Karl August Milde

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Karl August Milde, graphic based on a photo by Leopold Haase

Karl August Milde (born September 14, 1805 in Breslau ; † August 24, 1861 in Bad Salzbrunn ) was a German entrepreneur and Prussian politician . He was President of the Prussian National Assembly and Prussia's first Minister of Commerce .

Education and Entrepreneur

Milde was the son of the calico manufacturer Karl Johann Milde (1779–1865) and his wife Dorothea (1781–1868). Among other things, he was trained at the new trade institute in Berlin . Together with the chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge , he made trips to France , Switzerland and Great Britain to study the commercial conditions there. After a brief return to Germany in 1826, Milde went back to Great Britain to work in an industrial company. In other Western European countries he became a staunch constitutional liberal .

In 1830 Milde returned to Breslau and took over the family business. From this he built the first larger machine cotton mill in Breslau and Silesia . The company was one of the most important in its branch in the German Customs Union .

Politics in the pre-march

In 1831 he began his political activities as a city ​​councilor in Breslau . Between 1841 and 1847 Milde was a member of the Silesian Provincial Parliament . In this context he spoke out in favor of building on the Prussian reforms with regard to political participation rights. At the state parliament of 1841 he represented the demands of the city of Wroclaw for the convening of an all-Prussian parliament, as provided for by the law of May 22, 1815. Even after threats from the governments, Milde remained steadfast in this matter. At the provincial parliament of 1845, he even made a motion to abolish the secret political police .

During the United State Parliament of 1847 Milde was one of the leading figures in the liberal opposition. Among other things, his motion to introduce the right of interpellation was accepted. In particular, he distinguished himself as a connoisseur of commercial life and proposed the establishment of a special ministry for agriculture, trade and industry. With regard to the draft law on the conditions of the Jews, he argued that one need not debate freedom of belief and conscience as long as the Jews are not granted all civil and political rights. First of all, the aim must be to implement the Emancipation Act of 1812 throughout Prussia. Ultimately, however, Milde was concerned with complete assimilation . The Jews should be made Prussians and Germans. He rejected the concept of a Christian state and demanded that "Judaism be dissolved in the state."

Time of the revolution of 1848/49

Milde was elected a member of the National Assembly after the beginning of the revolution of 1848 . Alongside Peter Reichensperger , he was the leader of the liberal right. The congregation elected him its president. He felt this position competently without using it to enforce his political opinion. After the end of Ludolf Camphausen's cabinet , David Hansemann brought Milde into Rudolf von Auerswald's government in order to integrate the political right.

Hansemann took up Milde's earlier suggestion and made him Minister of a newly formed Ministry of Commerce in June 1848. It was not able to develop much effect because the ministers resigned in September 1848. After all, he was one of the initiators of the government's plans to nationalize the railways . The aim was to promote structurally weak areas with state investments. Milde also founded the Dresdner Zeitung during this time with the aim of defending the constitutional monarchy and kingship against the "overflowing attacks of democracy and anarchy". Milde remained a member of the National Assembly until it was finally dissolved. In 1849 he was a member of the first chamber of the Prussian state parliament .

Railway entrepreneur and MP

In the early 1850s, Milde applied for an intermediary to build a railway from Posen to Glogau . In 1858, in addition to his previous economic activity, he became director of the Warsaw-Vienna railway . Between 1849 and 1859 Milde was a member of the Wroclaw Chamber of Commerce .

Milde was a member of the Prussian House of Representatives from 1851 to 1861 . He belonged first to the center , later to the left and the Vincke faction . He thus represented the opposition again in the era of reaction . In the beginning constitutional conflict, however, he had a different view on the military question than that of the rest of the liberal opposition.

Shortly before his death, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Wroclaw . The wedding of his daughter Luise Milde (1841–1923) with the constitutional law teacher Hermann von Schulze-Gävernitz (1824–1888) in 1863 he did not live to see.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Ribhegge: Prussia in the west. Struggle for parliamentarism in Rhineland and Westphalia. Münster 2008 (special edition for the state center for political education NRW), p. 114.
  2. ^ Ribhegge, p. 146
  3. ^ Dieter Ziegler: Railways and the state in the age of industrialization. P. 47
  4. ^ Roland Berbig: Theodor Fontane in literary life. P. 40
  5. ^ Dorothee Gottwald:  Hermann Johann Friedrich v. Schulze-Gaevernitz. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , p. 721 f. ( Digitized version ). See also: Wikisource .

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Mild, Karl August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur and politician
DATE OF BIRTH September 14, 1805
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 1861
Place of death Bad Salzbrunn