Nicolaus Gerckensche Family Foundation in Salzwedel
The Nicolaus Gerckensche Family Foundation is a foundation based in Salzwedel in the Altmark . For more than 400 years, her task has been to provide academic support to the descendants of the Gercken family .
The Foundation
history
In 1607, the Domsyndicus Nicolaus Gercken determined in his will that his fortune should be used as a “perpetual grant”. Since he had no children himself, the foundation was supposed to serve the benefit of his grandfather's descendants and thus preserve the assets in the form of a family foundation and enable the descendants of the Gercken family to have a good academic education. With the death of Nicolaus Gercken († August 16, 1610 in Magdeburg) and his wife Margaretha Busse († January 30, 1621), the foundation began its work and almost immediately entered a period of crisis. The unrest and turmoil of the Thirty Years' War prevented the distribution of scholarships; the destruction of Magdeburg by the Catholic League , under the leadership of the general Johann t'Serclaes Graf von Tilly , cost the foundation a considerable part of its assets. The so-called Sack of Magdeburg was not only the extensive private library of the founder , but also a variety of important documents to the victim.
Even in the various political upheavals of the 18th and 19th centuries , the foundation was repeatedly hit by asset losses. Among other things, land belonging to the family foundation was expropriated for the Magdeburg fortress construction . A loan to the city of Halle (Saale) was also significantly reduced in value, and interest accrued up to now was completely canceled. Admittedly, such losses are not the norm. Rather, the Foundation's administrators succeeded in steadily improving the financial situation through a targeted increase in income and thus providing targeted support to the offspring.
The First World War also marked a profound turning point for the growth of the Nicolaus Gercken Family Foundation. The war years cost many young families their lives; the global economic crisis in the 1920s devalued most of the foundation's assets. The financial ruin could only be averted by the remaining real estate. A few years later, after the seizure of power of the Nazis , however, was also threatened by this. By resolution of the Reich government , the assets were to be forcibly sold into the hands of the farmers and thus stimulate the agricultural economy. However, this could be prevented. The zero hour in May 1945 did not ease the situation, however, as the occupation of the Allied troops and the collapse of the Third Reich made all securities subject to a total loss.
In addition to the loss of assets, the foundation's bourgeois culture was also seriously threatened from then on. Neither the Soviet occupying power nor the government of the GDR was interested in such family foundations. By May 1954 at the latest, the foundation was simply worried for its survival: the council of the Magdeburg district called for the foundation to be dissolved; which, however, did not materialize for formal reasons. Further property expropriations and compulsory seizures by the Salzwedel tax authorities made the situation even more difficult. Only through the courageous intervention of individual family members, especially the emergency patron Paul Gerhardt, who has been in office since 1986, was the foundation's survival secured and financial ruin prevented. But only the reunification of divided Germany brought a real improvement in the situation. New families were registered and enthusiastic donations helped to new growth and further property. The demand for restitution of the expropriated assets was of course in vain.
Nicolaus Gercken's will
The lawyer Nicolaus Gercken laid down his last will on November 27, 1607 in a will. In it he specified his material estate, which should contribute to improving the educational opportunities of his relatives. In order to secure the social status of the Gercken family, he invested his not inconsiderable assets in a family foundation. This should guarantee a sustainable education and training of the family members.
The original will no longer exists today. Presumably it was destroyed in the Magdeburg wedding . Of course, there are still several notarized copies of the will in the Salzwedel city archive, which also houses the foundation archive. You can still read the founder's estate regulations there today:
- "... Arrange, Constituire and lead them to the scholarship that I have received, and this one of my wills ... so in the same way: The death of my dear housewives, my cousin and wills, six young journeymen from my friends, from my father and mother ... Annually Funfzik Thaler to give to a scholarship. "
Family day
The first family meeting after World War II was held on May 30, 1992. It was the XVI. Family day in the history of the family foundation. Since then, the family day has been held every three years, to which all family members are invited to Salzwedel, the headquarters of the foundation - around 250 invitations have now been sent out. The aim of the family day is to advise each other and make fundamental decisions about the interests of the foundation. Furthermore, the patronage and the auditors are to be elected for a term of six years on this occasion. The XXIV Family Day was held from May 4th to 5th, 2013 in Salzwedel.
The patronage
The affairs of the family foundation are administered by a patron , supported by two wills and auditors, who are elected for a term of six years. Georg Gercken, a cousin of the founder, was appointed by the family as the first patron of the foundation in 1610. He remained in office until his death in 1635. He was supported by Nicolaus Gercken, the son of Joachim Gercken, and Nicolaus Binde, another cousin, as Testamentarii. Under Georg Gercken's son Sebastian, who was appointed testamentary in 1648, scholarships were awarded for the first time.
From 2001 until his death in 2016 there was also an honorary patron of the Nicolaus Gercken Family Foundation in the person of Paul Gerhardt. He received this award for his courageous intervention and his diverse commitment to the foundation during the years of the German Democratic Republic. It is probably thanks to him that the foundation survived during these difficult times.
Further information
- In the Johann Friedrich Danneil Museum in Salzwedel there is a portrait of Johannes Gercken (1528–1585), the father of the founder, on permanent loan from the Nicolaus Gercken Family Foundation.
- The well-known descendants of the Gercken family include u. a. the historian and heraldist Philipp Wilhelm Gercken (1722–1791).
- The prehistoric historian Johann Friedrich Danneil (1783–1868) wrote the first story of the Nicolaus Gercken Family Foundation as early as 1833 and made a supplement in 1854.
- There is also a collaboration with the Altmark Association for Patriotic History in Salzwedel e. V. , whose members regularly give scientific lectures or lead historical city tours at family days.
- There is still a Nicolaus-Gercken-Straße in Salzwedel today .
- Inside the Katharinenkirche in Salzwedel is the elaborately designed tomb of the then mayor and clothing tailor Nicolaus Gercken, the grandfather of the founder. The inscription at the foot of the tomb reads: NICLAUS GERCKENS MAYOR OF THIS CITY IS BLESSED IN CHRIST ASLEEPED AT 78 YEARS AGE 23 FEBR. ANNO 1579.
literature
- Christina Anastassiou: Secret societies. In: Die Welt of November 27, 2009 ( online version )
- Paul Gerhardt: The Nicolaus Gerckensche Family Scholarship Foundation in Salzwedel. In: Family Research Today. 07/1993, pp. 39-48.
- Eduard Jacobs: Danneil, Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 47, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1903, pp. 619-622.
- Jens Heymann: Through golden and dark times. 400 years of the Nicolaus Gercken Foundation. In: Altmark Zeitung of August 3, 2010, p. 7.
- Patronage of the Gercken Family Foundation (ed.): History of the Family Foundation of Domsyndicus Nicolaus Gercken. Salzwedel 2001.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Gerhardt: The Nicolaus Gerckensche Family Scholarship Foundation , p. 41.
- ^ Gerhardt: The Nicolaus Gerckensche Family Scholarship Foundation , p. 44.
- ↑ Stadtarchiv Salzwedel, Section 6, Nicolaus Gerckensche Family Foundation in Salzwedel.
- ↑ Anastassiou: Secret societies.
- ^ Gerhardt: The Nicolaus Gerckensche Family Scholarship Foundation , p. 40.
- ^ Portrait of Johannes Gercken on the website of the "Johann-Friedrich-Danneil-Museum". ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Eduard Jacobs: Danneil, Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 47, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1903, pp. 619-622 (here p. 621).
