Lothar Bucher (25 October 1817 – 12 October 1892) was a German

publicist A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a company, a brand, or public figure – especially a celebrity – or for work or a project such as a book, film, or album. Publicists are public relations specialists wh ...

and trusted aide of German chancellor

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...

. Bucher was born in Neustettin,

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, his father being master at a gymnasium. After studying at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

he adopted the legal profession. Elected a member of the National Assembly in

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in 1848, he was an active leader against the democratic party. With others of his colleagues he was in 1850 brought to trial for having taken part in organizing a movement for refusal to pay taxes; he was condemned to fifteen months imprisonment in a fortress, but left the country before the sentence was executed. For ten years he lived in exile, chiefly in

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; he acted as special correspondent of the ''National Zeitung'', and gained a great knowledge of English life; and he published a work, ''Der Parliamentarismus wie er ist'', a criticism of

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ary government, which shows a marked change in his political opinions. In 1860, Bucher returned to Germany, and became intimate with

Ferdinand Lassalle Ferdinand Johann Gottlieb Lassalle (born Lassal; 11 April 1825 – 31 August 1864) was a German jurist, philosopher, socialist, and political activist. Remembered as an initiator of the German labour movement, he developed the theory of state s ...

, who made him his

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. In 1864 he was offered by Bismarck a high position in the

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n foreign office, which he accepted. The reasons that led him to a step which involved so complete a break with his earlier friends and associations are not clearly known. From this time until his death he acted as Bismarck's aide, gaining a large amount of his confidence. It was Bucher who drew up the text of the constitution of the

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; in 1870 he was sent on a confidential mission to

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in connection with the

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candidature for the Spanish crown , (although

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states that it was in fact the Prussian diplomat and historian Theordor von Bernhardi); he assisted Bismarck at the final negotiations for the Treaty of Frankfurt, and was one of the secretaries to the

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; he also assisted Bismarck in the composition of his memoirs. Bucher, who was a man of great ability, had considerable influence, which was especially directed against the economic doctrines of the Liberals; in 1881 he published a pamphlet criticizing the influence and principles of the

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. He identified himself completely with Bismarck's later commercial and colonial policy, and probably had much to do with introducing it, and he did much to encourage anti-

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feeling in Germany. He died at Glion,

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References

* *Eyck, Erich 'Bismarck and the German Empire' (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1950) page 166 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bucher, Lothar 1817 births 1892 deaths People from Szczecinek German tax resisters Humboldt University of Berlin alumni People from the Province of Pomerania Prussian diplomats Members of the Prussian National Assembly German political consultants