Provenance and kinships (Johann) Georg Kerner was the elder brother of the poet-writer
Justinus Kerner. The brothers were born in
Ludwigsburg, a short distance to the north of
Stuttgart. Their father,
Christoph Ludwig Kerner (1744–1799) was an
Oberamtmann (senior government administrator) in
Württemberg (like his father before him), a loyal servant of
Duke Karl Eugen and a stern father to his sons. Georg was the eldest of his parents' twelve recorded children. (
Justinus was the youngest.) However, only two of the daughters and four of the sons survived to adulthood. One of the daughters later became the mother of the industrialising politician
Ferdinand von Steinbeis (1807–1893). One of the other sons,
Karl von Kerner served in the
Württemberg army,
ennobled in 1806 and later becoming Interior Minister, in which capacity he made an important contribution to modernising the
steel industry.
Early years As a schoolboy attending the
Latin school (classical/grammaer school) in
his home town Kerner, who was physically small and weak, suffered both from his father's severity and from bullying by schoolmates. His contrarian spirit remained unbroken, however, even after his father secured his admission in 1779 to the élite
Karlsschule (military and general academy) in Stuttgart, The tribute was generous, but sadly misleading. Georg Kerner's greatest purpose, the goal of his life, was a free united socially coherent Germany. In 1812 that remained a dream. == Output (selection) ==