Hermann Wagener

Friedrich Wilhelm Hermann Wagener (March 8, 1815 in Segeletzt (now Wusterhausen) – April 22, 1889 in Friedenau (now part of Berlin)) was a Prussian jurist, chief editor of the Kreuzzeitung (The "New Prussian Newspaper") and was a politician and minister from the Prussian Conservative Party.

Wagenar was the son of a country priest from Neuruppin. After studies and graduation in Salzwedel in 1835 he studied legal science in Berlin. He was interested in the judicial philosophy of Friedrich Julius Stahl and the economic theories of Karl Ludwig von Haller regarding political legitimacy.

He followed the usual legal career, becoming a law clerk in 1838 at the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt (Oder) under vice president Ludwig von Gerlach and worked from 1844-1847 as an attorney at the Prussian land-improvement bureau and later at the consistory at the province of Saxony. In 1847 he became an appellate court attorney representing the consistory in Madeburg where he was assigned to prosecute liberal clergyman Leberecht Uhlich.

He left government service in 1848 and established himself as a lawyer at the High court, and at the request of Gerlach founded the organ of the Prussian conservative party, the New Prussian Newspaper to Save the Monarchy. He served as its chief editor until 1854. Theodor Fontane, who worked with him at the time, said in his memoirs Wagenar was a "sort of side-sun to Bismarck." Through his close-working with Otto von Bismarck, Wagenar became one of the best-known and controversial conservative pundits. In 1848 he founded the "Society for King and Fatherland."

In 1854 he retired from editing the newspaper (called the Kreuzzeitung because it featured a large iron cross) and invested his severance in a scheme in Neustettin (now Szczecinek) and worked as a criminal lawyer in Berlin. In 1856 he resigned his position as Justizrat and settled in Farther Pomerania to run for office. He became a clever and quick-witted speaker of the Prussian House of Representatives (Preußisches Abgeordnetenhaus) and provided great service to his party from 1867 in the North-German and from 1871 in the German Reichstag. His views often came with scientific justification, compiled in his 1859 "State and Society Dictionary."

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