Eduard Heinrich von Flottwell

Who was Eduard Heinrich von Flottwell?

Eduard Heinrich Flottwell was a Prussian Staatsminister. He served as Oberpräsident of the Grand Duchy of Posen and of the Saxony, Westphalia and Brandenburg Provinces. He was also Prussian Minister of Finance and Minister of Interior.

Flottwell was born in Insterburg in the Province of East Prussia, studied law at the University of Königsberg and entered the civil service at the Insterburg court in 1805, from 1812 at the East Prussian Regierungspräsidium of Gumbinnen. After the Napoleonic Wars he together with Oberpräsident Theodor von Schön re-organised the administration of the West Prussian province at Danzig. In 1825 he was appointed Regierungspräsident of Marienwerder.

When in 1830 the Polish November Uprising led by Michał Gedeon Radziwiłł broke out at Warsaw in Russian Congress Poland, his brother Antoni Radziwiłł was dismissed as Duke-Governor of the Prussian Grand Duchy of Posen by King Frederick William III and the sole rule passed to Flottwell as the new Oberpräsident. He was a strong supporter of Germanisation and standardised schooling policies, which by some was seen as directed against ethnic Polish Prussians in the region.