Franz Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Franz Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch, also Hermann Schulze, (29 August 1808 – 29 April 1883) was a German
politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
and
economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
. He was responsible for the organizing of the world's first
credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including depo ...
s. He was also co-founder of the
German Progress Party The German Progress Party (german: Deutsche Fortschrittspartei, DFP) was the first modern political party in Germany, founded by liberal members of the Prussian House of Representatives () in 1861 in opposition to Minister President Otto von Bism ...
.


Biography

Schulze-Delitzsch was born at
Delitzsch Delitzsch (; Slavic: ''delč'' or ''delcz'' for hill) is a town in Saxony in Germany, 20 km north of Leipzig and 30 km east of Halle (Saale). With 24,850 inhabitants at the end of 2015, it is the largest town in the district of Nordsach ...
, in
Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
. He studied law at
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
and Halle universities and, when thirty, he became an assessor in the court of justice at Berlin. Three years later he was appointed ''patrimonial-richter'' at Delitzsch. Entering the parliament of 1848, he joined the
Left Centre The Left Centre ( hu, Balközép) was a political party in Hungary in the 1860s and 1870s led by Kálmán Tisza and Kálmán Ghyczy.Vincent E McHale (1983) ''Political parties of Europe'', Greenwood Press, p505 History The Left Centre finished s ...
. At this time, his surname was expanded from Schulze to Schulze-Delitzsch: the name of his birthplace was appended to his surname to distinguish him from other Schulzes in the Prussian National Assembly. Acting as president of the commission of inquiry into the condition of the labourers and artisans, he became impressed with the necessity of co-operation to enable the smaller trades-people to hold their own against the capitalists.. He was a member of the Second Chamber in 1848-1849; but as matters ceased to run smoothly between himself and the high legal officials, he gave up his public appointments in October 1851, and withdrew to Delitzsch. Here he devoted himself to the organization and development of co-operation in Germany, and to the foundation of ''Vorschussvereine'' (peoples' banks), of which he had established the first at Delitzsch in 1850. These developed so rapidly that Schulze-Delitzsch in 1858, in ''Die arbeitenden Klassen und das Assoziationswesen in Deutschland'', enumerated twenty-five as already in existence. In these banks, the subscribers made small deposits, obtaining proportional credit and dividends. The management was vested in a board composed of subscribers.. In 1859 the more than 200 such banks were centrally organized under the direction of Schulze-Delitzsch. He promoted the first ''Genossenschaftstag'', a co-operative meeting, in
Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...
, and founded a central bureau of co-operative societies. In 1861 he again entered the Prussian Chamber, and became a prominent member of the
Progressist party The Progressive Party (russian: Прогрессивная партия), also sometimes known as the Progressists (russian: прогрессисты) was a group of moderate Russian liberals organized in 1912; it had 25 deputies in the Third Duma ...
. In 1863 he devoted the chief portion of a testimonial, amounting to $1,165,567.43 in today's money, to the maintenance of his co-operative institutions and offices. This, however, was only to meet an exceptional outlay, for he always insisted that they must be self-supporting. The next three or four years were given to the formation of local centres, and the establishment of the Deutsche Genossenschafts-Bank, 1865. The spread of these organizations naturally led to legislation on the subject, and this too was chiefly the work of Schulze-Delitzsch. As a member of the Chamber in 1867 he was mainly instrumental in passing the Prussian law of association, which was extended to the North German Confederation in 1868, and later to the empire. Schulze-Delitzsch also contributed to uniformity of legislation throughout the states of Germany, in 1869, by the publication of ''Die Gesetzgebung über die privatrechtliche Stellung der Erwerbs- und Wirthschaftsgenossenschaften'', etc. With the legislation in place, his life's work was complete; he had placed the advantages of capital and co-operation within the reach of struggling tradesmen throughout Germany. His remaining years were spent in consolidating this work. He endeavored to accustom the people to rely upon their own initiative to improve their condition, and declared that the function of the state should be limited to assuring industrial and personal liberty. Both as a writer and a member of the Reichstag his industry was incessant, and he died in harness on 29 April 1883 at
Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
, leaving the reputation of a benefactor to the smaller tradesmen and artisans, in which light he must be regarded rather than as the founder of true co-operative principles in Germany. At the time of his death, there were in Germany alone 3,500 co-operative banking branches with more than $100,000,000 in deposits, while the system had been extended to
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, Italy,
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
and Russia. His work was noteworthy enough to attain mention in Leo Tolstoy's novel, Anna Karenina.


Gallery

File:DBPSL 1958 438 Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch.jpg, Stamp commemorating Schulze-Delitzsch's 150th birthday. File:2008 08 03 Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch.jpg, German stamp commemorating Schulze's 200th birthday. File:Berlin - Denkmal Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch 1.jpg, Memorial for Schulze-Delitzsch in downtown Berlin.


See also

* Bond of association *
Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen (30 March 1818 – 11 March 1888) was a German mayor and cooperative pioneer. Several credit union systems and cooperative banks have been named after Raiffeisen, who pioneered rural credit unions. Life Friedrich Wilh ...
*
History of credit unions Credit unions are not-for-profit financial cooperatives. In the early stages of development of a nation's financial system, unserved and underserved populations must rely on risky and expensive informal financial services from sources like money l ...


Notes


References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schulze-Delitzsch, Franz Hermann 1808 births 1883 deaths People from Delitzsch People from the Kingdom of Saxony German Progress Party politicians Members of the 1st Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 2nd Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 3rd Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 4th Reichstag of the German Empire Members of the 5th Reichstag of the German Empire German economists German cooperative organizers Leipzig University alumni Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni Member of the Prussian National Assembly