Johann Siegmund von Oppel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johann Siegmund von Oppel (born October 2, 1730 in Wetzlar , † February 25, 1798 in Weimar ) was a Saxon-Thuringian nobleman and court official, most recently director of the Saxony-Weimar landscape treasury and real secret council .

Life

He came from the noble family of those of Oppel and was the youngest of four, the child's age surviving children of the former assessor at the Imperial Court and later chancellor , chamber president, navigator Director and President of the Privy Council of Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Altenburg Siegmund Ehrenfried von Oppel (1687 –1757) and his wife Christiane Charlotte, daughter of the former Saxon-Eisenberg house marshal Karl August Edler von der Planitz .

Johann Siegmund entered the Saxon-Weimar service as a chamberlain . In 1759 he became court and government councilor in Weimar and in 1764 a secret councilor. In 1772 he was appointed by Duke Karl August von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1757-1828) and his mother and guardian Anna Amalia to the secret council and director of the Weimar landscape treasury. In 1775, the duke, who had now come of age, appointed him a real secret council.

As a tax expert, Oppel had progressive views. During the discussion on the reform of the tax system, which was led by the estates and the Privy Council after Karl August's accession to government , and which was about getting the high level of debt under control, he advocated an expansion of indirect taxes and opposed it an increase in property tax : for the “poor farmer” this only means an increase in his tax debts, those in the middle class who are still earning a living would be driven into bankruptcy and poverty, and the not very numerous wealthy could cope with a tax increase, but the additional income generated by this would not nearly make up for the tax losses to be expected in the two other classes. Instead, he argued, the subjects would be better cared for if not only agriculture but also the other wealthy and “capitalists” contributed proportionally to the national income.

Legacy

Johann Siegmund von Oppel's best-known legacy today is located between Puschkinstrasse and Seifengasse in Weimar, not far from Goethe's house on Frauenplan: the Oppelsche Garden and the Oppelsche Pavilion with its domed roof - cultural and garden monument within the meaning of the Thuringian Monument Protection Act . Although he was probably not the builder of the pavilion, which was built around the mid-1730s, he was the owner and keeper of the property for decades and ultimately also its namesake.

Marriages

Johann Siegmund von Oppel was married three times and widowed twice:

  • I: Anna Helena Christiane von Schlitz called von Görtz (* 23 August 1732; † 2 October 1760)
  • II: June 28, 1764 Caroline Luise Henriette von Beust († 1766)
  • III: 1771 Luise Friederike von Stange

All three marriages remained childless.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ http://ora-web.swkk.de/goe_reg_online/regest.voll Anzeige_bio? id = 40080 & p_lfdnr = 0 & s_par = op & n_par = 1
  2. ↑ Chronic by Oschatz
  3. ^ Marcus Ventzke: The Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach, 1775–1783. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne, 2004, ISBN 3-412-08603-7 , pp. 134-135
  4. ↑ List of monuments of the independent city of Weimar ( Memento from November 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Status: November 20, 2013)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Oppel, Johann Siegmund von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Landscape Treasurer, Privy Councilor
DATE OF BIRTH October 2, 1730
PLACE OF BIRTH Wetzlar
DATE OF DEATH February 25, 1798
Place of death Weimar