Albrecht, Wilhelm

Economist

born: 02.06.1785 in Rothenburg ob der Tauber

died: 21.012.1868 in Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Albrecht studied political and cameral sciences (economics) in Heidelberg, Würzburg and Landshut. This was followed by training in forestry. He met the founder of the model farm Hofwyl in Switzerland, Philipp Emanuel von Fellenberg, and studied the methods of the agronomist Albrecht Thaer (1752-1828) in Möglin.

On behalf of the Nassau government, Albrecht opened the "Duchy of Nassau Institute of Agriculture" in Idstein in 1818, which was moved to Wiesbaden in 1834. In 1818, Albrecht published the "Landwirtschaftliche Wochenblatt" for the Duchy of Nassau and founded the Agricultural Association for Nassau on behalf of the government in 1820.

The changeover to the so-called winter school, in which theoretical lessons were only held in the winter half-year and the summer half-year was spent on practical work on the farms, was forward-looking. Albrecht also tried to improve the situation of small farmers in other ways, for example by founding a state credit fund in 1840, which made farmers independent of private money lenders and their interest rate policies. He returned to his home town in 1848.

A monument at the (former) Geisberg farm and a street in the town center commemorate Albrecht. Former students also placed a memorial plaque to Albrecht on the founding building of the agricultural school in Idstein.