Moritz Veit

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Moritz Veit (born September 12, 1808 in Berlin ; † February 5, 1864 there ) was a German author, publisher and politician. He was chairman of the German Booksellers Association , a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly , a Berlin city councilor and a Prussian old liberal member of parliament. He was also a leader in the Jewish community in Berlin.

Moritz Veit

Origin and education

Veit came from the wealthy Jewish banking family Veit. This had already been based in Berlin since the time of the Great Elector . He attended the Joachimsthal Gymnasium and graduated from high school in 1825. He attended the University of Berlin and attended lectures in various subjects, in particular history, philosophy, philology and geography. He remained enrolled at the university until 1832/33, but has not attended any lectures since 1829. He was mainly influenced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel . He made many trips to Dresden , Heidelberg and, on various occasions, to Weimar . There he came into contact with the circle around Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, among others . His father, the businessman Philipp Veit (1758–1838), ran a hospitable house in Berlin. Heinrich Heine , among others, also took part in the “Thursday evenings” there . Most of the participants in these rounds were Jews or people with Jewish roots.

Since he was financially secure, Veit devoted himself to writing. He worked as a critic and as a journalist spoke out against anti-Jewish developments. He wrote regularly for numerous magazines and newspapers. From 1830 he published the Berlin Muses Almanac , in which Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and numerous other well-known authors such as Achim von Arnim , Gustav Schwab and Adelbert von Chamisso also participated. Veit himself also published some of his poems there. However, the almanac probably had to be closed again in 1831 due to lack of success.

During this time he realized that he could hardly make a career as a poet. An academic career was also out of the question for him as a Jew. In 1833 he received his doctorate in Jena with a thesis on Henri de Saint-Simon . He then married Johanna Elkan (1807–1889) in Weimar. She was the daughter of the banker Israel Julius Elkan . The marriage remained childless. The couple run a sociable house in Berlin. Booksellers, politicians, writers and scholars took part in the evenings there. In 1840 Moritz Veit joined the Society of Friends and was elected its deputy chairman several times.

publisher

Veit himself decided to become a bookseller and together with Joseph Levy (from 1839: Joseph Lehfeldt) acquired a corresponding license. In 1833 a publishing house was bought and in 1834 the company Veit & Company was founded. The company did its main business with an apartment advertisement for Berlin. The new company also edited the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Medical Sciences. In addition, numerous scientific works and magazines were published. Johann Gustav Droysen and Wilhelm Adolf Schmidt were among the main authors. Among the scientific journals was the general journal for history published by Schmidt. Last but not least, he published the nine books of Prussian history by Leopold Ranke . The lay breviary was important Leopold Schefer . Scientific, forestry, legal, medical works and books in other fields were published. The literature on the game of chess was particularly well looked after. A number of philosophical works have been published. The complete edition of Johann Gottlieb Fichte's works and the correspondence between Friedrich Schiller and Körner had only moderate success. Vitus' continued closeness to Fichte was also expressed in the fact that in 1862 he was one of the main speakers at the celebration of the philosopher's centenary. Veit published some works by Bettina von Arnim and her husband Achim von Arnim. The system of Roman law was also published by Friedrich Carl von Savigny . In addition, some political writings appeared, for example by Maximilian Duncker . He published writings on topics of Judaism and emancipation. Veit's publishing house was not one of the big ones, but one of the highly respected of its time. Veit cultivated close ties to foreign publishers, and he regularly attended the Leipzig Book Fair.

Veit campaigned for the book trade in terms of political interests. He worked intensively in the booksellers 'corporation, became deputy chairman and from 1853 to 1863 chairman of the German booksellers' association . He regularly came out against restrictions on the freedom of the press and for the protection of authors' rights. In this context, he contributed to agreements with France for the protection of intellectual property in the 1850s. After the death of his partner in 1858, Veit sold his shares to a Leipzig bookseller. The publishing house went up in 1919 in the Walter de Gruyter publishing house .

Politician

He also influenced politics in Berlin in various functions. Since the 1840s he was a city councilor in Berlin. In 1849 he became an unpaid city councilor. After his term of office he was again a city councilor and remained so in the following years with brief interruptions. In 1863 he was elected deputy mayor of the city council. In particular, Veit worked in the trade deputation and in the field of school and orphan care.

Members of the casino fraction in the Frankfurt National Assembly

Veit himself was politically moderate, remained a staunch monarchist and strived for German unity under the leadership of Prussia in a peaceful way. After the March Revolution of 1848 he was a member of the liberal constitutional club and elected to the Frankfurt National Assembly for the 6th Berlin constituency. After Ernest Hamburger , he was also a member of the pre-parliament . There he belonged to the casino faction . He never spoke in plenary, but took part in the deliberations of the Economic Commission. As a vision of a future economic policy, he formulated that this should “avoid the exclusivity of privilege as well as the unbridled anarchy of laissez-faire ”. Veit actively supported the establishment of the short-lived Reich Library as a German national library. He published various leaflets and pamphlets in which he presented his positions to his voters, among other things. He welcomed the move of the Prussian National Assembly from Berlin to Brandenburg as a measure against the radicals . From December 1848 to May 1849 Veit was editor of the "Parliamentary Correspondence of the Centers." He elected Friedrich Wilhelm IV. As German Emperor. Together with his party, he left parliament on May 20, 1849. In the same year he was a participant in the Gotha post-parliament . In 1851 he was elected to the first chamber of the Prussian state parliament in a by- election, where he campaigned for press freedom with the weakened liberal party, largely unsuccessfully. He was particularly active as a political writer in the early 1850s. He wrote regularly for the "Constitutionelle Zeitung", which he also edited for a time after Rudolf Haym left . Due to the interventions by the censors, the paper had to stop its publication in 1851.

