Hans Kudlich was an Austrian political activist, Austrian legislator, writer and physician.

Early life

Hans Kudlich was born on October 23, 1823 in Lobenstein

Úvalno

Úvalno is a village and municipality in Bruntál District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic.- Natives :* Hans Kudlich – Austrian political activist, Austrian legislator, writer and physician-Notes:...

 (now Úvalno) near Opava

Opava

Opava is a city in the northern Czech Republic on the river Opava, located to the north-west of Ostrava. The historical capital of Czech Silesia, Opava is now in the Moravian-Silesian Region and has a population of 59,843 as of January 1, 2005....

, Austrian Silesia

Austrian Silesia

Austrian Silesia , officially the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia was an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Empire, from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...

 (now Czech Silesia

Czech Silesia

Czech Silesia is an unofficial name of one of the three Czech lands and a section of the Silesian historical region. It is located in the north-east of the Czech Republic, predominantly in the Moravian-Silesian Region, with a section in the northern Olomouc Region...

) to a peasant family.

Political life

Hans Kudlich is noted for being a leader of the movement to end the feudal policies of the Austrian government. The Austrian government enforced a law known as the Robot Patent

Robot Patent

The Robot Patent was a labour rent abolished by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor who had carried out a register of all land with a division between peasant and noble holdings. Joseph II outlawed the buying of 'rustic' land by the nobility and at the same time giving the rusticalists security of tenure...

 which required farmers to provide labor without compensation to the noble landowners. Kudlich was elected to the Austrian

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

 Reichstag (parliament) in early 1848 at the age of 25. He introduced a bill to end forced servitude and the bill was approved by the legislature.

The parliament was dissolved by force on March 7, 1849 when the rebellion

Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas

From March 1848 through July 1849, the Habsburg Austrian Empire was threatened by revolutionary movements. Much of the revolutionary activity was of a nationalist character: the empire, ruled from Vienna, included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians,...

 that had briefly taken control of Vienna was crushed. Kudlich up to the time of the dissolution of the parliament had worked to rally support for the revolution. After the dissolution of the parliament he fled first to Germany and then to Switzerland.

Death

Hans Kudlich died November 11, 1917 in Hoboken

Hoboken, New Jersey

Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005. The city is part of the New York metropolitan area and contains Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the region...

, New Jersey. USA. There is a memorial to him in Poysdorf

Poysdorf

Poysdorf is a town in the district of Mistelbach in the Austrian state of Lower Austria....

, Austria. The memorial reads in part (English translation), "Dr. Hans Kudlich, peasant liberator, thanks to his memory, from the Austrian Silesian Hans Kudlich Committee, built in the year 2000".

Books by Hans Kudlich

• Rückblicke und Erinnerungen [Flashbacks and memories]. 3 vols Vienna-Leipzig-Budapest 1873 (Volume 1)
• Die Revolution des Jahres 1848 [The Revolution of 1848]. Leitmeritz 1913

External links

• http://www.germanheritage.com/biographies/atol/kudlich.html
• http://www.ohio.edu/chastain/ip/kudlich.htm
• Hans Kudlich papers