Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg

Adolf Heinrich Graf^[1] Arnim-Boitzenburg (10 April 1803 – 8 January 1868) was a German statesman, and the first Prime Minister of Prussia.

After finishing his studies, he joined the Prussian civil service and soon became Landrat in the Uckermark. In 1833 he became Regierungspräsident in the Regierungsbezirk Stralsund. He later asusmed the same position in Aix-la-Chapelle and Merseburg. In 1840 he became President of the Province of Posen, and in 1842 Prussian Minister of the Interior. From 19 March 1848 to 29 March 1848 he was the Prussian Prime Minister.

From 18 May to 10 June 1848 he was a representative for Prenzlau in the Frankfurt Parliament. In 1850 he was a member of the Erfurt Union parliament, in 1854-1868 he belonged to various chambers of the Prussian Parliament and in 1839–1868 he belonged to the provincial parliament of Brandenburg.

Arnim is known to this day for his remarks as Prussian Interior Minister concerning Heinrich Heine's poem Die schlesischen Weber. In a report to King Frederick William IV he described it as "an address to the poor amongst the populace, held in an inflammatory tone and filled with criminal utterances" ("eine in aufrührerischem Ton gehaltene und mit verbrecherischen Äußerungen angefüllte Ansprache an die Armen im Volke"). Subsequently, the Royal Prussian Superior Court of Justice banned the poem, which led in 1846 led to a prison sentence for one person for reciting it.

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