best of the local people and in the interests of science and civilization ... ”.

This generous gift was not adequately appreciated by the city of Kassel and its contemporary citizens. The Murhard brothers were viewed by the public as "French people" and Friedrich in particular was shunned because of the professional and political allegations made against him. Their memory was little looked after, and it is not known where they are buried.

On November 29, 1853, his brother Friedrich died "as a broken man of exhaustion," as Karl noted in the family chronicle. Karl survived him by nearly ten years. After his death from "old age" the will was published and in 1873 execution began. The Murhard library was opened in 1905.

Works (selection)

  • Wealth. 1806.
  • About money and coins. 1809.
  • Theory of Money and Coin. 1817.
  • Theory and Politics of Commerce. 1831.
  • Taxation theory and politics. 1834.

literature

  • Theodor Griewank : The brothers Friedrich and Karl Murhard. Political scientist and publicist. In: Ingeborg Schnack (Hrsg.): Life pictures from Kurhessen and Waldeck. Volume 1. Elwert, Marburg 1939, pp. 212-219.
  • Axel Halle, Karl-Hermann Wegner, Jörg Westerburg (eds.): The Murhard brothers. Living for human rights and civil liberty. , Kassel University-Press, Kassel 2003, ISBN 978-3-89958-037-2 .
  • Marie-Elisabeth Hilger:  Murhard, Karl. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 611 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Hans-Jürgen Kahlfuß (Ed.): 125 years of the Murhard Foundation of the City of Kassel and its library 1863–1988. (= Hessian research on historical regional and folklore , Volume 17), Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Kassel 1988, ISBN 3-925333-14-2 .
  • Rainer Olten: Karl Murhard, scholar and liberal economist in Kassel. Life and work. Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies, Kassel 1990, ISBN 3-925333-15-0 .
  • Herbert Schäfer: Friedrich and Karl Murhard, learned writers and donors in Kassel. Published by Stadtsparkasse Kassel, Kassel 1987.
  • Karl Wippermann :  Murhard, Karl . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1886, pp. 63-65.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ The Oberrentkammer was a kind of central tax office of the Landgraviate or the Electorate of Hesse.
  2. ^ Rainer Olten: Friedrich and Karl Murhard .
  3. ^ Herbert Schäfer: Friedrich Murhard (1778-1853). On the history of political persecution. , P. 23.
personal data
SURNAME Murhard, Johann Karl Adam
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German legal scholar and writer
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1781
PLACE OF BIRTH kassel
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 1863
Place of death kassel