Berlin Janus

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Berlin Janus (probably Franz von Seitz)
Berlin Janus
probably Franz von Seitz , 1848

The Berlin Janus is a caricature that criticizes the contradicting behavior of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV in the revolution of 1848 . On March 18, 1848, the monarch gave General Karl von Prittwitz the order to break up a demonstration in front of the Berlin Palace . There was a barricade fight between demonstrators and Prussian troops. After the troops withdrew from Berlin on March 19, 1848, however, the king staged himself as a champion of the German national movement. In the proclamation " To my people and to the German nation " of March 21, 1848, he declared that "Prussia will henceforth be absorbed into Germany". The king's unexpected yield to the Berlin opposition found a critical echo in the publishing industry.

Historical context

The social insecurity prevailing in the cities of the 1840s gave rise to a politically critical public. On the one hand, this was due to the fact that there was a sufficiently large readership in large cities such as Berlin, Munich or Hamburg . On the other hand, after the beginning of the revolution of 1848, the member states of the German Confederation had the greatest possible freedom of the press. Critical leaflets, satires, political magazines and books flooded the market. In Prussia, censorship was relaxed in the first three years of Friedrich Wilhelm IV's reign. In the censorship instruction of December 24, 1841, the king spoke of "exempting the press from inadmissible (meaning: prohibited) restrictions". On October 4, 1842, he lifted the censorship of books over 320 pages. However, he quickly restricted these concessions. The freedom from caricatures introduced on May 28, 1842, was withdrawn on February 3, 1843. Karl Marx called this censorship policy “pseudo-liberalism”. In truth, the Prussian government had to realize that a complete suppression of the press was no longer possible.

Even before the revolution of 1848, Friedrich Wilhelm IV became the first German monarch to be attacked on a large scale in caricatures . Previously, only the French citizen king Louis Philippe I and George III were a comparable journalistic denigration . been suspended by Great Britain. The Prussian monarch was a particularly good target because, thanks to the railway network, he traveled more than his predecessors and made public speeches. Personal characteristics of the king also made him a "joke" in the public eye. He was a bad rider and showed little interest in the military. Outwardly he was corpulent, bald at the base, a high forehead and was very nearsighted. The caricatures were not so much elaborate etchings or drawings, but rather lithographs , single-sheet prints and woodcuts that could be produced quickly . The quality varied: sometimes the king was only indicated in simple lines or sketchy, with areas left colorless, other mock images were more finely worked and created a spatial impression of depth by means of subtle differences in light. Before the revolution of 1848, the cartoons were mostly published anonymously to avoid punishment by the censorship authorities. In addition, parts of the population opposed the caricature as a relatively new genre. Other art forms enjoyed far greater recognition.

Place of publication and description

The caricature appeared on page 140 in the first volume of the Munich satirical magazine Leuchtkugeln . The newspaper was founded in 1847 and was known throughout the German-speaking area due to its liberal-democratic orientation and its politically sharp formulations. However, it was precisely this reputation that led to the magazine being banned in 1851 - when the monarchies had regained the upper hand. The lithographer and painter Franz von Seitz , who is highly regarded in the Kingdom of Bavaria, was responsible for the artistic design of the newspaper . The cartoon is very likely to be traced back to him. However, since there is no signature, this remains uncertain. The magazine addressed a predominantly left-wing liberal and democratically minded minority. This is also reflected in the small print run of the second volume of 8,000 copies. Nonetheless, the flares, along with the Stuttgart Eulenspiegel , the Berlin Kladderadatsch , the Frankfurt Satyr and the Hamburg Mephistopheles, were among the most important German satirical media of the revolutionary era - a genre that, unlike Great Britain and France, had yet to break away from its provincial organization. The flares could be bought three times a month as a number consisting of 8 pages or as a biannual volume, which then consisted of 24 numbers and 192 pages. Until the newspaper was banned, 170 issues had appeared, with the Berliner Janus appearing in number 18. Since the numbers were published without dates, their exact historical dating remains unknown.

The caricature shows the king as a full-body figure in the vertically two-part form of Janus casting two shadows. The left, grim-looking side of the figure fires two smoking cannon barrels, while the right, smiling side holds a black, red and gold flag and wears a German imperial crown. The overall figure of Friedrich Wilhelm IV imitates the silhouette of a champagne bottle, with the head forming the cork. The explanation is added: The King before and after the “misunderstanding” of March 19th . On the left, Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Ten cannonballs lie at his feet.

interpretation

The left side of the king symbolizes March 18, 1848 or the Berlin barricade fight . The right side of the monarch, on the other hand, stands for March 21, 1848 or the ride of the king under the black, red and gold flag through Berlin. Black, red and gold were the symbolic colors of the liberal national movement , which wanted to transform the German Confederation , a loose amalgamation of sovereign principalities and cities, into a federal nation state (see also German question ). In the caricature, Friedrich Wilhelm IV apparently switched from absolutist despot to leader of the revolutionary movement overnight . Just as Louis Philippe I was often depicted as a pear in caricatures, sparkling wine or champagne bottles developed into a personal attribute of Friedrich Wilhelm IV. They could even be used as a representative of his person. Originally, it was alluded to the lively speeches of Friedrich Wilhelm IV, overflowing with ideas, which earned the monarch the nickname “talkative”. Since no Prussian monarch had given speeches before Friedrich Wilhelm IV, the population perceived this as an unusual act. The apparently erratic and unreflective behavior of the king was later brought into connection with alleged alcohol excesses. The side turned towards the citizens, that is to say the “words of the king”, should, according to the caricature, not hide the violence that has taken place in the past.

With the term "misunderstanding of March 19" used, the proclamation "To my dear Berliners", which appeared on the same day, is ridiculed. In this declaration, Friedrich Wilhelm IV tried to evade his responsibility in the Berlin barricade fight. The two shots by the royal infantry that caused the bloodshed had, the king claims, discharged "of their own accord". The whole event is an "unholy error". This wriggling out of responsibility is taken ad absurdum in the caricature by the depiction of the self-shooting king.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David E. Barclay: Anarchy and Good Will. Friedrich Wilhelm IV. And the Prussian monarchy. Siedler, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-88680-463-1 , p. 179.
  2. ^ Joachim Grimm: Karl Gutzkows Arrivierungsstrategien under the conditions of the censorship (1830–1847) (= Hamburg contributions to German studies. Volume 51). Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-631-61296-5 (also dissertation, University of Hamburg, 2010), p. 129.
  3. ^ Thomas Christian Müller: The smuggling of political writings. Conditions for the public in exile in Switzerland and in the German Confederation (1830–1848). Niemeyer, Tübingen 2001, ISBN 978-3-484-35085-4 , p. 223.
  4. ↑ David E. Barclay: Anarchy and Good Will. Friedrich Wilhelm IV. And the Prussian monarchy. Siedler, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-88680-463-1 , p. 180.
  5. ↑ Adam Zamoyski: Phantoms of Terror. Fear of the Revolution and the Suppression of Freedom, 1789–1848. Beck, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-406-69766-1 , p. 498.
  6. ↑ Gisold Lammel: The King as a Bottle. In: Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Artist and King, for his 200th birthday. Fichter, Frankfurt 1995, p. 180.
  7. Jump up ↑ flares: marginal drawings on the history of the present. First volume. Emil Roller, Munich 1848, p. 140.
  8. ↑ Gisold Lammel: The King as a Bottle. In: Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Artist and King, for his 200th birthday. Fichter, Frankfurt 1995, p. 180.
  9. ↑ The satyr. Loose leaves from the German Empire. Frankfurt am Main 1848/49, urn : nbn: de: bsz: 16-diglit-162319 .
  10. ↑ Friedhelm Jürgensmeier : The Catholic Church in the mirror of the caricature of the German satirical trend magazines from 1848 to 1900. Neu, Trier 1969, p. 26.
  11. ↑ The complete sentence reads: “On this occasion” - the Austrian statesman Metternich had been mentioned before - “I cannot fail to show you the Berlin Janus: The King before and after the misunderstanding of March 19”. See Peter Schnabel, the rarity seller. In: Leuchtkugeln: Marginal drawings on the history of the present. First volume. Emil Roller, Munich 1848, pp. 137 to 141, here pp. 139 to 140.
  12. ^ Remigius Brückmann: King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia and the political caricature of the years 1840–1849. In: Berlin between 1789 and 1848. Facets of an era. Frölich & Kaufmann, Berlin 1981, p. 156.
  13. ↑ See on this motif in caricatures of the king, for example, “Also a German Emperor ?!” from 1849, from the von Gagern family archive , Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt , inventory R 4 No. 29900 UF .
  14. ^ Remigius Brückmann: King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia and the political caricature of the years 1840–1849. In: Berlin between 1789 and 1848. Facets of an era. Frölich & Kaufmann, Berlin 1981, p. 156. Gisold Lammel: The king as a bottle. In: Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Artist and King, for his 200th birthday. Fichter, Frankfurt 1995, p. 180. Sylvia Wolf: Political caricatures in Germany 1848/49. Essay, bibliography, catalog. Mäander, Mittenwald 1982, ISBN 3-88219-003-5 (also dissertation, University of Munich, 1983), p. 36.
  15. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm IV .: "To my dear Berliners". Transcription. Central for teaching media on the Internet .
  16. ^ Remigius Brückmann: King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia and the political caricature of the years 1840–1849. In: Berlin between 1789 and 1848. Facets of an era. Frölich & Kaufmann, Berlin 1981, p. 159.
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on April 10, 2018 .