Béla Wenckheim

Baron Béla Wenckheim ( born February 16, 1811 in Körösladány, Békés County, † July 7, 1879 in Budapest) was a Hungarian politician and 2 March to 20 October 1875 Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary.

Life

He came from the Hungarian branch Frankish noble family Wenckheim. He became member of parliament in 1839, 1848 and Lord Lieutenant Lord High Steward of the Palatine Archduke Stephan. Because of his participation in the revolution of 1848/49 he was forced to leave the country and was able to return until after the amnesty in 1860.

He joined the party of Ferenc Deák. After some local offices he became interior minister in 1867 in the government of Gyula Andrássy after the equalizer with Austria. In his brief tenure as interim prime minister, he opposed the growing anti-Semitism, directed primarily against the immigrant Galician Jews.

Under his successor, Kálmán Tisza he again held the office of Minister of the Interior. Several times he was appointed Minister á latere or Hungarian Minister at the royal court of Vienna, who ensure the continual closest connection between the Vienna court and ministries in Budapest, appointed. He died in 1879 in office after he had for 12 years continuously consulted six successive governments.

The sculptor János Fadrusz built to commemorate him in 1901 an equestrian statue in bronze in Kisbér.