Laurenz Hannibal Fischer

Laurenz Hannibal Fischer

Laurenz Martin Hannibal Christian Fischer (* 7. April 1784 in Hildburghausen , † 8. August 1868 in Rödelheim ) was a German politician and 1831-1848 President of the Government of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg belonging Principality of Birkenfeld .

Life

Origin, education and early years

Fischer came from a Thuringian dignitary family and was the eldest son of the bailiff Johann Christian Heinrich Fischer (1752–1804) and his wife Ernestine Friederike Caroline nee. Andreae (1749-1807). He attended the Casimirianum in Coburg and studied law at the University of Göttingen from 1802 to 1804 . In the following year he settled as a lawyer in Hildburghausen , where the successful and well-paid lawyer soon entered the political life of the small duchy of Saxony-Hildburghausen . In 1809 he entered the service of the estates as a syndic , which entrusted him with the control of a loan granted to the sovereign. After the country's constitution was introduced in 1818, he became state secretary and district administrator the following year . During these years he acquired a thorough knowledge of all branches of the administration of the small state and was one of its most important politicians. In 1825 he became the domain office director of the lordship of Leiningen , whose shattered finances he redeveloped within a few years.

In the service of Oldenburg

On the recommendation of his college friend, Wilhelm von Grote , President of the Oldenburg Government of the Principality of Lübeck , Fischer was accepted into the Oldenburg civil service at the end of 1830 and entrusted with the internal preparatory work for a constitution , which Grand Duke August I, terrified by the July Revolution , was now having to tackle. In addition to Fischer's arch-conservative attitude, his precise knowledge of domains was also decisive for his appointment . The complicated problem of separating the sources of income based on private law and the domanial property of the grand ducal family from the actual state income played an important role in the constitutional discussion at that time. Fischer's proposals to solve the domanial question were rejected by the other Oldenburg officials. Nevertheless, he strongly advocated the granting of a state constitution and also submitted an extensive draft.

For reasons that have not yet been clarified, he was excluded from the constitutional deliberations after a few months and, with effect from July 1, 1831, was appointed government director (since 1844 regional president) to head the administration of the Principality of Birkenfeld, which belongs to Oldenburg. Here he actively campaigned for the interests of the country and the improvement of living conditions, had elementary schools and a modern cadastral system built and pushed ahead with the expansion of the road network. He also made special efforts to promote agriculture. So he made himself for the establishment of agricultural model farm Fischerhof and issued two agricultural journals in which he pointed to improved methods and talked about his own experiences. In 1844 the Grand Duke awarded him the title of Privy Councilor of State . The Law Faculty of the University of Jena awarded him an honorary doctorate in the same year on the occasion of his 60th birthday . In spite of his undeniable services as president of the government in the Principality of Birkenfeld, his autocratic - patriarchal style of government triggered increasing criticism and resistance from the population from the beginning of the 1840s. After the outbreak of the German Revolution of 1848 , he remained completely isolated with his proposals for a tough, including military, approach and was forced to leave the Principality of Birkenfeld in April 1848. A month later, he was put on hold .

In the following years, Fischer, who had moved to Jena , tried unsuccessfully for a job in one of the German states. During these years he published a number of political writings in which he defended his reactionary views and sharply polemicized against liberal ideas.

Dissolution of the imperial fleet

Caricature in Kladderadatsch : In 1864, the draftsman joked that Fischer was the only German because of the liquidation of the fleet, whose services were also recognized in Denmark

In April 1852, the Bundestag of the German Confederation resolved to dissolve the German imperial fleet created to protect German merchant ships in the Schleswig-Holstein war against Denmark . At the suggestion of the Bundestag envoy Wilhelm von Eisendecher , Fischer was entrusted with carrying out this task. The Oldenburg government, to which he was still subject under service law, forbade him to accept the offer. Following the intervention of Austria and Prussia , this ban was lifted again, but Oldenburg immediately retired Fischer.

Fischer thereupon accepted the task anyway and initially tried to distribute the fleet between the two German great powers and thereby keep it in its basic stock. When this failed, he organized the farewell of the crews and auctioned off the National Assembly ships lying in Bremerhaven , now formally dismissed from the Oldenburg civil service and appointed Federal Commissioner .

His activity aroused the indignation of the German people ("Flottenfischer" or "Flottenverkäufer") (see Karl Rudolf Brommy ) and earned him harsh and emotionally charged criticism even years later. Before he came to Bremerhaven, he suspected that the ships there were “breeding grounds for radicalism”. Indeed, he found orderly, disciplined associations. As a supporter of the naval endeavors, he did the dissolution reluctantly, but correctly and on time, for which the Bundestag thanked him in March 1853.

In the service of Lippe

On September 13, 1853 he was by Prince Leopold III. von Lippe-Detmold was appointed Cabinet Minister and Real Secret Council in order to secure the reactionary repeal of the constitutional reforms of 1848 and 1849 that had taken place shortly before against intervention by the Bundestag. In doing so, he caused the constitutional turmoil in this country, which was only eliminated in 1876. In addition to defending this coup d'état, Fischer also did something worthy of recognition in Lippe and, among other things, enforced the equality of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran congregations with the Reformed Church .

