Johannes Versmann

Johannes Versmann in the mayor's robe at the time

Johannes Georg Andreas Versmann (born January 7, 1820 in Hamburg-Sankt Pauli ; † July 28, 1899 in Hamburg ) was a Hamburg lawyer and first mayor . He was the most important Hamburg politician in the last third of the 19th century, primarily responsible for the successful customs connection in Hamburg in 1888.

youth

The father of Johannes Versmann Johann Ernst Versmann (* 1772 in Hanover ; † 1854 in Hamburg-Sankt Pauli ) was a pharmacist , the family originally comes from the area around Uelzen . After an extensive apprenticeship in northern Germany, he settled in the suburb of Hamburger Berg. In 1816 he became a citizen of Hamburg and in the same year he founded the Einhorn Apotheke. He married Elisabeth Magdalena geb. Ricardi (* 1799; † 1833), from this marriage had seven sons, of whom John was the middle. His brother was Ernst August Otto Versmann .

Versmann spent his school days at the St. Pauli boys' school, from Easter 1831 to Easter 1839 at the Christianeum in Altona and then until Easter 1840, Versmann successfully attended the Academic Gymnasium in the Johanneum . In the last few years at the Christianeum Versmann was a member of the scientific association of the Selekta des Christianeum, which is where the lifelong friendship with Theodor Mommsen developed .

During his time at the Academic Gymnasium, Versmann also attended anatomy lectures in Hamburg in order to prepare for his studies in natural sciences and medicine in Jena , which began in Easter 1840 . In Jena, Versmann had been a member of the fraternity on the Fürstenkeller (today's Jena fraternity Germania ) since 1840 . Since medicine is not to his liking, he moved in 1842 to Göttingen and began law study. This was made possible thanks to a grant from the Uelzener St. Johannis Fief, a Uelzen family foundation. The next station was Heidelberg from Easter 1843 , where he successfully completed his studies in 1844. In 1843 he became a member of the fraternity of Walhalla Heidelberg . In 1844, Versmann became a Hamburg citizen and settled as a lawyer in Hamburg-Sankt Pauli. The following year he began working with Carl Friedrich Petersen whom he temporarily represented. Carl Friedrich Petersen, elected to the Hamburg Senate in 1855, would later be his friend and rival in the Senate.

First engagement

Versmann had come into contact with ideas of liberalism during his studies and remained largely true to them for the rest of his life. First Versmann got involved locally. In 1845 he became a member of the Sankt Pauli Citizens' Association and in 1846 a member of the Hamburg Lawyers Association. When military clashes with Denmark and the Schleswig-Holstein War began in 1848 as part of the March Revolution , Versmann volunteered out of national enthusiasm. On May 25, Versmann moved out with the volunteers from Hamburg. On April 9th ​​he took part in the fighting in Bau , in which a younger brother fell of his and he was captured by the Danes. In September 1848 he was released and returned to Hamburg. In the same year Versmann was elected for the Liberals in the " Hamburger Konstituante ", a forerunner of the freely elected citizenship, and was temporarily their president. At the end of the year the conservative persistent forces got the upper hand, and Prussian troops were stationed in Hamburg, so that on June 14, 1850 the constituent assembly was dissolved again.

Versmann then abstained from public political activity in the following years, but he dedicated himself to his legal practice all the more successfully. From 1851 he was a member of the commercial court, from 1859 to 1861 he was its president. On May 14, 1853 he married Thekla Stammann (* 1833 in Hamburg; † 1895 ibid.) A daughter of Franz Georg Stammann , three children resulted from this marriage.

Leading state offices

Johannes Versmann

In the first election to the citizenship in November 1859, Versmann obtained a mandate, at the constituent session on December 6, 1859 he was elected its first president. He held this office until December 1861. Since he had always negotiated very moderately and had a good reputation thanks to his work as a lawyer, he was elected to the Hamburg Senate on December 16, 1861 . First Versmann worked in the high school authorities for the expansion of the trade schools . Later he successfully devoted himself to tax issues. In 1887 Versmann was elected second mayor for the first time , since mayor Gustav Heinrich Kirchenpauer died in office, he also became first mayor in the same year. In the following year, 1888, he remained First Mayor. 1890/91 1893/94 1896/97 he is second and first mayor, in 1899 he died during his tenure as second mayor.

Customs connection 1888

In 1888 Hamburg and Altona were included in the customs area of ​​the German Empire, with the creation of a separate free port area , this was particularly thanks to Versmann.

Versmann was concerned with customs issues from 1865, in particular he negotiated in 1867 in customs union issues . At that time, Hamburg and Altona could be left out. After the establishment of the German Empire in 1871, the question became acute again, and Prussia in particular pressed for a new regulation. When tensions on customs issues came to a head in 1879 and Gustav Heinrich Kirchenpauer had therefore resigned from his position as representative at the Federal Council , Versmann took over this post. He began tough negotiations with Chancellor Otto von Bismarck . With great sensitivity and unofficial negotiations on both sides, Versmann succeeded in reaching the difficult compromise, with a sense of what was feasible. In 1881 the contract for the customs connection was signed. Soon afterwards, the warehouse district (which continued to apply as a customs foreign country) was built, and the customs connection was completed on October 15, 1888.

Tombstone Johannes Versmann in the Versmann family
grave, Ohlsdorf cemetery

Cholera epidemic 1892

In the summer of 1892 it was unusually warm in Hamburg. On August 3, Versmann confided in his diary that he was concerned about the possibility of a cholera outbreak . On August 14, the first sick worker was hospitalized. By August 20th the cholera epidemic was already widespread. Yet the Senate barely reacted. The First Mayor Carl Friedrich Petersen had been sick for weeks, the Second Mayor Johann Georg Mönckeberg did not have the necessary skills, and the Senator Gerhard Hachmann , who was responsible for medical care, was not up to the situation. When, even after a visit by Professor Robert Koch , the Senate's ability to act did not improve and the federal government threatened to intervene , Versmann took over the leadership in cooperation with Mönckeberg. His right hand , Syndicus Hugo Amandus Roeloffs , took over power in the health sector of the Hamburg state at Versmann's instigation, against Hachmann's will. Roeloffs officially made himself available to Hachmann on August 28th. Versmann had the measures that were successfully taken in Altona - there was almost no outbreak of cholera despite the proximity to Hamburg - also applied in Hamburg. In this way he succeeded in preventing the federal government from intervening in Hamburg. Without his commitment, more deaths would probably have been mourned. In the following years, the administrative and hygienic problems revealed by cholera were addressed by Versmann.

His close and influenced employees include Roeloffs, Johann Georg Mönckeberg, Johann Heinrich Burchard and Arnold Diestel .

literature

• Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Volume 6: T-Z. Winter, Heidelberg 2005, ISBN 3-8253-5063-0 , pp. 129-131.
• Adolf Wohlwill, Johannes Versmann. On the history of his youth and his later effectiveness , in: ZVHG 15, 1910, p. 166
• Adolf Wohlwill: The Hamburg mayors Kirchenpauer, Petersen, Versmann; Hamburg 1903
• Richard J. Evans : Death in Hamburg , Reinbek 1990, ISBN 3-498-01648-2
• German Gender Book, Volume 128, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg an der Lahn 1962
• W. Bröcking .:  Versmann, Johannes . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 54, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1908, pp. 743-746.

Web links

Commons : Johannes Versmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files