Arnold Duckwitz (27 January 1802 in
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
Germany – 19 March 1881 in Bremen) was a German statesman and merchant who served as Minister of Trade and of the Navy in the provisional government of the Frankfurt Assembly of 1848–49, and as mayor of Bremen.
From early to mid-1848, he participated as an expert in the economic committee of the
Frankfurt National Assembly
The Frankfurt Parliament (german: Frankfurter Nationalversammlung, literally ''Frankfurt National Assembly'') was the first freely elected parliament for all German states, including the German-populated areas of Austria-Hungary, elected on 1 M ...
. As Commissioner of Bremen he advised on German trade relations. Subsequently, he was in July 1848 appointed Reich Minister for Trade (Reichsminister für Handel) of the all-Germany 'Provisional Central Power' (Provisorische Zentralgewalt), headed by
Archduke John of Austria
Archduke John of Austria (german: Erzherzog Johann Baptist Joseph Fabian Sebastian von Österreich; 20 January 1782 – 11 May 1859), a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, was an Austrian field marshal and imperial regent (''Reichsverwese ...
as regent (''
Reichsverweser''). He later became also Minister for Navy Affairs (Minister für Marineangelegenheiten). He managed to create in a short time a small navy (Reichsseewehr or
Reichsflotte) for limited use in the
Second Schleswig War (1849) against the superior
Danish fleet.
He was also a city senator (Bremer Senats) from 1841 and mayor of the
Hanseatic city of Bremen 1857–1863, and 1866–1869. He was then a city senator until he retired in 1875.
Further reading
*''Wer liegt wo? Prominente auf Bremer Friedhöfen'' by Thomas Schaefer;Siepmann und Kurze. Bremen, 1998
*Ehmck: Arnold Duckwitz. In: ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB). Band 48, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1904, pp. 133–140.
*Friedrich Prüser: Arnold Duckwitz. In: ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'' (NDB). Band 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, p. 151 f.
External links
Radio Bremen (RealMedia)– As Time Goes By (Arnold Duckwitz)
1802 births
1881 deaths
Mayors of Bremen
German merchants
19th-century German businesspeople
{{Germany-business-bio-stub