Küchmeister and Lietzo family scholarships in Zerbst

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The Küchmeister and Lietzo family scholarship is a foundation under private law based in Zerbst and is one of the oldest foundations in Germany. This "benevolent" family foundation has been entrusted with the promotion of high school and college students on Martin Luther's initiative since the Reformation . These are mostly descendants of the founder. The name of the foundation goes back to the medieval dynasty of the kitchen masters (also Kokemester or Coci) as well as a medieval Zerbster bourgeois family called Lyczowe or Lietzo, who came from the Slavic indigenous population of Anhalt.

The work of the foundation

The Küchmeister and Lietzo Family Scholarship is, as the name suggests, a scholarship foundation. The lease income from the land that still exists today is distributed among the foundation's scholarship holders every November, whereby these amounts (in contrast to earlier) only represent small grants towards the study costs. Every descendant of one of the foundation families, in Germany or abroad, can apply for support ("scholarship") if he or she

(a) is enrolled as a student at a university, or (b) is a senior high school student at a grammar school or similar secondary school.

Another possibility is the targeted promotion of activities related to the study, such as partial financing of an internship abroad or the granting of a printing grant for a university thesis or the like, provided that it is relevant for study and academic advancement. The foundation can also sponsor activities related to the foundation's history itself, thereby making a contribution to research into regional history.

The group of eligible applicants is very large and is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands because of the many generations that have passed since the foundation, which have led to a constant increase in the number of offspring and the mixing of many families throughout Germany and beyond. As far as is known, beneficiaries live today except in various German regions in Switzerland, France, Sweden, Brazil and the USA.

founding

The Küchmeister and Lietzo family scholarship is one of the most unusual foundations in Germany in terms of its age and legal history. Over 650 years old, it was founded in 1359 by a follower of the Prince of Anhalt , Nicolaus Coci (kitchen master), who hoped to get to paradise in this way because of his sins committed in war or peace. In the Middle Ages it was a widespread custom among nobles to establish altar loans through the foundation of large estates and to have clergymen pray for the soul of the founder and his descendants on certain days of remembrance. In 1380 Nicolaus Coci founded another altar loan together with his brother, a clergyman. As patrons, the descendants of the founder were entitled to determine the recipient of the proceeds. As a rule, this was a certain priest of the Church of St. Nikolai in Zerbst, who was intended for the altar, which was covered by the kitchen master. In the legal sense, the altar (i.e. the saint to whom the altar was dedicated) was the "owner" of the foundation's assets. The two Küchmeister altar loans thus belonged to the medieval benefice system .

At the time of the Reformation in the 16th century, however, the foundation radically changed its face. Instead of donating the benefices of the Middle Ages to the church, the proceeds were used to train the descendants of the founder. On the basis of an expert opinion from the reformer Martin Luther to the Zerbst City Council, this foundation was changed around 1525: During the Reformation, the Zerbst City Council confiscated numerous benefices and altar loans from the church. On Luther's initiative, these foundations - after consulting the cartridges who still exercised their patronage rights - were given various new purposes. One of the main purposes of the Reformation was to promote the "flourishing youth". Several Zerbst foundations that were originally separate from one another (the Lietzo benefice from around 1450, the Winkele altar loan from 1378 and the two Küchmeister fiefdoms) have now been merged and formed an institution to promote education. Since a whole series of similar foundations had arisen from the confiscated altar loans, most of the descendants of long-established Zerbster families were given scholarships. The foundation, which was called "charitable" at the time, became part of the social network of the Duchy of Anhalt . Medieval patronage law survived in the form that the descendants of the patrone retained the right to distribute the foundation's income.

Since then, scholarships have been paid to the descendants of the founders. The number of these descendants amounts to at least, as mentioned above, in the hundreds of thousands, or perhaps already half a million people worldwide, although most of them do not know because the knowledge about the foundation tradition is often not passed on. Some families were able to rise to the scholarly status through the sponsorship, including in particular the important theologian family Nitzsch . Most of the descendants originally lived in the Zerbst area, but there was already a branch in Hamburg (Kokemester) and neighboring areas of Anhalt in the 16th century. Due to the natural movement and mix of people, the number of "heirs" of the old foundation patronage ("beneficiaries") has multiplied considerably. There have been numerous beneficiaries in Sweden and Brazil since the 19th century, and in the USA, France, Switzerland and numerous other countries since the 20th century. Although a family foundation in the formal sense, the foundation has thus become a supporting foundation that potentially gives large sections of the population the right to scholarship payments.

