Georg Adolph Demmler

He was born out of wedlock to Johann Gottfried Demmler, a chimney sweep from Güstrow, and Catarina Maria Meincke, the widowed daughter of a brewery owner.

Georg attended the gymnasium there until 1819, and had private drawing lessons, having shown artistic aptitude while with his foster parents.

He was expelled in 1823, due to his membership in the "Berliner Burschenschaft Arminia [de]", a Nationalist students' organization that had been banned.

[2] The following year, thanks to a recommendation from Schinkel, he became an assistant to the Chief Master Builder of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Carl Heinrich Wünsch [de].

Both of his parents died that year, so he used part of his inheritance to make study trips to Frankfurt am Main, Heidelberg and Munich.

Two years later, the new Grand Duke, Paul Frederick, enlisted him to help with his ambitious development plans and appointed him "Hofbaumeister" (Court Master Builder).

Court officials resented him for his humble background, and Paul Frederick's reign lasted for only five years, but he was able to draft most of the plans that were used for future projects, including the renovation of Schwerin Castle.

He was a delegate to the Lausanne Congress of the International Workingmen's Association and was one of the founders of the Peace and Freedom League, an organization devoted to creating a "United States of Europe".

His opposition to the unification of Germany, under the leadership of Prussia, led him to participate in the establishment of the German People's Party, a left-liberal group that slowly took a socialist direction, under the influence of August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht.