Paul von Seydewitz

Paul von Seydewitz (1843–1910)

Kurt Damm Paul von Seydewitz (born May 3, 1843 in Lauterbach , † December 17, 1910 in Dresden ) was Saxony's minister of culture , minister of the royal house , chancellor and legal knight of the Order of St. John .

Life

family

Kurt Paul Damm came from the Meissnian nobility family von Seydewitz and was the eldest son of the manor owner Kurt von Seydewitz (1814–1863) and his wife Helene, born von Kiesewetter († June 18, 1897). Paul had five sisters and six brothers. The latter include the Pirna superintendent Hans von Seydewitz (1849–1910), the Minister of State Ernst von Seydewitz , General Max von Seydewitz (1857–1921) and the Chemnitz Higher Government Councilor Karl von Seydewitz .

Paul von Seydewitz married Marie von Kyaw in 1874 . The marriage came from the children Max Otto Kurt (born July 25, 1876) and Maria Helene Mathilde (1877-1882). After his first wife died on May 12, 1886, he married the widow of his brother-in-law, President Kurt von Kyaw, Esther, née von Carlowitz (1859–1910), on February 11, 1897 .

Career and achievements

Paul von Seydewitz attended the princely school St. Afra in Meißen from 1856 , which he left in 1862 with the secondary school leaving certificate. He then studied law at the University of Leipzig under Professor Karl von Gerber . At Easter 1866 he passed the trainee examination and was employed as a trainee lawyer at the Leipzig court office. A few years later he changed to the service of the Saxon Ministry of the Interior as secretary of the Leipzig district directorate . On December 15, 1871, through the mediation of his former teacher, who is now the Minister of Education, von Gerber, he transferred to the Saxon Ministry of Education as a government assessor . In 1874 he was promoted to government councilor , in 1877 to lecturing council and in 1879 to secret councilor. Seydewitz used the following years to thoroughly familiarize himself with the circumstances and tasks of the cultural department. He published on the Code of Saxon Church and School Law and on the Royal Saxon Elementary School Act of April 26, 1873 .

After Karl von Gerber's death, King Albert of Saxony appointed him his successor on January 1, 1892. As minister he tried to support the progressive development of the sciences by sponsoring the Saxon State University. Under Seydewitz, teaching was reorganized, numerous institutes founded and new buildings erected. During his tenure, the University of Leipzig took a leading position among German universities.

The Technical University of Dresden was also modernized, expanded and given new statutes under his aegis . By granting the right to confer doctorates and the title of magnificence to the respective rector, their position was additionally upgraded.

He decreed new teaching and examination regulations for the higher education system . He increased the number of high schools (2), Realgymnasien (1) and Realschulen (9) in Saxony and improved the income and rank of the senior teachers .

He also tried to eliminate the shortcomings in the elementary school system , although he did not fundamentally reform Gerber's elementary school law.

In questions of the Saxon church system , he tried to mediate in disputes between the various religions and denominations . In this regard, his position in Saxony was particularly sensitive, as the royal house had again belonged to the Roman Catholic Church since August the Strong , while the country and its population had remained in the Protestant faith by renouncing the use of the instruments cuius regio, eius religio . The Ministry Seydewitz made especially for improving the pay and pension conditions of the clergy and the Kollatur the spiritual authorities and the private church patronage adapt to the needs of the times.

In recognition of his services, the University of Leipzig awarded him an honorary doctorate from its four faculties . The Technical University awarded him the Dr.-Ing. and the Saxon Academy of Sciences elected him an honorary member. At the suggestion of the cathedral chapter of the Meissen Monastery , von Seydewitz was appointed canon and provost of the Bautzen Cathedral.

After a stroke in December 1905, he had to resign as Minister in February 1906. The following years he lived secluded in Dresden and on his summer residence in Blasewitz . A few days after the death of his second wife he died in Dresden and was buried in the Trinity cemetery.

Medals (selection)

• Commander of the Albrecht Order
• Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit
• House order of the diamond crown
• Right knight of the Order of St. John
• Royal Crown Order II. Class with Red Cross
• Grand Cross of the Red Eagle Order

Fonts

• The more recent church laws for the Kingdom of Saxony and the related ordinances, taking into account the synodal and state parliament negotiations. Leipzig 1877.
• Codex of the church and school law applicable in the Kingdom of Saxony with chronological and alphabetical registers. Leipzig 1890.
• The Royal Saxon Primary School Act of April 26, 1873, together with the implementing ordinance to the same of August 25, 1874 and the related laws and ordinances. Leipzig 1888.

literature

• Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the noble houses . 1902, p. 785.
• Karl Heinrich Moritz Waentig: Kurt Damm Paul von Seydewitz. In: Afranisches Ecce 1911. Dresden 1911, p. 19, no. 7.
• Karl Lamprecht : Words in memory of Kurt Damm Paul von Seydewitz. Teubner, Leipzig 1911.
• Obituary for Paul Damm Kurt von Seydewitz. In: New Lusatian Magazine . Journal of the Upper Lusatian Society of Sciences. Volume 87, Oettel, Görlitz 1911, p. 341.

Web links

• Entry Paul von Seydewitz at the Saxon Academy of Sciences
• Entry Paul von Seydewitz ( memento of February 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) at Sachsen.digital
• Literature by and about Paul von Seydewitz in the Saxon Bibliography

Individual evidence

1. ↑ death survey . In: Dresden history sheets. No. 3/4, 1912, p. 233.