Wenzel Robert von Kaunitz

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Wenzel Robert von Kaunitz

Wenzel Robert Graf von Kaunitz (Czech: Václav Robert hrabě z Kounic ) (born September 26, 1848 in Dresden , † October 14, 1913 in Hungarian Brod ) was a Bohemian politician and sponsored the Czech Technical University in Brno in its early years.

Origin and life

Wenzel Robert came from the old noble family of Kaunitz . He was a son of the couple Michael Karl von Kaunitz (Kounic) (* 1803 - 10 April 1852) and Eleonora, born von Woracziczky von Pabienitz (* 1809 - 10 January 1893), from an old Bohemian lordship and grandson of Vincent 4th Prince (sukz. 1812) von Kaunitz-Rietberg-Questenburg (* 1764, † July 27, 1839), at Neuschloss; married in Prague (parish Maria del Viktoria) on February 15, 1801 with Pauline de Longueval Countess of Bucquoy , died after 1850. Wenzel Robert studied law as a high school graduate in Prague and Vienna and obtained his doctorate in 1873. jur. He also took part in lectures at a business school in Tábor as an extraordinary listener . Since 1883 he was a member of the state parliament, in 1885 and 1891 he moved to the Reichsrat as a member of the Young Czechs . In 1897, after the death of his brother Albrecht Reichsgraf von Kaunitz (1829–1897), he inherited his large estate in Moravia .

Life's work

Wenzel Robert Graf von Kaunitz was at a young age in the years 1855–1866 by his tutor, the writer and literary critic Ferdinand Schulz (* 1835 in Ronow, † 1905 in Prague), and his mother, a Czech patriot, in the course of the Czech Rebirth and the language ordinance of the Prime Minister Kasimir Felix Badeni brought up a bond with the Czech people. As a member of parliament, he advocated the eight-hour working day, equal access for women to work and the promotion of lectures through the Czech language at Charles University in Prague .

On May 12, 1908, he donated the city palace he had bought three years earlier (today: Kounicův palác , built 1871–1873 by Karl Exner) in Brno to the then Czech Technical University in Brno, now the rectorate and canteen of Masaryk University . Since the house in a central location in the city proved completely unsuitable as a student residence, the Kaunitz couple also set up a foundation for the construction of a student residence. Kaunitzheim Kaunitz dormitory - Czech: Kounicovy studentské koleje was created in 1923, including the Kaunitz College girls' home - Czech: Dívčí dům Kounicových studentských kolejí 1931. Because of his socialist and Czechoslovakist attitude, he was also called "The Red Count".

Family and loved ones

His first wife Josefíne Countess von Kaunitz (Josefina Kounicová) (1849–1895), whom he married on November 26, 1877, was the sister-in-law of the composer Antonín Dvořák . Josefine, née Čermáková, was a respected actress. He married his second wife Josefina, née Horová, on May 12, 1908. Nothing is known about descendants from these two marriages.

Wenzel Robert Graf von Kaunitz (Kounice) had seven brothers: Albrecht Count von Kaunitz (. * Ibid in Prague, † 1897 1829), landowner of the manors Hauska and New Castle Leipa , Březina u Jičína with Wobrubetz (Otruby) in the district Jičin as well as Austerlitz and Ungarisch Brod, member of the manor house since 1861 , after his death the Moravian dominions fell to his brother Wenzel Robert, as well as the brothers Vinzenz, Rudolf, Heinrich, Ferdinand, Georg, Emanuel and Eugen Graf von Kaunitz (* 1841 in Prague, † 1919 in Vienna), large landowner of the manors Austerlitz and Ungarisch Brod, last male bearer of the name of Count Kaunitz .

After 1918, the end of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and the establishment of Czechoslovakia , the families fell under the Nobility Repeal Act and the expropriation of property in a so-called land reform .

Kaunitzgasse, Kounicova ulice in Brno

The prestigious street that begins at the Kounicův palác (Kaunitz Palace in Brno ) and is now named after Wenzel Robert von Kaunitz has had changing German and Czech names over the past 170 years. The name changes reflect the course of history in Austria-Hungary and in the capital of Moravia , later in Czechoslovakia , which was established in 1918, and the following political changes:

  • September 23, 1839 it was named as Leichenhofgasse (Friedhofsgasse, Hřbitovní ulice ). The first “funeral yard” outside the city fortifications, right after the city wall, was later repealed and relocated about 500 m further north, which was then the largest cemetery in the country in terms of area. After the establishment of the Brno Central Cemetery, it was lifted and partly converted into a park.
  • May 24, 1867 - Cemetery Street - Hřbitovní ulice
  • May 12, 1885 - Giskra Street and Friedhofgasse ( Giskrova ulice and Hřbitovní ulice ) - named after Carl Giskra (1820–1879), Mayor of Brno from July 1866 to December 1867.
  • April 1, 1890 - Giskra Street - Giskrova ulice
  • December 30, 1918 - Kounicova - Kounicgasse, after the establishment of Czechoslovakia .
  • March 17, 1939 - Kounicgasse - Kounicova
  • February 10, 1940 - Giskra Street ( Giskrova ), during the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (March 1939 to May 1945)
  • May 10, 1945 - Giskrova
  • September 25, 1946 - Leninova třída , named after the revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin . The former Leichenhofgasse had meanwhile become a representative main street (Czech: třída ) that extends to Tábor.
  • September 27, 1990 - Kounicova , after the Velvet Revolution of 1989.

literature

  • Kořalka:  Kounic Václav Gf. from. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 4, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1969, p. 166.
  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Biographical Lexicon of the Austrian Empire, containing the life sketches of the memorable people who were born or lived and worked in the Austrian crown lands since 1750 1 (1856) - 60 (1891), Register (1923), Volume 11 with genealogy.
  • Wiener Zeitung (Abendpost), January 25, 1897; October 15, 1913 and September 11, 1919

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ^ Procházka novel : Genealogical handbook of extinct Bohemian gentry families . Neustadt an der Aisch 1973, ISBN 3-7686-5002-2 , p. 139, line Kaunitz, z Kunicz, Kaunitz-Rittberg, Kaunitz-Rietberg-Questenburg
  2. ↑ Ferdinand Seibt , Hans Lemberg , Helmut Slapnicka (ed.): Biographical Lexicon for the History of the Bohemian Countries . Commissioned by the Collegium Carolinum (Institute) , R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-486-55973-7 , Volume III, p. 786.
  3. ↑ muni.cz
  4. ↑ a b Heribert Sturm : (Ed.): Biographical Lexicon for the history of the Bohemian countries . Commissioned by the Collegium Carolinum (Institute) , Oldenburg, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-486-52551-4 , Volume II, p. 121
  5. ^ Encyklopedie dějin města Brna; Profile ulice Kounicova
personal data
SURNAME Kaunitz, Wenzel Robert von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Václav Robert hrabě z Kounic
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bohemian politician and patron
DATE OF BIRTH September 26, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 1913
Place of death Hungarian Brod