Hermann Raster | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Collector of Internal Revenue for the First District of Illinois | |
| In office December 1869 – March 30, 1872 | |
| Appointed by | Ulysses S. Grant |
| Preceded by | Edmund Jüssen |
| Succeeded by | Samuel A. Irvin |
| Secretary of the State Assembly ofDessau | |
| In office 1848–1851 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Wilhelm Friedrich Hermann Raster May 6, 1827 |
| Died | July 24, 1891 (aged 64) |
| Resting place | Graceland Cemetery |
| Party | Free Soil (1851-1854),Republican (1854-1891) |
| Spouse(s) | Emilia Hahn Margarethe Oppenheim |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | University of Leipzig,University of Berlin |
| Profession | Editor, journalist, politician |
| Signature |  |
Hermann Raster (May 6, 1827 – July 24, 1891) was anAmerican editor, abolitionist, writer, andanti-temperancepolitical boss who served as chief editor and part-owner of theIllinois Staats-Zeitung, a widely circulated newspaper in theGerman language in the United States, between 1867 and 1891. Together with publisherA.C. Hesing, Raster exerted considerable control over the German vote in theMidwest and forced the Republican Party to formally adopt an anti-prohibition platform in 1872, known as theRaster Resolution.[1] He was appointed asCollector of Internal Revenue for the First District of Illinois by PresidentUlysses S. Grant but resigned from this post shortly thereafter.[2] Raster returned to Europe in 1890 when his health began to fail him and died filling a minor diplomatic role inBerlin.[3] Today he is best remembered for his extensive correspondence with Western intellectual and political figures of the time, such asJoseph Pulitzer,Elihu Washburne, andFrancis Wayland Parker, much of which is preserved at theNewberry Library inChicago.[4]
Raster was born inZerbst, in theDuchy of Anhalt-Dessau on May 6, 1827, to a family from theGerman nobility. He was the son of statesmanWilhelm Christian Raster, a friend ofLeopold IV, Duke of Anhalt who served as the chief Collector of Customs and Excise for the Duchy and was a noted translator from theEnglish language.[5] His father insisted he learn English from a young age and had a tutor brought from England to instruct him.[6] A naturally talented linguist, Raster was fluent in seven languages by the time he completed his education. He graduated from theUniversity of Leipzig in 1846 and then theUniversity of Berlin in 1848, studyingphilology,linguistics, and history at his father's behest. Despite his father's wishes for him to pursue a career in philology, Hermann Raster was more interested in journalism and politics than in academia. In 1849 he took a position as the stenographer of the Anhalt Legislature and shortly thereafter was named Secretary of the State Assembly of Dessau. Spurred by an encounter with the writerBettina von Arnim, Raster became an important leader of the1848 Revolution in Dessau, and passionately wrote pamphlets criticizing both theCaesaropapism of theLutheran Church and theautocracy of the state. Despite his youth, he was made Chief Stenographer of the both short-lived and revolutionaryErfurt Parliament in March 1850. In 1851, during the aftermath of the failed revolutions, Raster was given the choice to emigrate permanently from theGerman States like otherForty-Eighters or to face criminal prosecution for his actions.[7]
Raster arrived inNew York City in July, 1851 and first found employment as a wood-chopper at a farm nearTioga, Pennsylvania.[7] He left for Buffalo in the spring of 1852, accepting the position of editor for theBuffalo Demokrat. His journalistic reputation grew quickly and in February 1853, Raster was made editor of theNew-Yorker Abend-Zeitung, one of the most influential German-language papers of the time. He had a wife, Emilia Berta Hahn Raster, born in 1836, and a daughter, Mathilde, with her in 1855. While living in New York, he became an active member of theRepublican Party. In 1856, he became an elector in the1856 presidential election. Raster was influential in leading the German-American switch to the Republican Party in 1856, swaying German public opinion via his pro-union,anti-slavery articles in the German press, and promoting the personal liberty cause. He was a very strong supporter ofAbraham Lincoln and helped convince the German and European communities to vote Republican. His wife, Emilia, died on October 14, 1861, at the age of 25, of an unknown cause. She is interred at Evergreens Cemetery in New York.[8] During theAmerican Civil War, he was the primary American correspondent for the newspapers in Berlin, Bremen, Vienna, and other Central European cities, and was regarded as more effective in campaigning for the American cause in Germany than any politicians at the time.[7][9] He returned to Germany briefly during the war to drum up support for the Union and find investors for Union bonds.[10] Up until 1867 he was also the Wagonmaster of theUnited States Custom House in New York City.[11]
