Nicolaus Ferdinand Haller (21 January 1805 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

– 10 October 1876 in Hamburg) was a jurist, senator and

First Mayor of Hamburg The following is a chronological list of mayors of Hamburg, a city-state in Germany. The mayors are the head of the city-state, part of the government of Hamburg. Since 1861, according to the constitution of 28 September 1860, the state has bee ...

and head of state from 1863 to 1864; 1866 to 1867; 1870 to 1873.

Family

The Haller family was one of the 50 Jewish families expelled from

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

whom the Great Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg (reign 1640–1688) granted asylum in his realm. The family first settled in Frederick William's

Duchy of Magdeburg The Duchy of Magdeburg (german: Herzogtum Magdeburg) was a province of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from 1680 to 1701 and a province of the German Kingdom of Prussia from 1701 to 1807. It replaced the Archbishopric of Magdeburg after its secula ...

in the city of

Halle upon Saale Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anh ...

, whence it adopted its surname. Ferdinand Haller's grandfather Joseph Benjamin Haller died in Halle in 1772. Ferdinand Haller's father later moved to Hamburg. Ferdinand Haller's parents were Blümchen Gottschalk from

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

and Mendel Joseph Haller (1770–1852), who was technically a

Schutzjude ''Schutzjude'' (, "protected Jew") was a status for German Jews granted by the imperial, princely or royal courts. Within the Holy Roman Empire, except some eastern territories gained by the Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries (e.g. Brandenb ...

under the more liberal

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

rule in Holsteinian Altona, allowing them to practically work and live in adjacent, but more restrictive Hamburg. In 1794 Mendel Joseph Haller founded a banking and trading company in Hamburg, from which in 1797 the Bank Haller, Söhle & Co. developed. Ferdinand's elder sister Auguste (1799–1883) married (1801–1871), the son of their father's partner in the bank. Blümchen Gottschalk's sister Amalie (1777–1838) was married to Baron

Ludwig von Stieglitz Ludwig von Stieglitz (surname), Stieglitz (Любим Иванович Штиглиц; December 24, 1779 in Arolsen, Waldeck (state), Waldeck, Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation; , Saint Petersburg) was a German Jewish businessman in Russia ...

, court banker of

Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. The son of ...

. Mendel Joseph Haller's niece Philippine Haller (1822–1892) was married to the wealthy cotton merchant Louis Liebermann, parents of the painter

Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...

. In early 1805 the elders of Altona's Ashkenazi kehilla sued Haller's father at Altona's

Beit Din A beit din ( he, בית דין, Bet Din, house of judgment, , Ashkenazic: ''beis din'', plural: batei din) is a rabbinical court of Judaism. In ancient times, it was the building block of the legal system in the Biblical Land of Israel. Today, it ...

for not having had Ferdinand Haller

circumcised Circumcision is a surgical procedure, procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin ...

.Klaus Mühlfried
„Konfessionswechsel in der Spätaufklärung: Der Übertritt Martin Joseph Hallers vom Judentum zum lutherischen Bekenntnis“
in: ''Zeitschrift des Vereins für Hamburgische Geschichte'', vol. 91 (2005), pp. 51-75, here p. 68, retrieved on 24 February 2016. The Beit Din inflicted the ḥērem on Mendel Joseph Haller and, as was the law, prompted the secular authorities to execute that ban. Already for quite some time Mendel Joseph Haller was inclined not to observe Jewish law and looked for a solution to live an enlightened life, as he described to

Allermöhe Allermöhe () is a quarter in the borough Bergedorf of the Free and Hanseatic city of Hamburg in northern Germany. The quarter consists of a rural area and the old settlement Allermöhe. In 2020 the population was 1,392 (without the new neighbourho ...

Pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

Karl Johann Heinrich Hübbe in a letter on 30 May 1805.Klaus Mühlfried
„Konfessionswechsel in der Spätaufklärung: Der Übertritt Martin Joseph Hallers vom Judentum zum lutherischen Bekenntnis“
in: ''Zeitschrift des Vereins für Hamburgische Geschichte'', vol. 91 (2005), pp. 51-75, here p. 64, retrieved on 24 February 2016. Without pious devotion to Christianity, but vaguely acknowledging

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

's supposed offer to live a life as he described, Haller delicately explained to Hübbe his wish for a fast and secret conversion.Klaus Mühlfried
„Konfessionswechsel in der Spätaufklärung: Der Übertritt Martin Joseph Hallers vom Judentum zum lutherischen Bekenntnis“
in: ''Zeitschrift des Vereins für Hamburgische Geschichte'', vol. 91 (2005), pp. 51-75, here pp. 64-69, retrieved on 24 February 2016. On 26 June 1805 Hübbe baptised the Hallers, with the parents adopting altered first names, Elisabeth instead of Blümchen and Martin instead of Mendel, and their children Nicolaus Ferdinand and his elder sister and brother Augusta (Auguste) Clara and Wilhelm Ludwig, all taken place far out of Hamburg in the .Klaus Mühlfried
„Konfessionswechsel in der Spätaufklärung: Der Übertritt Martin Joseph Hallers vom Judentum zum lutherischen Bekenntnis“
in: ''Zeitschrift des Vereins für Hamburgische Geschichte'', vol. 91 (2005), pp. 51-75, here p. 69, retrieved on 24 February 2016. Lutheranism was the prevailing Christian denomination in Hamburg and Altona. In later years Martin Joseph Haller became a lay judge for commercial matters. In 1831 Ferdinand Haller married Philippine Adele Oppenheimer (1807–1873), sister of , lawyer, jurist and judge at the in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