Foundation ownership

The foundation has owned farmland around Zerbst since the 14th century. In addition, there were interest rights on farmland until the middle of the 19th century, but these were then abolished in legal reforms. Instead, the foundation acquired a piece of land in Zerbst, which was expropriated for residential construction during the GDR era. The foundation was never dissolved during the GDR era. However, their administrators got into a situation in which they sold large parts of the land (mostly without power of attorney) in the 1970s to 1980s. The foundation now only owns 25% of its original assets. However, since part of it is in the industrial park, income is still generated. This still preserved property, called "the broad hooves in front of the Frauentor", comes from the feudal foundation of Nicolaus Coci in 1380.

Administration of the foundation

Due to the patronage law, the distribution of the income has been decreed by the "patrone" (heirs of the donors) since the foundation was founded in the Middle Ages. Since around 1525, after the conversion by Martin Luther, the council of the city of Zerbst and the patron of the foundation, the income has been paid out annually as scholarships to high school students after Martini (November 11, the old lease payment date). Since the cartridges became more and more numerous since the 16th century, the business of administration was taken over by the respective eldest of the family, who has been known as the collator (beneficiary collector and distributor) since the late 16th century. But he always had to coordinate the distribution with the other cartridges.

The supervision of the foundation , and thus also the confirmation of the distribution lists, was the responsibility of the city council of Zerbst in the 16th century. Around 1600 this was taken over by the Prince of Anhalt, citing his status as a feudal lord , and on May 30, 1600, the foundation, which was composed of several feudal foundations, issued a new statute, which has been the founding document ever since. The purpose of the foundation, training support, is defined therein. In 1798, the family assembly regulated the distribution of scholarships in a new statute, which was confirmed by the prince. A new statute was passed by the family assembly in 1831 and confirmed by Leopold IV, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau ; After several changes, this was replaced by a new statute in 1884 (confirmed by Friedrich I, Duke of Anhalt ). This applied until the family meeting in 2000 passed a more modern statute.

The foundation supervision has been carried out by princely officials since 1600, mainly by the ducal consistory in Zerbst, which is responsible for educational and church matters (after the merger of the duchies of Anhalt-Zerbst and Anhalt-Dessau in Dessau ), at times also by the ducal justice office. After the separation of church and state in 1919, supervision was formally transferred to the state authorities, but in fact until 1993 mainly through the Ev. Regional church council carried out in Dessau. In investigations into the legal form of foundations in the new state of Saxony-Anhalt , this was found to be legally incorrect; Since then, supervision has been carried out by the Dessau Regional Council (later the State Administration Office of Saxony-Anhalt in Halle). In a lengthy process between the regional church and regional authorities, the foundation's legal status as a private foundation was confirmed; the view of the regional church that it was a church foundation because of its origins as an altar foundation was rejected in every instance (confirmed by the Federal Administrative Court Berlin 1999).

In the formal sense, the head of the foundation administration is still the collator (representing the cartridge), which has changed every three years since the 17th century. Since, according to the foundation rules, this person always had to be the oldest member of the foundation, this was occasionally an unsuitable person. When in the middle of the 18th century a blind man who was just the oldest was given the office, an administrator was assigned to him, whom the collator had to name (administrator). Later it was at times foreigners, i. H. People who lived outside the principality. The administrator continues to manage the foundation's business on behalf of the collator to this day. A family committee was set up in the early 19th century to better represent the number of foundation members and the numerous branches, which have become unmistakable. Until today, this confirms the distribution plan submitted by the administrator once a year. Further questions are presented to the family meeting, which every member of the foundation can attend.

