Johann Ludwig Bassermann

Johann Ludwig Bassermann (born June 29, 1781 in Heidelberg , † March 28, 1828 in Mannheim ) was a German businessman and liberal politician in Baden .

Life

He was the son of Johann Wilhelm Bassermann and Marie Elisabeth (née Erb). He was the cousin of Friedrich Ludwig Bassermann . Both attended a boarding school in Mannheim, the Winterwebersche Institute. Then both received thorough commercial training, initially in Frankfurt am Main . Johann Ludwig returned to Mannheim after 1800 to continue his education there. In 1803 he married Susanna Elisabeth, the daughter of the Mannheim iron trader Johann David Frohn. Johann Ludwig joined his father-in-law's company. After the death of his father-in-law in 1806, he became completely independent. He traded under the name “Ludwig Bassermann; Wholesale iron goods, commission and forwarding. ”Despite unfavorable external circumstances, the business experienced a considerable boom.

In 1803 he became a co-founder of the civil society Casino. This soon rose to become the social and political center of Mannheim. In 1807 he became a citizen and became a member of the trade guild. From 1820 until his death he was the guild master of the guild. She had already sent him to the newly established four-person action committee in 1809. This became an important body in matters of trade and transport. It also had close ties to the Baden state administration that turned to the committee on economic issues. In 1811 Bassermann was elected councilor of the city of Mannheim. In the same year he bought a stately home from Count Lagiary de Sarazona. This was in a city district in which the nobility and high officials have dominated until now.

He worked closely with the Lord Mayor Johann Wilhelm Reinhardt , with whom he was related through his cousin. The political goal of both was to liberate economic life from state control and paternalism. As early as 1819 he was elected to the Baden Estates Assembly. There he was considered an economist and tax expert, was a member of the budget commission and was considered a determined liberal from the start. In 1825 he demanded in a large memorandum the establishment of a Rhine port in Mannheim, the making the Neckar navigable and the abolition of the stacking rights and tariffs, which are now regarded as anachronistic.

From his marriage to Susanna Elisabetha (born February 4, 1782 in Mannheim, † April 19, 1869 in Mannheim), born Frohn, eight children, two daughters and six sons emerged. The youngest son, Anton Bassermann , became a lawyer and, like his father, a member of the Baden Council of Estates.

literature

• Lothar Gall: middle class in Germany . Berlin, 1989