, whose family (except for their father Jacob Oppenheimer 778–1845 was baptised by Hübbe by 1813.Klaus Mühlfried
„Konfessionswechsel in der Spätaufklärung: Der Übertritt Martin Joseph Hallers vom Judentum zum lutherischen Bekenntnis“
in: ''Zeitschrift des Vereins für Hamburgische Geschichte'', vol. 91 (2005), pp. 51-75, here p. 71, retrieved on 24 February 2016. Adele Oppenheimer was a cousin of

Johann Gustav Heckscher Johann Gustav Wilhelm Moritz Heckscher (born 26 December 1797 in Hamburg; died 7 April 1865 in Vienna) was a German politician. Biography He served during the War of 1815 as a volunteer in the Hanseatic Corps, and then studied at the universiti ...

. Ferdinand Haller became through one sister of his wife brother-in-law of the Hamburg Senator (1786–1862) and through another sister of hers uncle of the future

mayor . Ferdinand Haller's son, Martin Emil Ferdinand Haller, was a known architect of Hamburg.

Career

Ferdinand Haller studied law at the Ruperto Carola in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

and the Georgia Augusta in

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

. In 1827 Haller set up as lawyer in Hamburg, mostly busy in matters of

commercial law Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branc ...

. In 1844 the

Senate of Hamburg The government of Hamburg is divided into executive, legislative and judicial branches. Hamburg is a city-state and municipality, and thus its governance deals with several details of both state and local community politics. It takes place in two ...

, the executive government of the city-state, coöpted Haller as fellow senator. As a senator Haller engaged in the debate on and reform of the Hamburg constitution. Under the new constitution of 1860 the senate reformed too in 1861. The new constitution provided for the election of senators by the

Hamburg Parliament The Hamburg Parliament (german: Hamburgische Bürgerschaft; literally “Hamburgish Citizenry”) is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Hamburg according to the constitution of Hamburg. As of 2011 there were 121 members in the parli ...

, doing away with the senate's prior coöptation. Haller was one of the pre-reform senators who remained in office. After 1860 he was a successful senator of finance presiding over the deputation of finances (Finanzdeputation), a joint commission of burghers and officials competent for the city-state's budget.Klaus Mühlfried
„Konfessionswechsel in der Spätaufklärung: Der Übertritt Martin Joseph Hallers vom Judentum zum lutherischen Bekenntnis“
in: ''Zeitschrift des Vereins für Hamburgische Geschichte'', vol. 91 (2005), pp. 51-75, here p. 51, retrieved on 24 February 2016. Besides his colleague Gustav Kirchenpauer, with whom he rotated in office as First Mayor, Haller was one of the formative personalities of the period. From 17 August to 1 September 1863 Haller represented Hamburg in the

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

meeting () of

federal prince Federal prince (german: Bundesfürsten, "Princes of the Federation") was the generic term for the royal heads of state (monarchs) of the various states making up the German Empire, with the exception of the states that were republics and Alsace-L ...

s and

burgomaster Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, literally "master of the town, master of the borough, master of the fortress, master of the citizens") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief m ...

s of the states within the German Confederacy. On 30 June 1876 the

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intensit ...

-ridden Haller resigned from senatorship, and died later the same year.

Hallerstraße

The Hallerstraße and the homonymous underground station in Hamburg are named in Haller's honour. In 1938 the Nazi senate of Hamburg renamed street and station, arguing that Haller's parents were Jewish.Gabriele Ferk, „Umbenennung der »Hallerstraße« in »Ostmarkstraße«“, in: ''Vierhundert Jahre Juden in Hamburg: eine Ausstellung des Museums für Hamburgische Geschichte vom 8. November 1991 bis 29. März 1992'', Ulrich Bauche (ed.), Hamburg: Dölling und Galitz, 1991, (=Die Geschichte der Juden in Hamburg; vol. 1), p. 446, In 1945 station and street were given back their original name.

References

* * * Klaus Mühlfried
„Konfessionswechsel in der Spätaufklärung: Der Übertritt Martin Joseph Hallers vom Judentum zum lutherischen Bekenntnis“
in: ''Zeitschrift des Vereins für Hamburgische Geschichte'', vol. 91 (2005), pp. 51–75, retrieved on 24 February 2016.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haller, Ferdinand 19th-century German lawyers Mayors of Hamburg Senators of Hamburg (before 1919) Jews from Hamburg German Lutherans Heidelberg University alumni University of Göttingen alumni 1805 births 1876 deaths Jurists from Hamburg 19th-century Lutherans