Grimm, August Theodor von (ennobled 1847)

Writer, educator of princes

Born: 22.12.1804 in Stadtilm (Thuringia)

Died: 28.10.1878 in Wiesbaden

Grimm studied medicine, philosophy and history in Jena, Halle and Berlin. In 1827 he came to St. Petersburg, where he worked as a teacher for several years. In 1832, he accompanied a Countess Wielhorsky on a trip to Germany, France, Italy and Switzerland and then stayed in Rome to immerse himself in the study of astrology and classical antiquity and to publish his first essays. In 1834, he went to Germany, London, Paris, Madrid and Lisbon as an aide-de-camp to a son of the future Russian State Chancellor Karl Robert Graf von Nesselrode.

On his return in 1835, he was entrusted with the education of the children of Tsar Nicholas I (1825-1855). From 1845-47, he accompanied the Tsar's son Konstantin on a two-year cavalier tour. In 1847, Grimm was ennobled and appointed State Councillor. Until 1852, he was also in charge of the education of the younger Grand Princes Michael and Nicholas, before he retired to Dresden and wrote his first work, "Wanderungen nach Südosten".

After another stay in St. Petersburg (1858-60), Grimm returned to Germany for good and initially lived in Berlin. Here he published a "Program for the Formation of a General Language"; he is thus regarded as one of the forefathers of interlinguistics, a subject for which he was particularly qualified due to his knowledge of languages - he is said to have mastered English, French, Russian, Hungarian and Turkish (Haupenthal). His highly regarded biography of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna was published in 1866.

In 1872, he moved to Wiesbaden with his family and moved into a stately villa at Parkstraße 11 (formerly 9a).

Grimm was buried in the Russian Cemetery. His son Constantin became known as a draughtsman and caricaturist, including for the satirical newspaper "Kladderadatsch"; in 1884 he went to New York to work for the Evening Telegram, where he died in 1896.