Gagerin, Heinrich Von

Born Aug. 20, 1799, in Bayreuth; died May 22, 1880, in Darmstadt. Baron; German politician; a moderate liberal.

From 1820 to 1833, Gagern was a state official of the grand duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. In March 1848 he was the head of a Hesse ministry for a short time. Gagern played an important role in the preparation for and work of the Frankfurt National Assembly of 1848-49 and was its president from May to December 1848. He was a leader of the right-center group in the assembly. From December 1848 until May 1949 he was minister-president and minister of foreign affairs of the provisional all-German government. Gagern advocated the unification of Germany under Prussia’s dominance and without Austria’s participation (the program of the “Small German Party”). After the failure of these plans Gagern and a group of his followers (the so-called Gagern company) left the national assembly in May 1849. In the 1860’s Gagern joined the “Large German Party” and supported the Austrian plans for reforming the German Confederation. From 1864 to 1872 he was the Hesse minister in Vienna.