Anton Memminger

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Anton Memminger (around 1905)

Anton Memminger , pseudonym : Oswald Stein (born April 2, 1846 in Straubing ; † September 30, 1923 in Schonungen ) was a German publisher , author and politician .

Life

Memminger's parents gave the boy a "solid education". After finishing high school in Straubing, Memminger moved to the University of Würzburg . Here he studied law , political science and history . In 1867 he was among the founders of the free resounding academic association "Adelphia" one today in Würzburg as a fraternity based fraternity . He did his one-year military service in 1868 with the 2nd medical company in Würzburg. After that, he continued his studies only irregularly and dedicated himself to journalism . He married Babette Heusinger from Würzburg on August 22, 1869.

In the summer of the following year (1870) he entered military service on the occasion of the war against France . Because of his unfit for war he was assigned to the guards of the POW camps in Ingolstadt and Straubing . There he had contacts with prisoners of the Irish Legion, through whom he received the spiritual stimuli for his conflict with Celts and Druids .

Back in Würzburg he went back to his job as a journalist for the "Würzburger Journal". In Nuremberg he is said to have made an appeal for the philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach in 1872 . In the collected edition of Feuerbach's work you can find Memminger's speech, which he gave at the philosopher's grave:

“Feuerbach was not just an atheist and republican, for him there was no difference in birth, denomination, class or property, for him all people were the same, they were his brothers. Feuerbach was an international democrat. - In the name of all the social republicans of the world, in the name of his friends Vaillant , Karl Marx , Johann Jacoby , Bebel and Liebknecht , I lay the laurel wreath on the coffin of the noble dead. "

He was forced to flee abroad because of lese majesty. He moved to Switzerland , where he dealt intensively with economic and technical studies. In 1881 he published a work on the future development of the Royal Bulgarian Railway. This work made him a railroad expert, and further work in this area followed. A certain amount of fortune came from this work, with which he subsidized the activities in the second half of his life. In 1882 he was finally pardoned by Ludwig II of Bavaria , with whom he also maintained personal contacts. This enabled Memminger to return to Würzburg in 1883. There he resumed his journalistic and publishing activities. With his brother Thomas he also ran the associated printing company.

Memminger was convicted of libel of majesty because in June 1886, after the death of King Ludwig II, he had written the following in the Bavarian newspaper :

"You can't expect the people to transfer the awe, love and respect, which they did not deny to the brilliant King Ludwig II even in misfortune, to an incurably stupid prince."

Memminger has always been a defiant character and an "advocate for those in distress". Together with Karl Freiherr von Thüngen-Roßbach (1839–1927) he founded the (partly anti-Semitic ) "Franconian Farmers' Union" in 1893 . At the beginning of his political ambitions there were contacts with the highest circles. Memminger was particularly proud of his acquaintance with Otto von Bismarck . He keeps coming back to this in his books. He also regularly publishes articles on Bismarck in the “Neue Bayerische Landeszeitung” published by his publishing house and printed in Würzburger Domerpfarrgasse since April 1897.

Finally, in 1903, Memminger became a member of the Second Chamber of the Bavarian State Parliament . But soon he withdrew from politics in disgust and moved into his retirement home in Schonungen near Schweinfurt . Now another phase followed in which he published a number of books, with the focus on local history works on Main Franconia . Among other things, he wrote a book about the Mainberg Castle for the Schweinfurt entrepreneur Ernst Sachs . He also published a book on the spa town of Bad Kissingen in 1923 . This work, "with excellent press reviews, has registered the author, the long-time visitor and glorifier of the Saale swimming pool, with the honorary citizenship of the city of Kissingen".

The “Gebrüder Memminger Verlagsbuchhandlung” in Würzburg was a victim of the bombing night of March 16, 1945 in Würzburg and is no longer traceable afterwards.

