Alois Rittler

Alois Rittler (born January 26, 1839 in each home ; † August 5, 1890 in Regensburg ) was a Catholic priest , editor , Lyzealprofessor and member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Bavarian State Parliament (1875-1890).

Live and act

Career

Rittler was born in the village of Immerheim in the Illertissen district office . He attended grammar school in Augsburg , studied theology and philosophy at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome and at the University of Munich . He was awarded both Dr. theol. as well as Dr. phil. PhD . In 1865 Rittler was ordained priest in Augsburg. In 1868 he became secretary of the Bishop of Regensburg , Ignatius of Senestrey , then he worked briefly as a Lyceum professor in Mainz and in Rottenburg . Since 1872 he emerged as an editor: first with the “Volksbote”, after its end with the “Volksfreund” (both in Munich), from May 1873 to November 1876 then with the “Fränkisches Volksblatt” ( Würzburg ), from April 1877 to June 1878 finally also as editor of the "Catholic Flag". Rittler had been elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time in 1875 ( constituency Würzburg II), re-elections in 1881 and 1887 (constituency Traunstein ). In 1878 Rittler was transferred to the Maria-Eck pilgrimage church near Traunstein. In November 1882 he was appointed Lycee Professor for Philosophy in Regensburg, and in 1884 he was promoted to Lycee Rector. After his death in Regensburg, he was buried on August 9, 1890 in his birthplace, every home.

Parliamentarians

Rittler appeared politically for the first time in the Catholic club scene in Munich during the years of the Kulturkampf , where he (at that time editor of the "Volksbote") became a member of the "Katholischen Volksvereins" in January 1872. In this association, which in the spectrum of Bavarian Catholicism of those years can be described as populist-extreme, his "career as a celebrated meeting speaker" began. The pattern that can be seen here: editor of a Catholic newspaper and involvement in the local Catholic club scene was repeated after Rittler switched to the “Fränkisches Volksblatt” in Würzburg. He quickly gained influence in the local Catholic civic association and became its chairman in 1875. His election to the Chamber of Deputies in July 1875 should also be seen against this background.

The faction of patriots in the Chamber of Deputies, which Rittler joined in 1875, was divided in different directions, caused by the dispute over the correct opposition strategy against the liberal-imperial-friendly-culture-militant Bavarian government. For the Bavarian domestic politics of those years "was characterized by the fact that an ideologically liberal, politically state-conservative, pro-Reich and state-church-oriented state ministry continued to rule against a conservative, emphatically Bavarian, independent and Catholic majority of the Chamber of Deputies" ( Dieter Albrecht ). This led to the fact that Catholic-conservative forces in particular advocated radical means, including denial of budget or collective resignation, in order to force King Ludwig II to change government and politics. Rittler can be found here with the most extreme wing of the faction; however, he kept his distance from the “Catholic People's Party” of Johann Baptist Sigl .

In 1876, in response to these internal party debates, Rittler published his brochure “Where are we?”. Here he fundamentally criticized the orientation of the patriots as a political, non-denominational Catholic party; the religious character of the conflicts of the time, in which liberalism rose against the church and the divine world order, is misunderstood : “The present struggle is therefore in its innermost essence, in its origin and in its final goals, the social struggle for annihilation against the church as the representative and guardian of all divine and human legal order. ”In future, the party must appear as a“ Catholic party ”:“ Whoever fights for the blue and white flag must not put the Catholic flag in the corner. ”In 1877/78 an extreme group split up Rittler from the entire parliamentary group (never more than nine MPs), but without losing contact with the majority. Ultimately, these disputes only undermined the unity and assertiveness of the party.

Rittler reached the peak of his political effectiveness before and immediately after the state elections in 1881. At a shop stewards meeting of the extreme right in Regensburg on April 4, 1881, the “Regensburg Program” that he had written was passed, which was initially controversial, but then up to The party program of 1887 (now the Bavarian Center Party) remained formative. After the patriotic electoral success in the summer of 1881 (increase in the number of seats from 79 to 89 and thus an increase in the absolute majority), which came about not least because of an increased number of extreme MPs, the moderates and the extremes united in the "Fraction of the Right" . Rittler was able to commit the parliamentary group to a tough opposition strategy that pursued the goal of overthrowing the " Lutz System ". He himself represented this strategy as a spokesman for the cultural budget in the finance committee at the forefront. But when it became clear that Ludwig II was holding on to his ministers, and that their position had even been strengthened by the opposition strategy, resignation spread throughout the party: the extreme stance was abandoned again in 1882. With Rittler himself, something else was added: he had already abandoned his own strategy since March 1882 and publicly pleaded for a collaboration with Johann von Lutz ; When, in November 1882, his appointment as a high school professor in Regensburg became known, he had the reputation of being a traitor for selfish reasons. Rittler was a member of the parliamentary group's executive committee until 1885, but was then voted out because he was accused of indiscretions. Re-elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1887, he no longer joined the (now renamed) center group. Politically isolated, he belonged to the state parliament until his death.

