Silesian landscape

The Silesian landscape , like other so-called "landscapes" in Prussia , a mortgage bank , which since 1770 in Silesia was. It was based in Breslau and was the oldest German mortgage bank .

Pfandbrief of the Silesian Landscape from June 24, 1773

history

As a result of the Seven Years' War , through which Frederick the Great had incorporated the former Bohemian principalities in Silesia into the Kingdom of Prussia, many of the noble landowners in Silesia got into financial difficulties. Frederick the Great therefore suggested the establishment of a general landscape fund , the purpose of which was to provide the landed nobility with loans at a rate that was not too high . The Silesian Justice Minister von Cramer drafted a corresponding bill, which Frederick the Great signed on August 29, 1769 in Breslau. After several meetings, the Silesian Landscape was founded on June 29, 1770 in Breslau, which was then recognized by the landscape regulations of July 15, 1770.

The credit institution raised money from the public in exchange for issuing Pfandbriefe . With this money she granted mortgage bond loans to the landowners. The entire aristocratic property vouched for the Pfandbriefe issued by the "Landschaft". Every six months, the owners of the Pfandbriefe, who could also sell their letters again at any time, were paid interest from the Landschaftskasse. The guarantee guaranteed the creditors a high level of legal security. At Christmas 1770 the first Pfandbriefe were already in circulation, initially with 5% interest.

The General Directorate (General Landscape) in Breslau consisted of a General Director, three General Landscape representatives, a syndic and a renter . It was initially subject to eight independent ( autonomous ) principality landscapes:

Schweidnitz- Jauer principality landscape , with seat in Jauer

Glogau-Sagan principality landscape , based in Glogau

Upper Silesian principality landscape , with seat in Racibórz

Breslau-Briegsche Principality Landscape , with seat in Breslau

Liegnitz-Wohlausche Principality landscape with seat in Liegnitz

Münsterberg-Glatz principality landscape , with seat in Frankenstein

Diocese of Neisse-Grottkausche Principality landscape with seat in Neisse

Oels-Militsche Principality Landscape with its seat in Oels

Later came the

Görlitz principality landscape with seat in Görlitz as ninth.

With the Silesian Landscapes, the naming of the principalities revived the land-based conception of the principalities, since a credit system on a cooperative basis made it necessary for the district estates to meet, so that when the Principality College met, the "ancient", i.e. Austrian, constitution was used.

The Silesian landscape therefore included all of Silesia, Lower and Upper Silesia. From 1827 the Prussian Upper Lusatia was incorporated into it as the “Görlitzer Principality Landscape”.

Each of the so-called colleges of the Principality of Landscapes consisted of the landscape director, the syndic and two or more state elders from each district, whose task, among other things, was to appraise the goods (house and land, forests and any existing industrial plants such as blast furnaces or hammer mills). Up to half of this could initially be charged to the property. The valuation of the goods was carried out according to the regulations of 1770. This was changed and adjusted by the new revised landscape tax regulations of 1825 and 1836.

Extension in 1835

Seal mark Schlesische General Landschafts Direction zu Breslau

Due to the economic situation in the 1830s, a large number of the Silesian landowners were dependent on a new source of credit. Once within the old Prussian provinces, the Royal Credit Institute for Silesia was established in Breslau (Albrechtstrasse) on June 8, 1835. This fund, which is directly subordinate to the government, granted all members of the “old landscape” up to two-thirds (and exceptionally above) fresh funds, which were covered by newly issued Pfandbriefe (Pfandbriefe Litt. B), although the goods in question were already debited up to half of their value were. On December 28, 1835, his activities were extended to the Prussian Upper Lusatia area. These Pfandbriefe were issued under the Royal Guarantee.

The (state) Royal Credit Institute for Silesia in Breslau was dissolved on March 4, 1850, with the result that the issues of the Pfandbriefe suffered. B. stopped. However, his numerous Pfandbriefe, which had already been issued, were processed until the beginning of the 1870s, and the remaining business was then dealt with by the Ministry of the Interior.

In connection with the "old landscape" from 1858 for a period of six years, in order to temporarily grant an extraordinary loan over half of the estimated value, the granting of Pfandbriefe of the Litt. C. arranged up to 4/6 of the T'ax value. The “peculiar fund of the landscape” was liable for any failures.

During the sessions of the 11th Silesian Provincial Assembly, the representatives of the Estates of the Silesian Province decided to establish a separate estate loan office for the province of Silesia in Breslau (in the estate building) to restore the property affected by the flood in 1854 (authorization decree of November 13, 1848). At the end of 1854 the statutes were approved (statute of December 5, 1854), and in January 1855 the new fund started its work.

Administration building of the Upper Silesian Landscape in Racibórz

Merger in 1933

The so-called principality landscapes were only transferred to the Silesian landscape as a whole by the Prussian law of November 12, 1933. The on-site business functions were then carried out by five offices.

post war period

In 1849 the landscape had extended its lending activities to the peasant (previously exclusively noble) property. But until 1934 the peasant landowners on whom they were loaned did not become members of the credit union.

Nevertheless, the credit institution was extremely successful and efficient.

But the consequences of the Second World War put an end to it. The remnants of the Silesian landscape came to DePfa Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG , Wiesbaden (founded in 1922 as the Prussian Landespfandbriefbank). In 2001 DePfa Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG was split up into a bank for public finance (today's Depfa Bank plc, a public limited company under Irish law with headquarters in Dublin ) and one from the real estate finance division , which was also listed on the stock exchange, was spun off from Aareal Bank . In July 2007, a merger with Hypo Real Estate was negotiated. Among other things, refinancing difficulties at Depfa in the wake of the “subprime crisis” brought Hypo Real Estate into difficulties at the end of September 2008, which led to Hypo Real Estate u. a. received high levels of government aid to save her.

literature

Eduard Reimann: About the origin of the Silesian landscape . In: Journal of the Association for History and Antiquity of Silesia . No. 18 , 1884, p. 1-25 .
Gregoire Wartanian: History of the Landscape Credit System for the Province of Silesia up to 1870 . Strasbourg 1884.