Diest, Gustav von

Government President

born: 16.08.1826 in Posen

died: 27.02.1911 in Merseburg

From 1866, the lawyer served as a civil commissioner in states which, like the Duchy of Nassau, had lost the German War of 1866 against Prussia. From 1867-69, he headed the administrative district of Wiesbaden as its president. Just two years later, he had to relinquish his post to Botho Wend August Graf zu Eulenburg, as he had fallen out with Bismarck.

Diest had been a member of the North German Reichstag since 1867 as a representative of the Conservative Party. There he initially represented the 3rd Nassau constituency (later constituency 3, Wiesbaden administrative district), then the district of Danzig. After the foundation of the German Reich in 1871, he was a member of the German Reichstag until 1873 and was a member of the Prussian House of Lords (First Chamber of Parliament) from 1894.

At his suggestion, the Association for the Province of Saxony for the Employment of Unemployed Workers was founded in 1883, which established a "workers' colony" in the town of Seyda between Jüterbog and Wittenberg, in what is now Saxony-Anhalt. This social institution, which still exists today, looks after people with mental disabilities.

In 1883, the Prussian king awarded him the "Star of the Order of the Crown II. Class" by the Prussian king in 1883.