Emil Preetorius

For the German illustrator and graphic artist, see Emil Preetorius (visual artist).

Emil Preetorius
Member of the Missouri House of Representatives
In office 1862–1864
Personal details
Born	(1827-03-15)March 15, 1827 Alzey, German Confederation
Died	November 19, 1905(1905-11-19) (aged 78) St. Louis, Missouri
Political party	Radical Republican
Spouse	Magdalena Schmidt
Children	2
Alma mater	Heidelberg University
Occupation	Journalist, lawyer, activist

Emil Preetorius (15 March 1827 – 19 November 1905) was a 19th-century journalist from St. Louis. He was a leader of the German American community as part owner and editor of the Westliche Post, one of the most notable and well-circulated German-language newspapers in the United States.

Biography

He was born in Alzey, then part of the German Confederation, and attended gymnasiums at Mainz and Darmstadt, and then the Universities of Giessen and Heidelberg. He graduated from Heidelberg in 1848. He began the practice of law with considerable success, but in consequence of having participated in the revolutionary movements of 1848, he was obligated to leave Germany in 1850.

Preetorius arrived in St. Louis in 1854, and engaged for a while in mercantile pursuits. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he devoted his time and means to organizing German regiments and sending them to the field. In 1862, he was elected to the Missouri state legislature on the radical emancipation ticket, and positioned himself as an "immediate emancipationist". In 1864, he resumed business pursuits, became editor of the Westliche Post, and took an active part in the presidential campaign. In 1872, he identified himself with the Liberal Republicans. Preetorius was a crisp, clear writer, and a logical and convincing speaker. His lectures on aesthetics, philosophy and history attracted much attention, not only among Germans, but among English speakers as well. His direction placed the Westliche Post in the front rank of American journalism.

When the Westliche Post merged with the Anzeiger des Westens in 1898, he and Carl Daenzer, the latter the editor of the Anzeiger, both retired. Preetorius died at his home at 2013 Park Avenue in St. Louis. The year before his death, influenced by his son, Edward L. Preetorius, he had refused a decoration from Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. He had also refused decorations from the Kaiser in years past. He never went back to Germany saying that when he would have gone back he could not, and when he could have gone back, he would not.

See also

• Forty-Eighters
• German American journalism

Further reading

• Saalberg, Harvey. "Dr. Emil Preetorius, Editor-in-Chief Of The 'Westliche Post' 1864-1905," Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society (1968) 24#2 pp 103–112.
• J. Thomas Scharf, History of St. Louis etc. (2 vols.), Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts & Co., 1883, v. I, p. 942.
• "Preetorius, Emil". Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. VIII, Part 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1963. p. 185.
• Obituary from The New York Times

The Naked Truth, unveiled in 1914, was a gift to the city of St. Louis by the German-American Alliance in honor of Carl Schurz, Emil Preetorius and Carl Daenzer, editors of the Westliche Post. (sculptor Wandschneider)

• Lawrence O. Christensen (1999). "Emil Preetorius". Dictionary of Missouri biography. University of Missouri Press. p. 624. ISBN 9780826260161.