Anton Memminger, Mainberg Castle 'and the Druids'

“After Jens Sattler's death, the widow took the piled-up treasures in her all too faithful hat. I may say this because when, after Prince Bismarck's dismissal, on behalf of rich gentlemen, I made her the offer to hand over the castle to Prince Bismarck, to whom the buyers wanted to give it as a retirement home, she could not part with her proud property. "

That quote is interesting. On behalf of which “rich man” was Memminger working here? Memminger's references to Mainberg Castle go back at least to 1886. At that time he got to know "American Druids" in Bad Kissingen . They invited him to a ritual celebration on a hill next to Mainberg Castle. Since 'American druids' are mostly well-off Americans who were often business people, the question arises whether it wasn't these gentlemen who wanted to give Bismarck a retirement home. Such thoughts, however, must remain pure speculation, since they cannot be substantiated by anything.

Here are further references for the Mainberger Druid Meeting:

“In 1886 I became acquainted with American druids in Bad Kissingen. They liked my historical knowledge and asked me to give the speech that is printed in the introduction to this publication at a festival in the Druidenhain in Mainberg. Thirty years later the new owner of the castle in Mainberg, Privy Councilor Sachs , asked me to write the history of the castle. "
Mainberg Castle near Schweinfurt in spring 2005
“In the ancient oak grove near the splendidly situated Mainberg Castle , where the druids, the priests of the Celtic indigenous people, celebrated their worship more than two thousand years ago, a number of around sixty strange men in white coats gathered on St. John's Day in 1886 mysterious celebration. Most of the participants had come from Bad Kissingen, the majority of them were Americans. After singing a song, two speakers appeared one after the other. The first spoke English and greeted the meeting. The second spoke German, explained the purpose of the meeting and explained to the attentive audience that they were here in a holy place where the druids and bards, the priests and singers of the Celts who had settled here since time immemorial, held their services was consecrated and safe. "
“The grove, in which the Druid Conference of 1886 took place, is on the level opposite Mainberg Castle, which is bordered by vineyards to the south and by the Bachtal to the east. The grove is a wonderful oak forest, which on its southern edge offers a magnificent view of the main valley as far as the Steigerwald and Schwanberg. This grove once formed the center of an empire that was inhabited by the Celts, an undoubtedly gifted people, who stretched across central and southern Germany, Belgium and France, the Alps and northern Italy before the German migration. "

Services

Historical advertisement of the Memminger Verlag in Würzburg around 1920

Memminger's lifetime achievements lie in two areas. At one point, in the first phase of his life, he was an exceptional railroad expert. His numerous publications give an indication of this. Unfortunately, this phase of his life has been little explored. He also built up the “Gebrüder Memminger Verlagbuchhandlung” in Würzburg. This had an important position in the university city of Würzburg for many years. A flood of scientific publications was printed in this house. The newspapers Neue Bayerische Landeszeitung , Bayerische Landeszeitung and Fränkische Landeszeitung also appeared there - including their various supplements and weekly papers ( Bayerischer Bauernbund , Marktbärbel , Alma Julia , Illustrierte Wochenendpost , Gute Geister etc.).

criticism

Working method

Memminger's literary work must be viewed in a very differentiated manner. On the one hand, with his books he opened up very interesting aspects of the Lower Franconian regional history . Exciting are books in which he dealt with very little noticed topics, such as "The Legacy of the Druids". These contributions to the prehistoric era should not be underestimated.

Memminger's work should also be critically questioned. Memminger was not the most precise in the source work. Many of the claims remain unsubstantiated. Memminger also tends to work superficially. There are entire chapters that he repeats in other books. In almost all of his writings he gives his druid stories for the best. Regardless of whether this fits the context of the respective script or not.

The loss of the First World War did not let him calm down. He was particularly angry with the French. He blamed her for the fact that paper was in short supply and therefore his books were poorly equipped. If you compare the books of the Memminger Verlag with other contemporary writings, you actually notice the poor quality. But also with the typeface, which can hardly be ascribed to the 'hereditary enemy' . Rather, one gets the impression that the Memminger Verlag was on shaky economic feet. This is also supported by the fact that the sale of new regional travel guides hoped to improve the financial situation.

anti-Semitism

Memminger was a staunch anti-Semite and a nationalist. In 1956 Karl Herz called him “a forerunner of Julius Streicher's and the Third Reich”. Some examples are:

  • In 1895, Memminger triggered a major international affair ( Louis-Stern affair ). A small incident (trial between the New York merchant Louis Stern and the Deputy Bathing Commissioner von Thüngen) in the Bad Kissingen spa was deliberately exaggerated into anti-Semitic agitation in his newspaper Neue Bayerische Landeszeitung . This artificially fueled situation led to far-reaching diplomatic entanglements between the USA and the German Empire.
“There must be a clean divorce one day. (...) Noblesse has been avoiding our world bath for years anyway , because it disgusts the Jewish Schoflesse with its vagueness, circumspection, arrogance and cheek. It is necessary that this Schoflesse be properly met and that an example be made so that the decent Germans and foreigners can again gain more respect for the good-natured Tatschi-Bavarians and our world bath can once again get out of the disrepute in which Stern and Comrades brought it . "
  • In 1897 he had to answer in court for defamation. He had accused the Schweinfurt grain dealer Uri Seligstein of having delivered inferior grain.
  • In a speech in the state parliament on February 9, 1906, he commented on the Jewish spa guests in Bad Kissingen in derisive language:
“They come in droves and in packs from the east and stand around in the grounds so that no other person can pass and that everyone is annoyed about it. And in what suits! They come in dirty kaftans, they have boots on, the size of a dung board. (Stormy serenity) Then the ringlets hang down from them, which look like the creepers of a primeval forest in which various red deer and wild boar can be found. (Cheerfulness) "
  • Towards the end of his life, Menninger published the book Swastika and Star of David . Here is a statement that he uses to distance himself from the early National Socialists. It may be that his old age and the experience of the First World War had softened his hardened positions:
“Even old anti-Semites, who have not lost sight of the urgent need for national unity, have to ask about the purpose of such misunderstood sign language when walking through the city, whose house fronts, doors and toilets are smeared with swastikas. Because even the people who wear the swastika as a piece of jewelry and an expression of anti-Semitic sentiments do not seem to know that this cross was never an anti-Semitic and party-political, but a Semitic-astronomical symbol. To say that requires a commitment to historical truth. "

Fonts

Historic front page of the book Der Krach by Anton Memminger from 1877
Historical front page of the book Das Erbe der Druiden by Anton Memminger from 1922
  • The Freemasons - The prison work. Nuremberg 1872.
  • The noise - critical walks through the Swiss railway system. Zurich 1877.
  • Former Federal President Jakob Stämpfli and the Swiss Railways - Discourses about public companies and state railways. Zurich 1878.
  • The Austro-German Alpine Railways and the Lake Constance project Bregenz-Friedrichshafen-Constanz.
  • The alpine railways and their importance for Germany and Austria - with a special connection to Gotthard, Brenner, Arlberg u. Fernpass. Zurich 1878.
  • The NOB [Nordostbahn] in the light of the numbers.
  • Who should bleed Wuerzburg 1885.
  • Zürn and Spiess e. Festschr. to reveal d. Zurich monument on July 18, 1886. Würzburg 1886.
  • The Talmud. Würzburg 1894 (reprint from the Neue Bayerische Landeszeitung , size: 166 pages).
  • (alias Oswald Stein): Past, present and future of national economic policy. Leipzig 1880.
  • Lieutenant Hofmeister as a social democrat before the military jury. Würzburg, 1893.
  • The bewitched monastery depicted according to the files. Wuerzburg 1904.
  • Mainberg Castle. Würzburg 1917 (further editions with different content 1922, 1934).
  • The Bavarian King Ludwig II. Würzburg 1918.
  • The Legacy of the Druids - Contributions to the History of the Secret Societies. Wuerzburg 1920.
  • Swastika and Star of David, Popular Introduction to the Secret Sciences. Wuerzburg 1922.
  • Folk medicine, The remedies of the Druids according to Marcellus; d. Pharmacopoeia d. Physicist Johann Seitz. Wuerzburg 1923.
  • Schweinfurt a guide to the city and the surrounding area. Wuerzburg 1922.
  • Neustadt an der Saale, Bad Neuhaus and Salzburg. Wuerzburg 1921.
  • Kissingen - history of the city and the bath. Würzburg 1923 (several editions differing in content).

literature

  • John Abbott: Anton Memminger (1846-1923). In: Richard S. Levy: Antisemitism - a historical encyclopedia of prejudice and persecution. Santa Barbara (Calif.) 2005, pp. 454 f.
  • Rolf-Joachim Baum, Ulrich Becker, Ralf J. Baumbach and others: Student body and corporations at the University of Würzburg. 1582-1982. Published for the 400th anniversary of the Alma Julia-Maximiliana by the Institute for Higher Education at the University of Würzburg. Würzburg 1982, pp. 301-302.
  • Wilhelm Joseph Blos : Memories of a Social Democrat. Munich 1914 and 1919.
  • Karl Herz: Anton Memminger as the forerunner of the Third Reich. In: Unterfränkisches Heimatblatt. Supplement to the people's will. Schweinfurt December 1 and 24, 1956, January 19, 1957.
  • Anton Hochberger: The Bavarian Farmers' Union 1893–1914. Munich 1991.
  • Thomas Künzl: Anton Memminger - Forgotten Main Franconian historian. In: Rhön mirror. No. 11, Bad Neustadt 2004.
  • Thomas Künzl: Interview with Prince Bismarck. A conversation with the journalist Anton Memminger in Bad Kissingen . A source edition. Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2008, ISBN 978-3-8370-2919-2 .
  • August Memminger: Memminger, Anton, publicist and politician. 1846-1923. In: CVs from Franconia. Volume 5, Würzburg 1936, pp. 197-210.
  • Friedrich Mook: Anton Memminger, editor of the 'Fürth democratic weekly paper' A social-democratic character study . Mannheim 1873.
  • Ludwig Revier: The adventurous life of Bad Kissingen honorary citizen Anton Memminger. In: Quellen-Blätter. Local history supplement of the Saale-Zeitung for the Bad Kissingen district. Sept. 1983, No. 72, pp. 285 ff.
  • Ramona Ehret: Memminger, Anton. In: Wolfgang Benz (Hrsg.): Handbuch des Antisemitismus. Hostility to Jews in the past and present . Vol. 2/2: People L – Z. De Gruyter Saur, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-598-24072-0 , p. 541 f.

Web links

Commons : Anton Memminger  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. Feuerbach's last years .
  2. ↑ Werner Schuffenhauer: Foreword. In: Ludwig Feuerbach, Collected Works. Volume 1, Berlin 1981, p. LXII.
  3. ↑ Stupid guys and evil agitators , article from April 18, 2016 on süddeutsche.de
  4. ↑ cf. Thüngen (noble family)
  5. ↑ Grouping in the Bavarian Farmers' Union cf. Anton Hochberger: The Bavarian Farmers' Union 1893–1914. Munich 1991.
  6. ^ Bruno Rottenbach: Würzburg street names. Volume 1, Franconian Society Printing Office, Würzburg 1967, p. 72.
  7. ↑ Memminger was never an honorary citizen of the spa town, but only received the “letter of honor” from the city of Bad Kissingen from Mayor Max Pollwein . The quote comes from the short biography of August Memminger, p. 209 (see “Literature”).
  8. ↑ (1810–1880) - son of the manufacturer Wilhelm Sattler (1784–1859)
  9. ^ Memminger: Mainberg Castle. 1st edition, p. 252.
  10. ↑ a b Memminger: The legacy of the Druids. P. 3.
  11. ↑ Memminger: The legacy of the druids. P. 7 f.
  12. ↑ Memminger: The legacy of the druids. P. 10 f.
  13. ^ Karl Herz: Anton Memminger as the forerunner of the Third Reich. In: Unterfränkisches Heimatblatt. Supplement to "Volkswille", Dec. 1, 1956.
  14. ↑ cf. New York Times. May 22, 1896.
  15. ↑ New Bavarian State Newspaper. (Würzburg), July 29, 1895.
  16. ↑ Schweinfurt People's Newspaper. March 3, 2007.
  17. ^ Stenographic reports on the negotiations of the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies. Bavarian State Parliament Administration, Munich.
  18. ↑ Memminger: Swastika and Star of David. P. 4.
personal data
SURNAME Memminger, Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH April 2, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH Straubing
DATE OF DEATH September 30, 1923
Place of death Sparing