Bonhorst, Leonhard von

Politician

Born: 20.06.1840 in Kaub

died: 30.04.1915 in Ravensburg

As the son of a Nassau officer and tax official, Bonhorst completed a technical degree in Darmstadt and Karlsruhe. Back in Wiesbaden, he initially worked as a sales representative and insurance agent and also ran a small merchandise store.

Alarmed by the poor living conditions of craftsmen and dependent wage laborers, he became increasingly involved in solving the social question and played a decisive role in the founding of the Wiesbadener Konsumverein. He was also involved in the Wiesbaden Workers' Education Association, where he sought to enable members to become politically active and emancipated through a wide range of training and further education.

Bonhorst endeavoured to develop Wiesbaden into a center within a centralized federation of associations. In 1867, he succeeded in merging numerous workers' associations to form the "Mittelrheinischer Arbeiterbund".

Wiesbaden temporarily became a regional suburb and the "Wiesbadener Anzeiger" was the first provisional party newspaper for the regional working class. Over time, he became increasingly alienated from liberal Wiesbaden society and lost all his private assets after the failure of the Konsumverein. After the founding of the Social Democratic Workers' Party in Eisenach, in which Bonhorst had been heavily involved, he was appointed full-time secretary of the party and moved from Wiesbaden to Braunschweig in 1869, from where he also undertook agitation trips.

He was put on trial in the Braunschweig treason trial in 1871 and initially sentenced to a prison sentence, which was eventually commuted to a suspended sentence as part of an appeal procedure. He then withdrew from politics.