Karl David Kircheisen

Karl David Kircheisen (* 3. June 1704 in Dresden , † 8. December 1770 in Berlin ) was from 1733 to 1746 mayor, from 1742 the first police director, and from 1746 the same Mayor of Berlin. He also carried the title of Privy Council of War . His son was the Prussian Minister of State Friedrich Leopold von Kircheisen .

Live and act

Kircheisen was born as the son of the Saxon civil servant Christoph Kircheisen in Dresden and raised by his maternal grandfather after his early death. He was mayor in a small Saxon town. Kircheisen entered the diplomatic service as a secretary at an early age, first under the Hanoverian ambassador Daniel Erasmus von Huldenberg in Vienna , and later with the Prussian ambassador Gustav Adolf von Gotter . Friedrich Wilhelm I became aware of him, appointed him Mayor of Berlin in 1733 and entrusted him several times with diplomatic missions, which in turn took him to Vienna. Friedrich II called him from there in 1740 and entrusted him with various special assignments. On January 16, 1742, he appointed Kircheisen royal police director.

The tasks of this office included the supervision of the police officers and night watchmen, markets and traders, pubs and prostitution, strangers and vagabonds and other groups of people. Further responsibilities were the observance of measures and weights as well as the servants' rules and the organization of street cleaning.

On February 20, 1742, detailed instructions were issued by the king and probably his adviser Charles Étienne Jordan , which provided for a reorganization of the Berlin police based on the Paris model and which should be implemented by Kircheisen. The city was divided into 18 districts and a Commisaire de Quartier was appointed for each to report to the police director. These were mostly craftsmen who operated the new activity as a sideline. Previously, the city police, which consisted of police officers and night watchmen, were subordinate to the military and mostly disabled people were entrusted with the police service. These largely unusable people have now been dismissed and exchanged for new ones, and the number has been increased to two police officers, nine police officers and 40 night watchmen. In 1752 the number was increased again to three police officers, eleven police officers and 50 night watchmen, and one of the three police officers was also made the actual head of executive power as a police inspector . Another innovation was that from June 9, 1742, all innkeepers had to report arriving travelers within 24 hours. Guests in private homes were reported to the district commissioners. The obligation to report was later extended to include wage shops and doctors. A secret, political police now also monitored the activities of foreign diplomats. Increased raids and “general visits” contributed to the security of the city.

Since there had apparently always been disputes and jurisdiction problems with the magistrate , Kircheisen was appointed by cabinet order of December 6, 1746, in addition to the city president with authority over the town hall and thus created one of the highest offices within the monarchy in personal union with the police department, which was directly subordinate to the General Board of Directors . As part of his work, Kircheisen campaigned for industrial promotion, strict trade supervision and price fixing. He pushed back the urban influence of the military authorities and ensured close cooperation between the police and the judiciary.

Kircheisen was an active freemason of the grand lodge to the three globes in Berlin.

On December 11, 1767, the ailing church iron was supported by his later successor, Johann Albrecht Philippi .

Karl David Kircheisen died three years later, on December 8, 1770, at the age of 66 in Berlin. He was buried in the churchyard at the Dorotheenstädtische Church . The tomb was lost when the church and churchyard were leveled in 1965 at the latest.

literature

• Walter Obenaus: The Development of the Prussian Security Police . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1940, reprint from 1978.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ General Handbook of Freemasonry . 2nd edition v. Lessing's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Volume 2, Leipzig: Brockhaus 1865, p. 115. [1]
2. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , pp. 40–41.