David Hansemann (1790–1864) |
David Justus Ludwig Hansemann (17. September 1790 - 4. August 1864) was a politician and bank manager in Prussia.
Hansemann was born in Finkenwerder near Hamburg as the son of a protestant clergyman. From 1817 he founded and managed
several financial firms in Aachen. Out of this he gains a significant wealth. He was known and respected for his
care for the people working for him and his generous gifts to charity. In 1821 he married his wife Fanny Fremery.
In the 1830s Hansemann started to engage in politics. He became a member of the Rheinischer Provinziallandtag
(local parliament of the Rhine area) and was one of the leading supporters of German liberalism.
In 1848 he became chancellor and later in the year prime minister of Prussia. Attacks on his liberal politics from both
the conservative and socialist (Karl Marx denounced him as a bootlicker) wings of the political spectrum caused his
politics to fail.
More successful was Hansemann's business activity. In 1851 he created the Disconto-Gesellschaft - a bank that was merged
in 1929 with Deutsche Bank. Hansemann also was engaged to create a common central bank (Notenbank) for the whole German
customs association - an economic and political association of some German states. He was successful to trigger the
creation Privatnotenbanken in several states.
Hansemann died in Schlangenbad near Frankfurt in 1864.
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