Heinrich Wilhelm Krausnick (1797 – 1882) was a German lawyer and Lord Mayor of Berlin in two terms from 1834 until 1848, and again in 1850 until 1862. Krausnickstraße (Krausnick Street) and Krausnick Park in Mitte,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

are named in his honor.

Biography

Krausnick was born on 30 March 1797 in

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 o ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

into a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

family, and he was the son of a master tailor. He attended high school in Potsdam and continued to college in 1816 at

Berlin University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

where he studied law. He was married to Henriette Louise née Sauer (1797–1851) and they had children Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Krausnick (1828–1878) and Johanna Budczies née Krausnick (1830–1889). In 1822, Krausnick was appointed City Justice Council in Berlin. Krausnick was elected Lord Mayor of Berlin in 1834 as the successor to Friedrich von Bärensprung. He served in this role for fourteen years, and was voted out of office on 31 March 1848 as part of the

German revolutions of 1848–1849 The German revolutions of 1848–1849 (), the opening phase of which was also called the March Revolution (), were initially part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many European countries. They were a series of loosely coordinated pro ...

. In 1850, after the victory of the reaction, he became mayor for another 12 years and resigned from office in 1862. During his tenure, the areas of

Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2016, around 77,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial and working-class neighbourhood i ...

Wedding A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marriage vo ...

, the Schöneberger Vorstadt and the Tempelhofer Vorstadt were incorporated into Berlin. In 1865, Krausnick co-founded the Society for the History of Berlin together with

Julius Beer Julius Beer (1836–1880) was a German-born English businessman, banker and newspaper baron. He owned ''The Observer'' from 1870 to 1880. Biography Early life Julius Beer was born in 1836 in Frankfurt, Germany. Career Beer made his fortun ...

and Ferdinand Meyer.

Death and legacy

On 7 October 1861 a street in the

Spandauer Vorstadt Spandauer Vorstadt ("Spandauer suburb", formerly also called Spandauer Quarter or Spandauer Viertel) is a historic district in what is now the Mitte district of Berlin. Geography The Spandauer neighborhood is bordered in the south by the Spr ...

area of Mitte in Berlin was named after him in honor, Krausnickstraße. Nearby Krausnick Park, an inner block park between Krausnickstraße,

Oranienburger Straße Oranienburger Straße ( en, Oranienburger Street) is a street in central Berlin. It is located in the borough of Mitte, north of the River Spree, and runs south-east from Friedrichstraße to Hackescher Markt. The street is popular with tourists ...

and Große Hamburger Straße has history that goes back to the 18th century and was recently renovated from 2004 until 2007. Heinrich Wilhelm Krausnick died on 14 December 1882 at the age of 85 in Berlin. He is buried in Kirchhof Jerusalem und Neue Kirche II (translates to Jerusalem Cemetery and New Church II) in the

Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it ha ...

neighborhood of Berlin. After his death, Krausnick was made an honorary citizen of Berlin on 30 December 1862.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krausnick, Heinrich Wilhelm 1797 births 1882 deaths Mayors of Berlin People from Potsdam People from Berlin German Protestants