Johannes Versmann

Johannes Versmann
Johannes Versmann as First Mayor of Hamburg
Second Mayor of Hamburg
In office 1 January 1887 – 14 March 1887
Preceded by	Gustav Kirchenpauer
Succeeded by	Max Theodor Hayn ()
In office 1 January 1890 – 31 December 1890
Preceded by	Johann Georg Mönckeberg
Succeeded by	Carl Petersen
In office 1 January 1893 – 31 December 1893
Preceded by	Johann Georg Mönckeberg
Succeeded by	Johannes Lehmann ()
In office 1 January 1896 – 31 December 1896
Preceded by	Johann Georg Mönckeberg
Succeeded by	Johannes Lehmann
In office 1 January 1912 – 6 September 1912
Preceded by	Johann Georg Mönckeberg
Succeeded by	Johannes Lehmann
First Mayor of Hamburg and President of the Hamburg Senate
In office 14 March 1887 – 31 December 1888
Preceded by	Gustav Kirchenpauer
Succeeded by	Carl Petersen
In office 1 January 1889 – 31 December 1889
Preceded by	Carl Petersen
Succeeded by	Johann Georg Mönckeberg
In office 1 January 1891 – 31 December 1891
Preceded by	Johann Georg Mönckeberg
Succeeded by	Carl Petersen
In office 1 January 1894 – 31 December 1894
Preceded by	Johann Georg Mönckeberg
Succeeded by	Johannes Lehmann ()
In office 1 January 1897 – 31 December 1897
Preceded by	Johann Georg Mönckeberg
Succeeded by	Johannes Lehmann
Personal details
Born	7 January 1820 Sankt Pauli
Died	28 July 1899 (1899-07-29) (aged 79) Hamburg
Nationality	German
Political party	Nonpartisan
Alma mater	Ruperto Carola Georgia Augusta

Johannes Georg Andreas Versmann (7 January 1820 in Sankt Pauli – 28 July 1899 in Hamburg) was a German lawyer and politician. He was the first president of the new Bürgerschaft of Hamburg in 1859 and dominated the politics of the Hanseatic state as first or second mayor between 1887 and 1899.

Versmann was educated in the classical institutions of the city, Christianeum, where he established a lifelong friendship with the classical scholar Theodor Mommsen, and Johanneum until 1840. He studied law at the Georgia Augusta in Göttingen and at the Ruperto Carola in Heidelberg until 1844 and settled as lawyer in Hamburg in the same year. Versmann came in contact with the ideas of liberalism during his studies and stayed with them throughout his life.

The lawyer was elected as a liberal member of the Hamburger Konstituante in 1848 but the restoration, supported and enforced by Prussian troops during the First Schleswig War, led to the removal of this body 1850.

The next political engagement was the membership of the first Hamburg Parliament (Bürgerschaft) in 1859. The liberal politician became president of the parliament and stayed in this office until 1861, when he was elected as one of the 24 lifelong members of the governing Senate of Hamburg (senate). Versmann became second mayor for the first time in 1887 and moved from this office to the office of first mayor and back to the second one several times until his death in 1899.

The liberal managed against the resistance of the Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, to integrate the city in the customs territory of the German Empire in 1888 while maintaining an additional status as a Freeport.