Mathias Schneider


Mathias Schneider was a Hungarian-German judge. He acted as the spokesman of a Danube Swabian deputation during the dissolution of the Banat Military Frontier in 1872/73. Schneider was elected judge in Karlsdorf in 1871 and, after the end of military administration, was the first person there to hold a constitutional judicial office until 1875.

Youth

Schneider was the son of Franz Schneider, a respected citizen of Karlsdorf who was regarded as a “man of the people.” During the revolutionary period of 1848/49, his father came into conflict with Serbian troops because of his contacts with Hungarian units. According to a report by local historian Ludwig Szmida, the then 14-year-old Mathias prevented his father’s arrest through deception.

Political activity

The Banat Military Frontier was dissolved in 1871/72. Prior to this, the region had been subject to a military administration with its own penal law, which provided for swift procedures and severe punishments.
Although municipal judges were elected, they possessed only limited authority, as they were bound by military law. Under these conditions, Schneider was elected judge of Karlsdorf in 1871. As a civil servant in his thirties, he embodied the transition to bourgeois self-government.
On 12 May 1872, Emperor Franz Joseph I traveled to Weisskirchen to proclaim the dissolution of the Military Frontier. He was accompanied by high-ranking Hungarian politicians and influential legal scholars. The entourage included the Hungarian Prime Minister Count Menyhért Lónyay, the Hungarian Minister of National Defense Gedeon Ráday, as well as the jurists Ferenc Deák and Zsigmond Ormós. They were received locally by the royal commissioner Anton von Scudier. Because Serbian officer circles were offering resistance, Scudier appointed a deputation of 24 Karlsdorf farmers and designated Schneider as spokesman of the German communities of the Banat.
During the visit, confrontations occurred with officers who demanded the continuation of the Military Frontier and were under the command of a general. Schneider, however, resisted the intimidation attempts of the military.
Finally, Schneider was able to proclaim the dissolution of the Military Frontier in the town hall in the form of an ornate speech of thanks to the emperor, whereupon Franz Joseph I publicly confirmed its content.

Winding up of the military administration and ceremonial act of 1873

Scudier was now entrusted with winding up the frontier administration. When it officially came to an end on 24 August 1873, those responsible celebrated the successful integration of the Military Frontier into the civil administration with a public ceremonial event. On this occasion, Scudier, Ormós, and Schneider performatively expressed the unity of the military, the nobility, and the former soldier-farmers.
On Scudier’s recommendation, Schneider was awarded the Golden Merit Cross with the Crown by the emperor in 1872. He subsequently served as a constitutional judge in Karlsdorf.
Golden Merit Cross with the Crown