Karl Rudolf Friedenthal

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Karl Rudolf Friedenthal (September 15, 1827, Breslau - March 7, 1890, died on his estate, Giesmannsdorf, near Neisse/Nysa) was a Prussian statesman.

He was a nephew of Markus Bär Friedenthal, the author, and later became a convert to Christianity. He attended the gymnasium at Neisse (1839-44), studied law at Breslau, Heidelberg, and Berlin, and became (1854) "Kammergerichtsassessor". He also made himself practically acquainted with agriculture in the management of his property.

In 1856 Friedenthal was elected district deputy from Neisse, and in 1857 deputy to the Prussian Landtag. In 1860 he published the pamphlet "Salus Publica Suprema Lex," urging the reorganization of the army. Elected to the Reichstag of North Germany in 1867, he joined the "Altliberalen," but after the following election he became a "Freiconservative" ("Reichspartei"). Successively member of the Zollparlament and of the imperial Reichstag, Friedenthal was prominent in the proposal and passage of many bills. During the Franco-Prussian war he took part, on Bismarck's invitation, with Blankenburg and Bennigsen in the deliberations at Versailles on the constitution of the empire. He was elected to the Prussian Chamber of Deputies in 1870, and became in 1873-74 its second vice-president. In 1874 he was appointed minister of agriculture; and in 1879 the Department of Domains and Forests, till then under the minister of finance, was put in his charge. From October, 1877, to March, 1878, during the absence of Eulenberg, he was head of the Ministry of the Interior. In 1879, being unable to accept Bismarck's new economical policy, he resigned, declining a patent of nobility. The same year he was elected member of the Upper House, but in 1881 resigned, and retired to the management of his estate. Besides his doctor dissertation, "De Rerum Litigiosarum Alienatione ex Jure Romano," 1845, Friedenthal published "Reichstag und Zollparlament"

[edit] References

• Brockhaus. Konversations-Lexikon, 1902;

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain. ([1]). By Isidore Singer & Newell Dunbar