Veit struggled with difficulties, particularly because of his political statements. The lucrative Berlin Housing Gazette was withdrawn from his publisher. In the following years of reaction he remained true to a moderate old liberal line. In their environment Veit was never in the first row, but gave advice in the background and participated in political life. Since 1858 he was a member of the Prussian House of Representatives . He worked there on many commissions and, together with Hermann Carl Rudolf Duncker, brought in the draft for an amendment to the trade legislation. Last but not least, he tried to fight the remnants of discrimination against the Jews. Veit was a leading member of the German National Association . Like Gabriel Riesser, he was a member of the Presidium. Together with others, he was a member of the committee that established the “Berliner Allgemeine Zeitung”. When in 1861, at the beginning of the Prussian constitutional conflict, he voted for the military reform, which was rejected by the majority of the liberals, this marked the end of his political career. However, his parting word should prove to be correct: "I want military reform without - you will get it with a conservative ministry."

Activity in the Jewish community

The new synagogue in Berlin around 1865

In addition to his professional and political activities, Veit was also involved in religion. However, it cannot be clearly assigned to a direction within Judaism. Despite all his liberality, he always preserved respect for the traditional forms of his religion. He stayed at a distance from the reform efforts. Together with his long-time friend Michael Sachs, he established a rabbi in the Jewish community who he believed shared his position. Veit was one of the elders of the Jewish community from 1839 to 1848. Thereafter he was head of the college of representatives. For over two decades he had a decisive influence on the Berlin Jewish community. The teachers' college, founded in 1840 and reorganized in 1858, was particularly important to him. He played a major role in the drafting of the municipal statute of 1847. In this context, he also published a general paper on the subject. He was also very active in building the new synagogue . However, it was only opened after his death. In various cases, authorities questioned him as an expert on questions relating to Judaism and brought him in to ministers and political bodies as a representative of Jewish interests. Whenever there was a need to act against restrictions on Jewish citizens, Veit spoke up. Sometimes there was also a contradiction with his general political views. He complained that the rulers had repeatedly invoked the principle of equal rights, but never allowed this principle to be implemented. On the other hand, the people would never have been unfaithful to the principle of equality.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ernest Hamburger: Jews in public life in Germany. Government members, civil servants and parliamentarians in the monarchical period 1848 - 1918. Tübingen 1968, p. 177.
  2. ^ Jews - citizens - Germans. On diversity and borders 1800-1933. Tübingen 2001, p. 185.
  3. ^ Ernest Hamburger: Jews in public life in Germany. Members of the government, civil servants and parliamentarians in the monarchical period 1848 - 1918. Tübingen 1968, p. 171.
  4. Reinhard Rürup: Germany in the 19th Century, 1815-1871. Göttingen 1992, p. 190.
  5. Reich Library from 1848.
  6. ^ Jacob Toury: The political orientations of the Jews in Germany. Tübingen 1966, p. 75.
  7. ^ Ernest Hamburger: Jews in public life in Germany. Members of the government, civil servants and parliamentarians in the monarchical period 1848 - 1918. Tübingen 1968, p. 172.
  8. ^ Jews - citizens - Germans. On diversity and borders 1800-1933. Tübingen 2001, p. 174.
  9. cf .: Frank D. Lucas / Heike Frank: Michael Sachs, The conservative middle way. Tübingen 1992.
  10. ^ Moritz Veit / L. Zunz: The Jewish school teacher seminar in Berlin. Berlin 1840 digitized .
  11. ^ Draft of a regulation on the conditions of the Jews and the edict of March 11, 1813 (PDF; 132 kB).
  12. ^ Jacob Toury: The political orientations of the Jews in Germany. Tübingen 1966, p. 116.

Works (selection)

  • Saint Simon and Saint Simonism. General League of Nations and Eternal Peace . Leipzig 1834 digitized .
  • Berlin muse almanac for 1831 . Berlin 1831 digitized .

literature

  • Ludwig GeigerVeit, Moritz . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 39, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1895, pp. 535-546.
  • Ernst G. Lowenthal: From Moritz Veit to Heinrich Stahl. Community leader 1845 to 1943 / A contribution to the history of the Jews in Berlin , in: Yearbook “Der Bär von Berlin”, ed. v. Association for the History of Berlin , 28th year, Berlin 1979.
  • Anne-Katrin Ziesak : The publisher Walter de Gruyter . Berlin 1999, p. 107ff.
  • Rudolf Schmidt: German bookseller. German book printer . Volume 6. Berlin / Eberswalde 1908, pp. 972-975 digitized .
  • Ernest Hamburger: Jews in public life in Germany: members of the government, civil servants, etc. Parliamentarians in monarchical times . 1848-1918. Tubingen 1968.

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