Rumors

Rittler's political career was accompanied by rumors about his way of life, which began with the frequent changes of location and were used against him by interested parties. As early as 1872, Rittler had come into conflict with Archbishop Gregor von Scherr in Munich , who accused him not only of his radical speeches, but also of "the bad rumors (...) in moral terms". Similar difficulties arose in his Würzburg years, about which Joseph Hergenröther reported internally. The Prussian ambassador Georg von Werthern reported to Berlin in December 1881: Even as a young chaplain in Augsburg, Rittler had to be "suspended because of a dissolute lifestyle"; Bishop Senestrey of Regensburg had "removed him for the same reason"; in Rottenburg he had "tricked two old spinsters out of a lot of money", in Munich he then got into conflict with the police "because he had an illegitimate prostitute with him as a housekeeper". That these statements are rooted in Werthern's anti-Catholicism and his fight against all Bavarian particularism is shown by his conclusion: "This is the leader of the Pfäffischen Rotte (...)"; Other sources also show that these rumors were in the world. The former leader of the patriotic faction, Joseph Edmund Jörg , tried to thwart Rittler's election in Traunstein in 1881 and ammunitioned Rittler's internal party opponents with material. In a letter from October 1881 he summarized: Rittler had “experienced fatherly joys for the second time”; the Chamber of Deputies had repeatedly received postcards describing him as a "miserable whore fool"; he would have sold internal committees of the Chamber of Deputies to newspapers; He did not even want to talk about Rittler's “relations with the opposite sex”. The truth of such accusations could at most be determined by a biography of Rittler drawn from the sources, but such a biography does not exist. The historian Friedrich Hartmannsgruber at least thinks he can take stock: "In general, Rittler was characterized as selfish, ambitious, cunning and ruthless, but also as gifted and with great charisma in word and writing." The former parliamentary group colleague and later chamber president, Georg Orterer , a party member Opponent of Rittler, noted on the occasion of the news of death: "Dr. Rittler died quickly, even if after a long suffering (sugar dysentery). An eventful life, a rich spirit at an end. Dies alone and lonely as his life was last. - RIP "

literature

• Dieter Albrecht: From the founding of the empire to the end of the First World War. In: Alois Schmid (Ed.): Handbuch der Bayerischen Geschichte Volume IV, 1, CH Beck, Munich 2003, pp. 319-438.
• Johann Valentin Hart: Dr. Alois Rittler. A fighter for Christian custom, truth and justice. Schneider, Würzburg 1953.
• Friedrich Hartmannsgruber: The Bavarian Patriot Party 1868-1887 (= series of publications on Bavarian national history, volume 82). CH Beck, Munich 1986.
• Karl Möckl : The time of the Prince Regent. Society and politics during the era of Prince Regent Luitpold in Bavaria. Oldenbourg, Munich / Vienna 1972.

Web links

• Entry on Alois Rittler in the history database of the Bavarian Parliament at the House of Bavarian History

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The information in this section follows: Friedrich Hartmannsgruber: Die Bayerische Patriotenpartei 1868–1887. Munich 1986, p. 131 f. Note 61 and Karl Möckl: The time of the Prince Regent. Munich / Vienna 1972, p. 68 note 121.
2. ^ So Friedrich Hartmannsgruber: Die Bayerische Patriotenpartei 1868-1887. Munich 1986, p. 219.
3. ^ Friedrich Hartmannsgruber: Die Bayerische Patriotenpartei 1868-1887. Munich 1986, p. 213 and p. 239.
4. ↑ Dieter Albrecht: From the foundation of the empire to the end of the First World War. Munich 2003, pp. 319–438, here: p. 377.
5. ↑ Quotes from “Where are we?” According to Friedrich Hartmannsgruber: Die Bayerische Patriotenpartei 1868–1887. Munich 1986, p. 326.
6. ↑ Printed: Schultheß European History Calendar 1881, pp. 164–166.
7. ^ Anton Landersdorfer: Gregor von Scherr (1804–1877). Archbishop of Munich and Freising during the First Vatican and the Kulturkampf. Munich 1995, p. 483 f.
8. ↑ Joseph Hergenröther reports on Rittler in a letter to Andreas Steinhuber dated February 8, 1874, printed in: Georg Denzler : Joseph Hergenröther's position on Vaticanum I based on his letters to Andreas Steinhuber, the rector of the Collegium Germanicum-Ungaricum in Rome, which were edited here for the first time . In: Zeitschrift für Bayerische Landesgeschichte 39 (1976), pp. 445–486, the letter of February 8, 1874: pp. 471–475, on Rittler: p. 473 ff. ( Digitized version ).
9. ↑ Werthern's report of December 3, 1881, printed by Möckl: Die Prinzregentenzeit. Munich / Vienna 1972, p. 57, note 79.
10. ↑ Jörg's letter to Michael Rampf of October 26, 1881, printed in: Dieter Albrecht (Ed.): Joseph Edmund Jörg: Briefwechsel 1846–1901. Mainz 1988, pp. 468-470.
11. ^ Friedrich Hartmannsgruber: Die Bayerische Patriotenpartei 1868-1887. Munich 1986, p. 132, note 61.
12. ↑ Georg (von) Orterer's notebook, entry from August 5, 1890 (private property).