Proof of affiliation and application

A scholarship application can be submitted informally to the administrator with proof of school or university studies (for precise provisions, see the statutes). Proof of descent from a foundation member (beneficiary) should be attached to the application. The following can help: An extensive list of people who belong to the foundation has been compiled from the foundation files. Lists from the 16th to 17th centuries were also published - and in 1832 a list of all foundation members known at the time. De facto, this condition means that the foundation supports research into local history and genealogy , as many families who have genealogical connections in the Zerbst area can also have connections with the founding fathers .

Personalities

Several personalities who were active in the foundation administration or who were former scholarship holders of the foundation are named as examples.

literature

  • Wolbert Smidt: Legal documents of the Küchmeister and Lietzo family scholarship since 1359, a document and source book , Marburg an der Lahn: Stoye Foundation 2017 (series of the Stoye Foundation 67), ISBN 978-3937230-31-3
  • Helmut Wlokka: Family Tables of the Küchmeister and Lietzo Family Scholarships, Vol. 2: The Kröhne Family Day, ed. von Wolbert Smidt, Erfurt 1999 (writings of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Genealogie Thuringia, 3), ISBN 3-00-006451-6
  • Wolbert Smidt: Family tables of the Küchmeister and Lietzo family scholarships , vol. 1: The original families Küchmeister, Lietzo and Ziegenhagen and their secure descendants to this day, Erfurt 1997 (publications of the Thuringia Genealogy Working Group, 2), ISBN 3-00-001921- 9
  • Regional Council Dessau (Ed.): 1. Dessau Foundation Book. Guide for donors and chronicle of a foundation landscape between 1945 and 2001 . Dessau [2001], 140–143, 337–368 (documentation of the legal dispute), 373.
  • Ingo Kleinwächter, Joachim Krause: Rediscovery of the foundation system in the Dessau administrative region , in: German foundation system. Science and Practice, Vol. 4.
  • A previously untapped genealogical source of the Principality of Anhalt - the lists of scholarship holders for the Küchmeister and Lietzo family scholarships in Zerbst- (1st part) / Von Wolbert GC Smidt, in: Familienforschung in Mitteldeutschland - Issue 3/2005, p. [139] - 143; ibid. (2nd part), in: Familienforschung in Mitteldeutschland - Issue 4/2005, pp. 169–178
  • Wolbert GC Smidt: History and legal status of the Küchmeister and Lietzo family scholarship in Zerbst , Saxony-Anhalt in: Family and History. Booklets for family history research in the Saxon-Thuringian area. Vol. V., Volume 14, Issue 1, January – March 2005, pp. 193–207
  • Wolbert GC Smidt: The Küchmeister and Lietzo'sche family scholarship from 1359 and 1600. An old Anhaltinian funding institution in: Genealogy. 1996, Volume 45, issue 3/4 (March – April 1996); Pp. 95-99

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The ecclesiastical expert opinion presented in the process was printed (but without reference to the rejection of the theses presented in the judgment): Axel Freiherr von Campenhausen : Göttinger Gutachten. II. Canon law reports in the years 1990–2000, Mohr (Siebeck) 2002 (Jus Ecclesiasticum, vol. 69). A documentation of the most important documents of the process was published by the regional council, see: regional council Dessau (ed.): 1. Dessauer foundation book. Guide for donors and chronicle of a foundation landscape between 1945 and 2001. Dessau [2001], pp. 140–143, pp. 337–368 (documentation of the legal dispute).
  2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kuechmeister-lietzo.de
  3. ↑ http://www.geocities.com/barnagassia/destin.html ( Memento from April 5, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ A previously untapped genealogical source of the Principality of Anhalt - the lists of scholarship holders of the Küchmeister and Lietzo family scholarships in Zerbst- (1st part) / Von Wolbert GC Smidt, in: Familienforschung in Mitteldeutschland - Heft 3/2005, p. [139] -143; ibid. (2nd part), in: Familienforschung in Mitteldeutschland - Issue 4/2005, pp. 169–178
  5. ^ Leopold Friedrich, Herzog zu Anhalt (1832): New sovereign regulation on the distribution of the Küchmeister and Lietzo family scholarships, together with the attached list of family members who are now living. [Statutes of March 10, 1831]. Zerbst: Wittwe Kramer, 27 pp.