Otto Graf (From 1890,

Fürst ' (, female form ', plural '; from Old High German ', "the first", a translation of the Latin ') is a German word for a ruler and is also a princely title. ' were, since the Middle Ages, members of the highest nobility who ruled over states of ...

) zu Stolberg-Wernigerode (30 October 1837 – 19 November 1896) was an Imperial German politician and the

vice-chancellor of the German Empire The vice-chancellor of Germany, unofficially the vice-chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (), officially the deputy to the federal chancellor (), is the second highest ranking German cabinet member. The chancellor is the head of governm ...

Life

He was born at

Gedern Gedern is a town in the Wetteraukreis district in Hesse, Germany, and historically belongs to Oberhessen. It is located northeast of Hanau at the foot of the Vogelsberg, one of the largest inactive volcanoes in Europe. Neighboring towns Gedern ...

Castle,

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

, the third and last child of Count Hermann zu Stolberg-Wernigerode (1802–1841, himself a son of

Henry of Stolberg-Wernigerode Count Henry of Stolberg-Wernigerode (25 September 1772 in Wernigerode Castle – 16 February 1854 in Wernigerode Castle) succeeded his father in 1824 as ruler of the County of Wernigerode. Life Count Henry was the eldest son of Count Chris ...

) and his wife Countess Emma zu Erbach-Fürstenau (great-granddaughter of

George Albert III, Count of Erbach-Fürstenau George Albert III, Count of Erbach-Fürstenau (14 June 1731 – 2 May 1778), was a member of the German House of Erbach who held the fiefs of Fürstenau, Michelstadt and Breuberg. Born in Fürstenau, he was the sixth child and third (but second s ...

). The ancient noble

House of Stolberg The House of Stolberg is the name of an old and large German dynasty of the former Holy Roman Empire's high aristocracy ('' Hoher Adel''). Members of the family held the title of ''Fürst'' and ''Graf''. They played a significant role in feudal ...

had been quasi-sovereign rulers of their County of

Stolberg-Wernigerode The County of Stolberg-Wernigerode (german: Grafschaft Stolberg-Wernigerode) was a county of the Holy Roman Empire located in the Harz region around Wernigerode, now part of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was ruled by a branch of the House of Stolberg. ...

until the

German Mediatisation German mediatisation (; german: deutsche Mediatisierung) was the major territorial restructuring that took place between 1802 and 1814 in Germany and the surrounding region by means of the mass mediatisation and secularisation of a large number ...

, when they came under the jurisdiction of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

in 1815. His elder brother Albert (Albrecht) died, when he was four years old, his father died shortly afterwards from grief over the loss. Having been schooled in

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

, he read

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and administration science at the universities of

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Between 1859 and 1861, he served as a cavalry

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

in the

Gardes du Corps A ''Garde du Corps'' (French for lifeguard) is a military unit, formed of guards. A ''Garde du Corps'' was first established in France in 1445. From the 17th century onwards, the term was used in several German states and also, for example, in ...

regiment of the

Prussian Army The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power. The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...

. Stolberg had his

Wernigerode Castle Wernigerode Castle (german: Schloss Wernigerode) is a schloss located in the Harz mountains above the town of Wernigerode in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The present-day building, finished in the late 19th century, is similar in style to Schloss Ne ...

residence rebuilt in a lavish ''

Gründerzeit (; "founders' period") was the economic phase in 19th-century Germany and Austria before the great stock market crash of 1873. In Central Europe, the age of industrialisation had been taking place since the 1840s. That period is not precisely ...

'' style. In 1867 he was appointed First President (''Oberpräsident'') of the Prussian

Province of Hanover The Province of Hanover (german: Provinz Hannover) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946. During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, ...

at the instigation of Minister-president

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...

. Stolberg endeavoured to integrate the annexed province into the Prussian state. Having served in the North German Reichstag from 1867 to 1871, he became a member of the

Free Conservative Party The Free Conservative Party (german: Freikonservative Partei, FKP) was a liberal-conservative political party in Prussia and the German Empire which emerged from the Prussian Conservative Party in the Prussian Landtag in 1866. In the federal ele ...

and thereafter had a seat in both the

German Reichstag The Reichstag (, ; officially: – ; en, Parliament) is a historic government building in Berlin which houses the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. It was constructed to house the Imperial Diet (german: Reichstag) of the ...

and the

Prussian House of Lords The Prussian House of Lords (german: Preußisches Herrenhaus) in Berlin was the upper house of the Landtag of Prussia (german: Preußischer Landtag), the parliament of Prussia from 1850 to 1918. Together with the lower house, the House of Repres ...

(as its president from 1872). In March 1876 he became German ambassador in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, again on Bismarck's proposal. In 1878, he was appointed German Vice-Chancellor under Chancellor Bismarck. Stolberg was instrumental in the development of the Dual Alliance with Austria which was concluded in Autumn 1879. He also supported Bismarck's

Anti-Socialist Laws The Anti-Socialist Laws or Socialist Laws (german: Sozialistengesetze; officially , approximately "Law against the public danger of Social Democratic endeavours") were a series of acts of the parliament of the German Empire, the first of which was ...

, however, over time had more and more differences with the Chancellor and finally resigned from office in 1881. Stolberg remained an active politician, serving as Prussian treasurer and Minister of the Royal House. In 1890 he was granted the hereditary title of Prince (''

'' in German) by Emperor

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...

. Stolberg died at

, aged 59.

Marriage and issue

On 22 August 1863 at

Staniszów Staniszów (german: Stonsdorf) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Podgórzyn, within Jelenia Góra County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It lies approximately south of Jelenia Góra, and west of the re ...

Castle, he married Anna Reuss of Köstritz (1837–1907). They had the following children: * Christian Ernest (1864–1940), Prince of Stolberg-Wernigerode : married in 1891 Countess Marie of Castell-Rüdenhausen (1864-1942) * Elizabeth (1866–1928) : married in 1885 Count Constantin of Stolberg-Wernigerode (1843-1905) * Hermann (1867–1913) : married in 1910 princess Dorothea of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (1883-1942), daughter of

Hermann of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich Prince Herman Adolf of Solms-Lich-Hohensolms-Lich (15 April 1838 in Brtnice – 16 September 1899 in Lich, Hesse) was a German nobleman from the House of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich and a politician. Life Hermann was the eldest son of Prince Ferd ...

* William (1870–1932) : married in 1910 Princess Elizabeth of Erbach-Schönberg (1883-1966) * Henry (1871–1874) * Marie (1872–1950) : married in 1902 Count William of Solms-Laubach (1861-1936) * Emma (1875–1956) : married in 1894 Prince Charles of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (1866-1920)

Honours and awards

References

* Konrad Breitenborn: ''Graf Otto zu Stolberg-Wernigerode. Deutscher Standesherr und Politiker der Bismarckzeit. Ausgewählte Dokumente''. Jüttners Buchhandlung, Wernigerode 1993, * Konrad Breitenborn (Hrsg.): ''Die Lebenserinnerungen des Fürsten Otto zu Stolberg-Wernigerode (1837–1896)''. Jüttners Buchhandlung, Wernigerode 1996, {{DEFAULTSORT:Stolberg-Wernigerode, Otto 1837 births 1896 deaths People from Gedern People from the Grand Duchy of Hesse

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

German Protestants Free Conservative Party politicians Vice-Chancellors of Germany 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 Prussian House of Lords Members of the First Chamber of the Estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse Ambassadors of Germany to Austria Recipients of the Iron Cross (1870), 2nd class Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Recipients of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star of Romania