Wintzingerode, Friedrich Gerhard Freiherr von

Lawyer, Politician

Born: 25.08.1799 in Hanau

Died: 28.09.1870 in Bonn

Wintzingerode studied law in Jena and Göttingen from 1819. In 1820 he joined the Nassau civil service, where he quickly made a career for himself. In 1824 he became an assistant minister, in 1826 already a ministerial councillor, and in 1830 he took over as director of the court and court of appeal in Wiesbaden. From 1842 to 1848 he headed the Ducal-Nassau Chamber of Accounts in Wiesbaden, initially as Vice President and from 1843 as President. Between 1843 and 1847, Wintzingerode was a member of the first chamber of the Duchy's Estates, as well as envoy of the Duchies of Nassau and Brunswick to the German Bundestag in Frankfurt.

On June 10, 1849, he succeeded the "March Minister" Jacob Ludwig Philipp August Franz Hergenhahn as Prime Minister of Nassau. Under his government, the "recognized statutory constitutional law of the duchy" was initially promulgated on 28.12.1849, in which the achievements of the liberal and democratic movement in the revolution were enshrined. As a rather liberal representative of monarchical conservatism, Wintzingerode came into conflict with Duke Adolph, who wanted to reverse all the democratic successes of the March Revolution. As the Duke withdrew his further support, he resigned from office on December 29, 1851. In 1853, he entered the Prussian civil service, and in 1866, he became district president in Potsdam.