Family History
From the 1433 letter of arms to the 21st century
Origins and Ennoblement
The von Gerlach family received a letter of arms in Rome in 1433. Prussian recognition and renewal of the noble status followed in 1735. The earliest reliably documented generation of the Prussian branch that would later establish itself in Pomerania and Brandenburg is recorded with Leberecht von Gerlach — court judge at Köslin in Hinterpommern. His son Friedrich Wilhelm von Gerlach (1711–1780) served as Privy Finance Councillor under Frederick the Great and laid the foundation for the family's Pomeranian estates with the acquisition of Schwemmin (1765) and Parsow (1779).
The 18th Century – Rise in Prussia
Two sons central to family history emerged from Friedrich Wilhelm's marriage: Ludwig Wilhelm August von Gerlach (1751–1809) became president of the court at Köslin and, from 1808, first president of the newly established Higher Regional Court there. His younger brother Carl Friedrich Leopold von Gerlach (1757–1813) — Privy Councillor of State and President of the Electoral Mark War and Domain Chamber — served as Lord Mayor of Berlin and acquired the estate of Rohrbeck in the Neumark in 1805, the later seat of the famous 'Gerlach brothers'.
The 19th Century – The Gerlach Brothers
Three brothers from Carl Friedrich Leopold's marriage to Agnes von Raumer helped shape the political and intellectual landscape of 19th-century Prussia. Ludwig Friedrich Leopold von Gerlach (1790–1861) became General of the Infantry and Adjutant-General to Frederick William IV — one of the king's most influential advisers. Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach (1795–1877), jurist and publicist, co-founded the Conservative Party and the 'Neue Preußische (Kreuz-)Zeitung' (1848); historian Hans-Joachim Schoeps called him 'the only systematic theocrat in modern history'. The third brother, Otto von Gerlach (1801–1849), was a theologian and court preacher at Berlin's castle chapel.
20th Century and Present
The Pomeranian main line under Landrat August von Gerlach (1830–1906) and his son Carl August von Gerlach-Parsow (1883–1945) finally united the three major estates of Parsow, Schwemmin and Drosedow under one ownership. In 1945 the Red Army shattered this estate definitively; Carl August was abducted and killed. The Parsow fideicommiss library and most of the manor buildings were destroyed. What survived is the Gerlach-Rohrbeck family archive: roughly 17,000 documents — letters, diaries and papers of the von Gerlach brothers — were transferred by Klaus von Gerlach to the University of Erlangen in 1954, where they remain available for scholarship. The widely branched family today nurtures this tradition through a family association.
Timeline
- 1433
Letter of arms granted to the von Gerlach family in Rome
- 1735
Prussian recognition and renewal of the noble status
- 1765
Friedrich Wilhelm von Gerlach acquires Schwemmin estate (Hinterpommern)
- 1779
Acquisition of the ancestral estate of Parsow
- 1805
Carl Friedrich Leopold von Gerlach acquires Rohrbeck in the Neumark
- 1809
Ludwig Wilhelm August von Gerlach becomes first president of the Köslin Higher Regional Court
- 1848
Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach co-founds the Conservative Party and the Kreuzzeitung
- 1861
General Leopold von Gerlach dies at Sanssouci, Potsdam
- 1877
Death of Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach in Berlin
- 1945
Loss of the Pomeranian estates to the Red Army; Carl August von Gerlach-Parsow murdered
- 1954
Family archive (~17,000 documents) transferred to the University of Erlangen
- Heute
Family association preserves memory, genealogy, and community
Quellen: Wikipedia-Artikel zu Ludwig Wilhelm August von Gerlach, Leopold von Gerlach (General), Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach und Otto von Gerlach; Gerlach-Rohrbecksches Familienarchiv an der Universität Erlangen; Wikimedia Commons (Portraits, Schloss-Parsow-Foto). Angaben nach bestem Wissen.