Eulenburg, Botho Wend August Graf zu

Lawyer, Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior, Government President

Born: 31.07.1831 in Wicken near Bartenstein

died: 05.11.1912 in Berlin

Eulenburg was the son of the Prussian politician Botho Heinrich Graf zu Eulenburg (1804-1879) and his wife Therese, née Countess von Dönhoff (1806-1885). After completing his law studies in Königsberg and Bonn, Eulenburg entered the Prussian civil service. In 1857 he was commissioned to administer the district office of Marienwerder and from 1859 was district administrator in Deutsch-Krone.

On May 14, 1869, he was appointed to succeed Gustav von Diest as district president in Wiesbaden and took over the office of district president in Metz after the Franco-Prussian War in 1872. In 1873, he moved to the office of Chief President of the Province of Hanover. From 1878-81, Eulenburg was Prussian Minister of the Interior and in this function was particularly involved in drafting the Socialist Law. After a conflict with Bismarck, he resigned as Minister of the Interior and became Chief President of the Province of Hesse-Nassau in Kassel from 1881-92.

Returning to Berlin, he succeeded Leo von Caprivi as Prussian Minister President in March 1892 and became Prussian Minister of the Interior again in the summer of 1892. With his plans to pass a new socialist law, the so-called Umsturzvorlage, he provoked the opposition of Reich Chancellor Leo von Caprivi. In the end, both were dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II on October 26, 1894.

Eulenburg was a member of the Prussian House of Representatives in 1863-70 and again in 1879-81 and also a member of the Reichstag of the North German Confederation in 1867. He had been a member of the Prussian House of Lords since 1899.