Paul Gautsch von Frankenthurn

Gautsch Paul Freiherr von Thurn Franken ( born February 26, 1851 in Dobling, † April 20, 1918 in Vienna ) was an Austrian politician and several times Prime Minister.

Life

Paul Gautsch was the son of a civil servant and attended the Viennese elite high school Theresianumgasse. After studying law at the University of Vienna and graduated in sub auspiciis, Gautsch 1874 began as a civil servant in the Ministry of Education. It was 1879 in the Cabinet Eduard Taaffe Minister of Education. In this position he remained until the fall Taaffe in November 1893. Additionally, in 1881 he took over the management of the Theresianum.

He was a signatory to the 1882 Marburg program of Franz Liszt. 1890 Gautsch was raised to the status of baron and 1895 to 1897 for a second time ordered by Kasimir Felix Badeni Minister for Culture and Education. Since 1895 he was a member of the manor house, the upper house of the Austrian Imperial Council. He was politically as representative of the Catholic restoration and opponent of German nationalism.

Prime minister

Gautsch officiated three times for a short time as Prime Minister of the transitional government. November 30, 1897 to March 5, 1898, from January 1, 1905 to May 1, 1906, again from June 28 to November 3, 1911 In his first term, he also served as Minister of the Interior.

His first term in a purely official Ministry was marked by the deep internal crisis, which had caused the bathing niches language ordinances. By adjournment of the incapacitated Reichstag Gautsch could govern only with emergency decrees. Because of protests against the dismissal Badeni in Prague Gautsch imposed a state of emergency. He failed in an attempt to find a pragmatic solution to the conflict by easing regulation. His proposal, each official must master the necessary languages ​​in the service, was open to many interpretations. Under the government Clary Aldringens the language ordinances were eventually repealed.

Gautsch took over after his resignation from 1899 to 1904 head of the Supreme Court, but was in 1905 again appointed Prime Minister. Once again, his tenure did not last long: Because his project of electoral reform encountered resistance of the bourgeois and conservative parliamentary majority, he resigned in the spring of 1906. This time, it was not until a successor, Max Wladimir von Beck, who in the summer of 1906 was able to implement Gautschs reform proposals. Then again Gautsch officiated as President of the Court.

A third time Gautsch was appointed in 1911 as Prime Minister, again. Internally in a politically tense situation His predecessor, Richard of Bienerth - Schmerling had found no working majority in Parliament, mainly due to the differences between German and Czech deputies. Following riots, triggered by crop failures and increased food prices, Gautsch gave up in November 1911, handed the office to Karl Stürgkh. He was politically even further than mansion member of various delegations as a confidant of Emperor Franz Joseph.

Gautsch was named after the passenger ship Baron Gautsch of the Austrian Lloyds, which ran on a minefield in August 1914. The disaster cost 147 people their lives.