Friedrich Wilhelm Hermann Wagener (March 8, 1815 in Segeletz (now
Wusterhausen
Wusterhausen (official name Wusterhausen/Dosse) is a municipality in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district, in northwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Dosse, 7 km southeast of Kyritz, and 75 km northwest of Berlin.
De ...
) – April 22, 1889 in
Friedenau
Friedenau () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') within the borough (''Bezirk'') of Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Berlin, Germany. Relatively small by area, its population density is the highest in the city.
Geography
Friedenau is part of the southwestern s ...
(now part of Berlin)) was a Prussian jurist, chief editor of the
Kreuzzeitung (The "New Prussian Newspaper") and was a politician and minister from the Prussian Conservative Party.
Life
Wagenar was the son of a country priest from
Neuruppin
Neuruppin (; North Brandenburgisch: ''Reppin'') is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Ostprignitz-Ruppin district. It is the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Fontane (1819–1898) and therefore also referred to as ''Font ...
. After studies and graduation in
Salzwedel
Salzwedel (, officially known as Hansestadt Salzwedel; Low German: ''Soltwedel'') is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, and has a population of approximately 21,500. Salz ...
in 1835 he studied legal science in Berlin. He was interested in the judicial philosophy of
Friedrich Julius Stahl
Friedrich Julius Stahl (16 January 1802 – 10 August 1861), German constitutional lawyer, political philosopher and politician.
Biography
Born at Würzburg, of Jewish parentage, as Julius Jolson, he was brought up strictly in the Jewish religi ...
and the economic theories of
Karl Ludwig von Haller regarding
political legitimacy
In political science, legitimacy is the right and acceptance of an authority, usually a governing law or a regime. Whereas ''authority'' denotes a specific position in an established government, the term ''legitimacy'' denotes a system of gover ...
.
He followed the usual legal career, becoming a law clerk in 1838 at the Higher Regional Court of
Frankfurt (Oder) under vice president
Ludwig von Gerlach and worked from 1844 to 1847 as an attorney at the Prussian
land-improvement bureau and later at the
consistory
Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to:
*A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church
* Consistor ...
at the
province of Saxony. In 1847 he became an appellate court attorney representing the consistory in Madeburg where he was assigned to prosecute liberal clergyman
Leberecht Uhlich.
He left government service in 1848 and established himself as a lawyer at the High court, and at the request of Gerlach founded the organ of the Prussian conservative party, the ''New Prussian Newspaper to Save the Monarchy''. He served as its chief editor until 1854.
Theodor Fontane
Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known toda ...
, who worked with him at the time, said in his memoirs Wagenar was a "sort of side-sun to Bismarck." Through his close-working with
Otto von Bismarck, Wagenar became one of the best-known and controversial conservative pundits. In 1848 he founded the "Society for King and Fatherland."
In 1854 he retired from editing the newspaper (called the Kreuzzeitung because it featured a large iron cross) and invested his severance in a scheme in Neustettin (now
Szczecinek
Szczecinek ( ; German until 1945: ''Neustettin'') is a historic city in Middle Pomerania, northwestern Poland, with a population of more than 40,000 (2011). Formerly in the Koszalin Voivodeship (1950–1998), it has been the capital of Szczecine ...
) and worked as a criminal lawyer in Berlin. In 1856 he resigned his position as Justizrat and settled in Farther Pomerania to run for office. He became a clever and quick-witted speaker of the
Prussian House of Representatives
The Prussian House of Representatives (german: Preußisches Abgeordnetenhaus) was the lower chamber of the Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag), the parliament of Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the upper house, the House of ...
(Preußisches Abgeordnetenhaus) and provided great service to his party from 1867 in the North-German and from 1871 in the German
Reichstag. His views often came with scientific justification, compiled in his 1859 "State and Society Dictionary."
In 1861 he participated in the founding of a Prussian Volksverein, a conservative society that was active until 1872. On March 29, 1866 he was appointed by Bismarck as an advisor to the department of State against the wishes of King Wilhlem I. Bismarck also consulted Wagener on social issues (Fontane reported he tried to instill upon Bismarck "fight against the hated bourgeoisie through social democracy," meaning he encouraged Bismarck's talks with
Ferdinand Lassalle). In the first German parliament he supported Bismarck in his speeches about the German constitution and the
Kulturkampf. His efforts to establish a social conservative party in 1872 failed.
In 1873 he became the first Council in the state department, but the Emperor refused to admit him personally. There had been bad rumors about Wagener's involvement in the Pommersche Centralbahn, a railway company. In a speech by
Eduard Lasker
Eduard Lasker (born Jizchak Lasker) (14 October 18295 January 1884) was a German politician and jurist. Inspired by the French Revolution, he became a spokesman for liberalism and the leader of the left wing of the National Liberal party, which ...
on February 7, 1873, Lasker exposed the railways financial mismanagement, and it soon went bankrupt. Wagner was forced to resign in the scandal and was also fined in court 40,000 Taler for illegal profiteering. This cost Wagener his entire fortune. In 1878 he founded the interdenominational "Social Conservative Association."
