Ferdynand Radziwiłł

Ferdinand Prince Radziwill (actually Ferdynand Fryderyk Wilhelm Radziwill Aleksander ) (* October 19, 1834 in Berlin, † February 28, 1926 in Rome) was Fideikommissbesitzer and one of the leaders of the Polish minority in Germany.

Family and private life

He was the son of Prince Boguslaw Radziwill and his wife Leontyna Countess of Clary and Aldringens. One of the brothers was Edmund Prince of Radziwill.

Radziwill studied law and graduated from the usual preparation service. In 1855 he became a member of the Catholic Leseverein Berlin, now KStV Askania Burgundia in CT. Radziwill left the Prussian civil service as a government clerk. He then managed the family estates. As Heir of Olyka and other possessions he was big landowners.

In 1864 he married Princess Pelagia Sapieha ( 1844-1929 ). The couple had five children. One of the sons was the later Polish politician Janusz Radziwill. The family lived in Berlin as well as at Castle Antonin in a circle Adelnau.

Radziwill had family connections to the House of Hohenzollern ( cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm I) and contact with relevant dignitaries in Germany and Russia. Militarily, he was lieutenant-colonel of the reserve, before he was in 1879 appointed major general of cavalry à la suite.

Policy

From 1874 to 1918 Radziwill was a member of the Reichstag as a representative of the constituency administrative district of Posen 10 ( Adelnau - Schildberg ). There he worked for many years as chairman of the Polish faction. The Prussian House of Lords he was a member since 1879. He had a hereditary seat on the basis of the possession of the reign Przygodzice.

In the time of the Kulturkampf Radziwill was a Catholic staunch opponent of Otto von Bismarck. His house in Berlin was at times as a center of opposition to the church policy of the government. Fearing social disadvantages of the Catholic Polish upper class and even went on to distance Radziwill.

During his nearly thirty years of leadership of the Polish Group Radziwill always worked closely with the Centre Party. Because of the small number of group members they had to rely on support from other groups, in particular the Centre. In Parliament Radziwill took a moderate course and tried to get the rights of minorities to free exercise of religion and speaking their own language.

In 1917, Radziwill once again gave the manor from a loyalty commitment of Poland for Germany, but also called for a fundamental transformation of the Prussian Poland policy. Behalf of the government said to Paul von Breitenbach, cancel the expropriation laws and to facilitate the use of the Polish language.

After the end of World War I and the re- emergence of the Polish state Radziwill was a member of the Sejm. In 1919 he was presiding over the meeting.