Eduard Heinrich Flottwell (23 July 1786 – 28 May 1865; after 1861 von Flottwell) was a Prussian '' Staatsminister''. He served as '' Oberpräsident'' (governor) of the

Grand Duchy of Posen The Grand Duchy of Posen (; ) was part of the Kingdom of Prussia, created from Prussian Partition, territories annexed by Prussia after the Partitions of Poland, and formally established following the Congress of Vienna in 1815. On 9 February 1 ...

(from 1830) and of the

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

(from 1841),

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 ...

(from 1846) and

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

(from 1850) Provinces. He was also Prussian Minister of Finance (1844-1846) and Minister of Interior (1858-1859).

Early life

Flottwell was born in

Insterburg Chernyakhovsk (; German language, German: Insterburg) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, and the administrative center of Chernyakhovsky District. Located at the confluence of the Instruch and Angrap ...

in the Province of East Prussia (present-day Chernyakhovsk in Russian

Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad Oblast () is the westernmost federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of the Russian Federation. It is a Enclave and exclave, semi-exclave on the Baltic Sea within the Baltic region of Prussia (region), Prussia, surrounded by Pola ...

), studied law at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

and entered the civil service at the Insterburg court in 1805.

Career

From 1812 he was a member of the East Prussian '' Regierungspräsidium'' of

Gumbinnen Gusev (; ; ; ) is a town and the administrative center of Gusevsky District of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Pissa and Krasnaya Rivers, near the border with Poland and Lithuania, east of Chernyakhovsk. It is p ...

.Stadt Hamburg Ehrenbürger
. Retrieved on June 17, 2008. After the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

he together with ''Oberpräsident'' Theodor von Schön re-organised the administration of the

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (; ; ) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and from 1878 to 1919. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1773, formed from Royal Prussia of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonweal ...

n province at Danzig. In 1825 he was appointed ''Regierungspräsident'' of Marienwerder. When in 1830 the Polish

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31) (), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in Russian Partition, the heartland of Partitions of Poland, partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. ...

led by Michał Gedeon Radziwiłł broke out at

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

in Russian

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

, his brother

Antoni Radziwiłł Prince Antoni Henryk Radziwiłł (; 13 June 1775 – 7 April 1833) was a Polish and Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian szlachta, noble, magnate, aristocrat, musician, and politician. Initially a hereditary Duke of Nesvizh, Nieśwież and Olyka, Oł ...

was dismissed as Duke-Governor of the Prussian

by King Frederick William III and the sole rule passed to Flottwell as the new ''Oberpräsident''. He was a strong supporter of

Germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people, and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In l ...

and standardised schooling policies, which by some was seen as directed against ethnic Polish Prussians in the region. In 1843 in "''Anerkennung der Hilfe nach dem großen Hamburger Brand''" (acknowledgment of the assistance after the great Hamburg fire), he was named an honorary citizen of Hamburg.

References

* F.Paprocki, ''Wielkie Księstwo Poznańskie w okresie rządów Flottwella (1830-1842)'', Poznań 1970 * Witold Jakóbczyk, ''Przetrwać na Wartą 1815-1914'', ''Dzieje narodu i państwa polskiego'', vol. III-55, Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, Warszawa 1989 1786 births 1865 deaths People from Insterburg People from East Prussia German untitled nobility Prussian politicians Finance ministers of Prussia Members of the Frankfurt Parliament Provincial presidents of Posen Provincial presidents of Westphalia Provincial presidents of Saxony University of Königsberg alumni {{Germany-politician-stub