Wagener published numerous writings, especially on social issues. His most important work was the 1862 Political and Social Lexicon. He wrote the 1876 platform of the
German Conservative Party
The German Conservative Party (german: Deutschkonservative Partei, DkP) was a right-wing political party of the German Empire founded in 1876. It largely represented the wealthy landowning elite Prussian Junkers.
The party was a response to Ge ...
. He was also the spiritual father of labor insurance. Although a Catholic, he sought to curb the political influence of the Catholic Church. For this he advocated the creation of a "social pope" or "social emperor."
Writings
* ''Das Judentum und der Staat.'' Berlin 1857.
ttributed* ''Denkschrift über die wirtschaftlichen Associationen und sozialen Koalitionen.'' Neuschönefeld 1867.
* ''Staats- und Gesellschaftslexikon.'' Berlin 1859–1867, 23 Volumes; Supplement 186
* ''Die Lösung der sozialen Frage vom Standpunkt der Wirklichkeit und Praxis. Von einem praktischen Staatsmanne.'' Bielefeld und Leipzig 1878.
* ''Die Politik Friedrich Wilhelm IV.'' Berlin 1883.
* ''Erlebtes. Meine Memoiren aus der Zeit von 1848-1866 und von 1873 bis jetzt. 1. Abteilung.'' Berlin 1884.
* ''Erlebtes. Meine Memoiren aus der Zeit von 1848-1866 und von 1873 bis jetzt. 2. Abteilung.'' Berlin 1885.
* ''Die kleine aber mächtige Partei. Nachtrag zu „Erlebtes“. Meine Memoiren aus der Zeit von 1848–1866 und von 1873 bis jetzt.'' Berlin 1885
*''Die Mängel der christlich-sozialen Bewegung.'' Minden 1885.
Bibliography
*
Henning Albrecht. ''Antiliberalismus und Antisemitismus. Hermann Wagener und die preußischen Sozialkonservativen 1855–1873''. Otto-von-Bismarck-Stiftung. Wissenschaftliche Reihe; Band 12. Paderborn: Schöningh, 2010,
Review.
* Siegfried Christoph. ''Hermann Wagener als Sozialpolitiker. Ein Beitrag zur Vorgeschichte der Ideen und Intentionen für die große deutsche Sozialgesetzgebung im 19. Jahrhundert''. Dissertation. Erlangen, 1950.
* Wolfgang Saile. ''Hermann Wagener und sein Verhältnis zu Bismarck. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des konservativen Sozialismus''. Tübingen, 1958.
* Klaus Hornung. "Preußischer Konservatismus und soziale Frage - Hermann Wagener (1815–1889)". In
Hans-Christof Kraus
Hans-Christof Kraus (born 3 November 1958) is a German historian.
Life
Born in Göttingen, Kraus studied history, German literature and philosophy at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen from 1978 to 1984. In the 1980s he was editor of th ...
(ed.). ''Konservative Politiker in Deutschland. Eine Auswahl biographischer Porträts aus zwei Jahrhunderten''. Berlin, 1995.
* Hans-Christof Kraus. "Hermann Wagener (1815–1889)". In Bernd Heidenreich (Ed.). ''Politische Theorien des 19. Jahrhunderts: Konservatismus - Liberalismus - Sozialismus''. Berlin, 2002. .
* Florian Tennstedt: "Politikfähige Anstöße zu Sozialreform und Sozialstaat: Der Irvingianer Hermann Wagener und der Lutheraner Theodor Lohmann als Ratgeber und Gegenspieler Bismarcks". In: Jochen-Christoph Kaiser and Wilfried Loth (Eds.). ''Soziale Reform im Kaiserreich. Protestantismus, Katholizismus und Sozialpolitik''. Konfession und Gesellschaft, Band 11. Stuttgart/Berlin/Cologne, 1997.
*
*
* Hans Joachim Schoeps. "Hermann Wagener ein konservativer Sozialist". In: ''Das andere Preußen''. Berlin, 1981.
*
Theodor Fontane
Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known toda ...
. "Hermann Wagener (Erster Entwurf)". In: ''
Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg
''Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg'' ("Ramblings through Brandenburg", "Rambles in Brandenburg" or "Walks through the March of Brandenburg") is a five-volume travelogue by the German writer Theodor Fontane, originally published in 1862&ndas ...
'', Volume 3. Munich, 1994. p. 463.
External links
*
* Gerald Christopeit
Wagener, Friedrich Wilhelm Hermann(Biography)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagener, Hermann
German opinion journalists
Members of the Reichstag of the German Empire
Members of the Prussian House of Representatives
German Conservative Party politicians
1815 births
1889 deaths
19th-century German journalists
German male journalists
19th-century German male writers