Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz

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Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz

Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz (born January 17, 1773 in Schönhof near Grevesmühlen ( Mecklenburg ), † January 14, 1858 in Berlin ) was district president in Potsdam from 1810 to 1842 and also chief president of the province of Brandenburg from 1825 to 1840 . He anonymously wrote some basic source works about the Kurmark Brandenburg .

origin

Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz was born as the eldest son of Lieutenant Colonel Ulrich Carl Adolph von Bassewitz and Sophie Elisabeth Henriette von Barner at Gut Schönhof . He still had eight brothers and six sisters.

resume

He left home early to attend a city school. In 1791 he passed the Abitur.

Riots between students and soldiers in the wake of the chocolateist riots (engraving from 1792). Caption: “The students in Jena, imbued with a true sense of honor, give the Consilium Abeundi to a strong patrol of hunters, hussars and militia with the noble intention of preventing a bloodbath. On July 17, 1792. "

Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz studied law and cameralia studies (administration) in Halle, Rostock and Jena, together with his younger brother Adolph Joachim von Bassewitz . In 1792 in Jena he took part in the move to Nohra led by the Landsmannschaft der Kurländer as a senior member of the Mecklenburg Landsmannschaft, which was triggered by the chocolateist riots. The Mecklenburgers marched with their blood-red traditional flag first in the middle part of the train of the Jena student body, but then regrouped under the leadership of their senior von Bassewitz at the end of the train in order to prevent the more fearful part of the student body from fleeing "even by force". In 1793 his brother Adolph Senior became the Mecklenburg resident in Jena. Both brothers entertained the extremely popular philosopher Carl Leonhard Reinhold, who was called from Jena to Kiel, on behalf of the Jena Student Union at his station in Lübeck on the way to Kiel at Easter 1794 and corrected his costs for hospitality and accommodation , as well as that of other Jena students along the Reinhold's entire travel route was handled at each travel station. Bassewitz then became a trainee lawyer in the Manufactory and Commerce College at the Brandenburg-Brandenburg Chamber in 1795 and thus began his career in the Prussian administrative service.

After the end of his political career, Bassewitz lived in Berlin from 1842. There he wrote several extensive volumes about the Margraviate of Brandenburg during the French period . His work "Die Kurmark Brandenburg" was published in 1847 (reprinted in 1968 in the Georg Olms publishing house in Hildesheim).

Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz was buried in Potsdam in the old cemetery on Saarmunder Strasse (today Heinrich-Mann-Allee ).

Political career

After completing his studies, he found a job with the Manufactory and Commerce College. In 1800 he was appointed to the War and Domain Council of the Kurmärkischen Armendirektion. He was elected chief president of the government council in Potsdam in 1810 and received numerous honors in the following years. In 1824 the king appointed him head president of the province of Brandenburg. Otto von Bismarck praises him as such in his “Thoughts and Memories”, p. 15, who spent some time with him during his training as a trainee lawyer. As senior president, he also presided over the office of the Royal Consistory of Brandenburg in Berlin .

Bassewitz was an advocate of the Stein-Hardenberg reforms , which, against the opposition of the Prussian nobles, stimulated the bourgeois revolution in Prussia and created the conditions for national independence. Von Bassewitz also felt obliged to the enlightenment spirit of these reforms.

Heinrich von Treitschke later wrote about Bassewitz in “German History of the 19th Century”, 1882, Part 2, p. 255: “Under the Oberpräsident v. Heydebreck was one of the most capable civil servants, the Potsdam District President von Bassewitz, a man of astonishing practical knowledge, who had every Kurmark map in his head, knew about every thaler of war contributions, and brought in a whole school of capable administrative officers, so that the Potsdam government had its own maintained a good reputation once acquired under Sack's leadership. Bassewitz held firm to the principles of the new legislation, but knew how to treat everyone so gently and kindly that even the feudal noblemen did not seriously grieve the reformer! "

In Potsdam, Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz accompanied the plans of Friedrich Wilhelm III. (1770–1840; King from 1797) to beautify the royal parks and adjacent field markings with plantings. When the road from Potsdam to Nauen was expanded between 1840 and 1844 , von Bassewitz planted an oak tree near today's Nedlitz North Bridge.

Around 1840, von Bassewitz had oak and beech trees planted on the arterial roads from Potsdam, which can still be seen today (e.g. on the street Am Wiesenrand). During a visit, Friedrich Wilhelm III scoffed. in his original way of saying “never heard that avenues were planted with oaks”, but the Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm IV. (1795–1861, accession to the throne 1840) contradicted: “Don't let yourself be misled and just keep planting.”

King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Confirmed him on June 7, 1840 in all offices. For health reasons, Bassewitz asked for his release in 1842 after 47 years of civil service, which he was granted.

Honors

In 1835 Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz was made an honorary citizen of Potsdam . When he resigned his office for health reasons in 1842, he was also presented with the honorary citizenship letter of the city of Berlin on March 31, 1842.

Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Had a stone bench and a stele with a bust erected in 1857 as a token of his gratitude and in recognition of the services of Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz. The stele has been a listed building since 1986, was restored in 1998 and can still be seen today on Bassewitz-Platz in Potsdam's Neu Fahrland district , but no longer with the metal bust that was destroyed. It was replaced by a stone acorn.

On May 16, 1938, Bassewitzstrasse was named after Friedrich Magnus von Bassewitz in Berlin, but it was renamed Laskerstrasse again on July 31, 1947 . The Bassewitzstrasse in Potsdam was named after him.

family

Bassewitz married in 1801 Adelheid von Gerlach (1784-1865), daughter of the Köslin court president Ludwig Wilhelm August von Gerlach . The couple had several children:

Works

  • The Kurmark Brandenburg, its condition and its administration immediately before the outbreak of the French. War in Oct. 1806 until the end of 1808. By a former senior civil servant, Leipzig 1847.
  • The Kurmark Brandenburg in connection with the fate of the entire state of Prussia during the years 1809 and 1810 - From the estate of the real Privy Councilor Magnus Friedrich von Bassewitz - Along with a biography with the portrait of the author and a register of all that appear in this and in the two earlier works Personal names. Published by Karl v. Reinhard, Brockhaus, Leipzig 1860, online .

literature

  • Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of noble houses. Justus Perthes, Gotha 1901, first year, p. 52f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Enrolled in Rostock on May 11, 1791, see entry in Rostock matriculation portal
  2. ↑ J. Frhr. v. Maltzahn: Some good Mecklenburg men , Wismar 1882, p. 188.
  3. ↑ Imm. Jena from Easter 1992 to 1794
  4. ↑ H. Dahl: The world history from its highest point of view. Germania 1804, p. 343 f., Quoted from: Walter Richter: The Mecklenburg Landsmannschaft in the 18th century. In: Einst und Jetzt Volume 20 (1975), pp. 7–32 (pp. 23 f.)
  5. ↑ Maltzahn (1882), p. 189.
  6. ↑ Boicke, Johann Wilhelm: General Housing Gazette for Berlin, Potsdam and Charlottenburg , edition 1836; Digitized ZLB Berlin: "v. Bassewitz, Act. Geh. Rat, Upper President of the Province of Brandenburg, Chief President of the Government"
personal data
SURNAME Bassewitz, Friedrich Magnus von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German regional president in Potsdam 1810/42
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1773
PLACE OF BIRTH Schönhof near Grevesmühlen (Mecklenburg)
DATE OF DEATH January 14, 1858
Place of death Berlin