After almost two years of activity, Fischer was arrested on July 3, 1855, while he was accidentally present in Coburg, on charges of lese majesty . In 1852 he had written a complaint for the Saxon-Gotha knighthood, which was addressed to the Bundestag. The background was the rights and privileges that had been withdrawn from her in 1848. After bail he was released and later acquitted by the appellate authority, the Faculty of Breslau . Prince Leopold III of Lippe dropped him, however, and removed him from office on July 17, 1855. In the period that followed, Fischer published several other defenses in which he tried to denounce the injustice he had suffered. After a restless wandering life, he died lonely and impoverished in Rödelheim near Frankfurt .

Rating

In his biography in the BHGLO , the Oldenburg historian Hans Friedl evaluates Fischer's political views extremely critically as follows:

“F. (ischer), whose political world of thought was rooted in the Enlightenment and in the late absolutist political doctrine, was one of the supporters of the patriarchal state, which sought to ensure the welfare of the politically underage population through an enlightened civil service. He held fast to these ideas, which were developed at an early age, and defended them with arrogant self-righteousness and narrow-minded dogmatism. In doing so, he isolated himself from the conservative camp and became a reactionary of the purest water, who doctrinally fought the liberal movement. "

family

Fischer was married to Christine Friederike Caroline born on July 29, 1809. Fischer (1789–1847), daughter of personal physician Christian Philipp Fischer (1763–1819). The couple had nine children, of whom Laurenz Wilhelm (1810–1866) became a lawyer and politician and Friedrich August (1822–1901) a senior teacher in Berlin and a school director in Strasbourg . The daughter Clara Theodore (1815–1899) married the later district president Johann Ernst Greverus (1807–1871) and Auguste Ernestine (1814–1896) the president of the Oberkirchenrat Justus Friedrich Runde (1809–1881).

Works

• General report from the Principality of Birkenfeld: 1832 . Reprint Birkenfeld : District Administration 1979
• Impartial assessment of the constitution and administration of the Gothaische Feuerversicherungs-Bank for Germany: based on the accusation and defense documents published in this matter . Heidelberg: 1834
• Agricultural humoresques : a memorial book for his friends . Frankfurt am Main: 1842
• Words of friendship from a German man to the people of Baden . Frankfurt a. M .: 1842
• A friendly reminder to the residents of the Principality of Birkenfeld . Birkenfeld 1845
• The German people's distress and complaint . Frankfurt a. M .: Hermann 1845
• The patrimonial state and democracy: fatherliness or popular will? A contribution from practical political life . Jena: Cröker 1849
• The constitutional status of the Principality of Lippe in relation to the complaints lodged with the Bundestag against it . Detmold: Meyer 1853
• Judgment on the Jesuit matter from the point of view of historical criticism, positive law and common sense. Leipzig: Hoffmann 1853
• Honorary and legal defense of the Prince. Lippe real secret councilor, knight of the royal Prussian red eagle order, second class Laurenz Hannibal Fischer against the grand duke. Oldenburg government because of imposed removal from his legal home, reduced salary, dismissal from service, withdrawal of pension and loss of his capitular position along with the associated medal priest. (As manuscr. Printed in 1854)
• Political Martyrdom: a crime story with pieces of files . Leipzig 1855
• The German monarchies and their enemies: Memorandum of Teutschland's high princes and families. Dedicated to relatives and true friends of the monarchy . Freiburg im Breisgau: Dilger 1856
• Words of truth, loyalty to duty and pain; a petition to the high sovereigns Teutschlands ... presented . Freiburg im Breisgau: 1857
• The German nobility in the past, present and future viewed from the standpoint of the bourgeoisie . Frankfurt am Main: Lizius 1852

literature

• Karl Wippermann:  Fischer, Laurenz Hannibal . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1877, pp. 69-72.
• Carl Haase :  Fischer, Laurenz Martin Hannibal Christian. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 199 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Hans Friedl: Fischer, Laurenz Hannibal. In: Hans Friedl u. a. (Ed.): Biographical manual for the history of the state of Oldenburg . Edited on behalf of the Oldenburg landscape. Isensee, Oldenburg 1992, ISBN 3-89442-135-5 , pp. 189-191 ( online ).

Web links

Commons : Laurenz Hannibal Fischer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Laurenz Hannibal Fischer  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by and about Laurenz Hannibal Fischer in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ernst Rudolf Huber: German constitutional history since 1789. Volume III: Bismarck and the realm . 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart a. a. 1988, p. 141.
2. ^ Walther Hubatsch: Research status and result. In: ders. (Ed.): The first German fleet 1848-1853 , ES Mittler and Son, Herford / Bonn 1981, pp. 79–94, here pp. 90/91.
3. ↑ Hans Friedl: Fischer, Laurenz Hannibal In: Hans Friedl u. a. (Ed.): Biographical manual for the history of the state of Oldenburg. Edited on behalf of the Oldenburg landscape. Isensee, Oldenburg 1992, ISBN 3-89442-135-5 , p. 190 ( online ).