August Breidenstein

August Breidenstein (born November 28, 1810 in Homburg before the height , † April 24, 1835 in New Orleans ) was a German doctor and revolutionary of the Vormärz epoch.

Life

August Breidenstein was the son of the court preacher Johann Georg Breidenstein († March 29, 1847). He enrolled at the Hessian Ludwig University on May 5, 1828 and was a medical student from July 1828. He was active in the Corps Starkenburgia . In the summer semester of 1830 he moved to the Georg-August University in Göttingen , where he joined the German Association .

With his brother Friedrich Breidenstein , a fraternity member from Giessen, he took part in the November uprising in Kraków , which was suppressed by tsarist troops. The brothers returned to the Grand Duchy of Hesse with Polish emigrants . The Poles, mostly young nobles and officers, moved in endless columns on prescribed roads through the German countryside in order to get into French or Swiss exile. One of these columns also led through Gießen in 1831/32, where it was warmly welcomed by the population. There were festivities and dance events that lasted for days. The Poles brought one of their national dances , the polonaise , to Giessen. However, they soon had to move on. On June 7, 1831 August Breidenstein was promoted to Dr. med. PhD. From 1832 he was a military doctor in Homburg.

Breidenstein belonged to the circle around the Giessen pastor Friedrich Ludwig Weidig . In 1832/33, he and his brother belonged to a revolutionary group that campaigned for the elimination of oppression and censorship . One wanted to bind the state power to law and order and separate it from the princely rule. In this group were the former Teutons Heinrich Eduard Scriba and Ernst pupils . In his capacity as a military doctor in Homburg, Breidenstein urged the soldiers to participate in his project. As later criminal investigations showed, the Breidenstein brothers - unlike Scriba and Schüler - were obviously not involved in the Frankfurt Wachensturm . Since they were still under suspicion, they preferred to emigrate to Bern via Strasbourg, Paris and Geneva. There they took part in the so-called Savoy march , a military act emanating from Switzerland for the liberation of Sardinia .

Breidenstein's acts of fraternization

As the leader of the Republicans, August Breidenstein came across Giuseppe Mazzini , who had founded a literary group under the names Young Europe and Young Italy . In pamphlets, Mazzini campaigned for a united Europe, among other things. After the failed Savoy move, August Breidenstein founded Young Germany with some like-minded people . As a literary movement, too, it tried to spread the German idea of freedom. In order to bring about an alliance with Mazzini, Breidenstein worked out a contractual basis. This "act of fraternization" was signed by Mazzini and the Breidenstein brothers on April 15, 1834. August was arrested in June 1834 as co-responsible for the leaflet To the Oppressed Teutschlands . Expelled from Switzerland for their political actions, the brothers emigrated to the United States . They settled in New York City . Soon seriously ill, August was cared for by his brother. At the age of 25 he succumbed to "nerve fever".

literature

Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Sub-Volume 1: A-E. Winter, Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-8253-0339-X , pp. 131-132.
Albert Portmann-Tinguely: Breidenstein, August. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Breidenstein, August , in: Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie , Vol. 2, p. 39 ( excerpt from Google Books )

Individual evidence

^ Kössler, Register for MATRIKELN und INSCRIPTIONSBÜCHERN of the University of Giessen (WS 1807/08 - WS 1850) (Giessen 1976).
↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1960, 37 , 33
↑ Antje Gerlach: German literature in exile in Switzerland . Frankfurt a. M. 1975, p. 40

Remarks

↑ The original of the “brotherhood file” is in the manuscript collection of the Giessen University Library.
↑ Fritz Breidenstein then returned to Europe and completed a medical degree in Strasbourg with an exam. In January 1839 he fell under the decree of the Hessian amnesty and settled in Homburg as a general practitioner. Politically, he was no longer active.

personal data
SURNAME	Breidenstein, August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German doctor and revolutionary
DATE OF BIRTH	November 28, 1810
PLACE OF BIRTH	Homburg vor der Höhe
DATE OF DEATH	April 24, 1835
Place of death	New Orleans

[1] Kössler, Register for MATRIKELN und INSCRIPTIONSBÜCHERN of the University of Giessen (WS 1807/08 - WS 1850) (Giessen 1976).

[2] Kösener Corpslisten 1960, 37 , 33

[3] Antje Gerlach: German literature in exile in Switzerland . Frankfurt a. M. 1975, p. 40

[4] The original of the “brotherhood file” is in the manuscript collection of the Giessen University Library.

[5] Fritz Breidenstein then returned to Europe and completed a medical degree in Strasbourg with an exam. In January 1839 he fell under the decree of the Hessian amnesty and settled in Homburg as a general practitioner. Politically, he was no longer active.