The Bodelschwingh family was an old German noble family, originally from

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The family's first written document dates back to the 13th century. Since 1862 members of the family held the title of

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, while from 1896 they held the title of

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Notable members

* Ernst von Bodelschwingh (1906–1993), German politician *

Ernst von Bodelschwingh-Velmede Ernst Albert Karl Wilhelm Ludwig von Bodelschwingh auf Velmede (26 November 179418 May 1854) was a Prussian politician for Conservative Party Prussia. Von Bodelschwingh-Velmede was born in Velmede, near Hamm in the County of Mark as the son of F ...

(1794–1854), Prussian statesman and Minister of the Interior * Karl von Bodelschwingh-Velmede (1800–1873), Prussian politician (brother of Ernst) *

Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, Senior Friedrich Christian Carl von Bodelschwingh (* 6 March 1831 in Tecklenburg; † 2 April 1910 in Bielefeld-Bethel), better known as Friedrich von Bodelschwingh the Elder, was a German theologian and politician. He is remembered as the founder of t ...

(1831–1910), German theologian and founder of charitable public-health institutions (son of Ernst) *

Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, Junior Friedrich may refer to: Names *Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' *Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' Other *Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...

(1877–1946), German theologian and public-health advocate (son of Friedrich, Senior) *

Otto von Bolschwing Otto Albrecht Alfred von Bolschwing (15 October 1909 – 7 March 1982) was a German SS-''Hauptsturmführer'', intelligence officer and international businessman. During the Nazi-era and World War II, he served as an operative of the ''Sic ...

(1909-1982), German-American ''

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (; ; SS; also stylised with SS runes as ''ᛋᛋ'') was a major paramilitary organisation under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II. It beg ...

'' officer, intelligence agent and international businessman.

Notable members

See also