Joseph Völk

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Joseph Völk

Franz Joseph Völk (born May 9, 1819 in Mittelstetten (Schwabmünchen) , † January 22, 1882 in Augsburg ) was a German liberal politician and lawyer .

Life

Völk came from a poor farming family. He received his first education from a clergyman belonging to his family. This also ensured that Völk received a high school education. After leaving school, he began studying law in Munich . He graduated with the doctorate to Dr. jur. from.

In the years 1848 and 1849 he made his first public appearance as a political speaker in Landsberg am Lech . Contrary to the generally prevailing opinion in Bavaria, he campaigned in various places as a speaker for the Paulskirche constitution and a small German solution under the leadership of Prussia .

His political activity made it difficult to transfer a permanent legal position in 1855. First he worked in Friedberg near Augsburg and then in Augsburg himself as a lawyer.

During this time he was elected to the second chamber of the Bavarian state parliament for the first time . Völk was a member of parliament for various constituencies until his death. In parliament he formed a “German party” with other members of parliament and sharply attacked the reactionary government of Ludwig von der Pfordten . Not least because of Völk's opposition, in 1859 Maximilian II finally dismissed the ministry from the Pfordten .

In 1863 Völk was a co-founder of the left-wing liberal "German Progressive Party in Bavaria", the Bavarian branch of the German Progressive Party .

In the following years, Völk was particularly committed to solving the German question . During the German-Danish War , however, he initially criticized Otto von Bismarck's policy and sided with the Augustenburger. Völk soon changed his mind and supported Bismarck's policies, for example as a member of the Customs Parliament .

At the beginning of the war of 1870/71 , Völk and his political friends turned against the course of neutrality of the Bavarian Patriot Party . His parliamentary speeches also led to the split in the Patriot Party and thus to the parliamentary approval of the Bavarian Parliament to enter the war.

Völk was a member of the Customs Parliament from 1868 to 1870 as a member of the Schwaben 6 constituency ( Immenstadt ) and belonged to the National Liberal Party in the Customs Parliament . In 1871 he was elected to the German Reichstag in the constituency , where he joined the faction of the Liberal Reich Party. He was also elected as a candidate for the Liberal Reich Party in 1874, but joined the National Liberals faction after the party was dissolved. In 1880 he resigned from the national liberal faction and joined the liberal group. He was a member of the Reichstag until 1881.

In addition to the day-to-day legislative business, he was a supporter of a culture war policy in Bavaria and the Reich . In the Reichstag around 1872 he applied for the introduction of compulsory civil marriage and the establishment of registry offices . In addition, Völk participated in the judicial reforms in the Reich and advocated a general German code of law. The establishment of an administrative court in Bavaria was not least due to Völk's work.

In economic terms, Völk was a supporter of Friedrich List and as such an advocate of a protective tariff policy . Therefore, in 1878, he also supported Bismarck's change of course in domestic politics. This led to conflicts within the National Liberal Party. Völk resigned with a few others. With others he tried to build a new political grouping. However, this failed in the Reichstag elections of 1881 .

Völk became an honorary citizen of the city of Kempten in 1880 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fritz Specht, Paul Schwabe: The Reichstag elections from 1867 to 1903. Statistics of the Reichstag elections together with the programs of the parties and a list of the elected representatives. 2nd Edition. Carl Heymann Verlag, Berlin 1904, p. 217.

literature

Web links

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