In 1867, Raster acceptedA.C. Hesing's offer for the position as editor for theIllinois Staats-Zeitung inChicago, a position he kept until his death. Raster was a delegate to the1868 Republican National Convention, where he was chairman of the platform committee.[12] In 1869, he was appointed the Collector of Internal Revenue for the District of Chicago.[13] During theGreat Chicago Fire of 1871, Raster lost his home, and the newspaper building and all of its archives and contents were destroyed. Regardless of the extreme loss, the Staats-Zeitung (under Raster's administration) was the first newspaper in Chicago to print the news of the fire, having gathered enough supplies to resume printing less than 48 hours after the catastrophe.[14] In Later the same year, he was re-appointed the position as Collector of Internal Revenue by PresidentUlysses S. Grant.[15] In 1872, Raster resigned from the position as Collector of Internal Revenue to save more time for the paper and help campaign for Grant in the upcoming election. That same year at the National Republican Convention inPhiladelphia inserted the "Raster Resolution" in its platform which greatly opposed theTemperance movement. Raster held so much influence over the German community he once threatened to leave the party if Prohibition was not made an issue and the resolution not passed and with him the entire German vote, which was a substantial base of power for the Republican Party in the West. During theHaymarket Affair, Raster was trying to delegate the rioters before he left the scene when he realized any hope for containing the situation was lost. Once the perpetrators were caught he wrote a letter to the Governor,John Peter Altgeld demanding that the prisoners be put to death.
He blamed the recent German "immigrant radicals" for the issues at hand and suggested immigration reforms be made, stating, "Unfortunately it is from the German Reich that these bloody scoundrels, these socialists, communists, and anarchists have come."[16] Despite his own history as a revolutionary, Raster drafted an "Anarchist Expulsion Bill" in 1887 for Congressional Debate.[17]
Raster was an active member of the ChicagoIntelligentsia of the late 19th century, and was on the first 9-member board of theChicago Public Library in the 1870s.[18] He was also on theChicago Board of Education for many years, and was on the board of trustees for theField Museum of Natural History.[19]
Raster died on July 24, 1891, inKudowa-Zdrój,Silesia, where he had traveled in June 1890 because of his poor health.[20]
His body was brought back to the United States on board theSSEider of theNorddeutscher Lloyd. On August 12, his funeral services were conducted at the German Press Club in Chicago, and speakers from as far away as New York and New Jersey attended.[21] The hall was decorated with hanging crepes and his casket, made of walnut and "heavily" mounted with silver, was "literally covered in floral emblems sent by various German-American press organizations." The German American Press Club of Philadelphia sent a large anchor, and the German Club ofHoboken, New Jersey, gave a laurel wreath wrapped in the colors of the 1848 revolution, which Raster was a part of, that said, "To the German Hero from the German Club." His wife Margarethe refused to leave his casket and "sobbed violently" until the group convinced her to go to her carriage.[22] Honorary pallbearers at his funeral included MayorHempstead Washburne and SenatorCharles B. Farwell.[23]
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On his death, theChicago Tribune produced an article which said, "His writings during and after the Civil War did more to create understanding and appreciation of the American situation in Germany and to float U.S. bonds in Europe than the combined efforts of all the U.S. ministers and consuls." Raster was interred atGraceland Cemetery on August 13, 1891, where his grave remains today.[21]
In 1891, Raster's family and friends posthumously published a novel filled with his travel papers, essays, and biography, titled "Reisebriefe von Hermann Raster: mit einer Biographie und einem Bildniss des Verfassers".[24] The novel was accredited to Raster, though the introduction and biographer remain unknown. The essays chronicle the life travels and experiences of Raster.
Over 3,900 of his papers, correspondence, notes, and manuscripts were donated to theNewberry Library in 1893.[7] In 1893 the Hermann Raster School was opened on 6937 Wood St in Chicago and had 200 students. In 1910, the larger Hermann Raster Elementary School was built at 6936 Hermitage Ave,[7] but the school has since changed names and hands, and is now the campus of The Montessori School of Englewood.
Raster's son-in-law was Chicago architectArthur Hercz and his granddaughter Corrine married Chicago-based industrialist and horticulturistBruce Krasberg.[25]
| Preceded by | Collector of Internal Revenue for the 1st District of Illinois December 1869 - March 30, 1872 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Editor in Chief of theIllinois Staats-Zeitung 1867-1891 | Succeeded by |
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