Austrian writer and politician; born at Alt-Ofen, Hungary, Dec. 8, 1816; died at Emmersdorf, near Klagenfurth, Carinthia, March 23, 1893. After studying medicine (1836-1844) he was appointed physician at the Vienna hospital. Fischhof was one of the leaders in the revolutionary movement of 1848, commanding the students' legion of Vienna and presiding over the Committee of Public Security. He was especially prominent in the Constitutional Assembly (Reichstag), in which he represented one of the Vienna districts. In the Liberal cabinet of Doblhof he was attached as counselor to the Ministry of the Interior. After the dissolution of the Kremsier Diet, March 7, 1849, Fischhof was arrested, accused of rebellion and high treason, but was acquitted after an imprisonment of nine months. He devoted himself to the practise of medicine until about 1875, when failing health compelled him to retire.
With Joseph Unger, later a member of the Austrian cabinet, he published in 1861 a pamphlet entitled "Lösung der Ungarischen Frage," in which he pleaded for the division of the empire into Austria and Hungary. After the Austro-Prussian war of 1866 Fischhof wrote "Ein Blick auf Oesterreich's Lage," and strongly advised an alliance with Germany. In his "Oesterreich und die Bürgschaften Seines Bestandes," 1869, he recommended an autonomous constitution for Austria. In conjunction with Walterskirchen he planned in 1882 the foundation of a German-Austrian people's party, which by concessions should act as a mediator in the question of nationalities and unite all liberal elements of the empire; but his efforts were frustrated by the resistance of the constitutional party. He also wrote: "Zur Reduktion der Kontinentalen Heere" (1875); "Die Sprachenrechte in den Staaten Gemischter Nationalität" (1885); and "Der Oesterreichische Sprachenzwist" (1888).
- Brockhaus, Konversations-Lexikon;
- Meyers Konversations-Lexikon;
- La Grande Encyclopedie;
- Die Neuzeit, 1893, No. 13;
- Wurzbach, Biographisches Lexikon der Oest.-Ungarischen Monarchie.