Polish Trial
The so-called Poland Trial of 1847, called the Berlin Trial in Poland ( Proces berliński ), was the first trial in Prussia to be tried as a political trial open to the public . For this process, among other things, the Prussian criminal procedure law was redesigned. The newly established public prosecutor's office accused the 254 defendants of wanting to restore the Polish state within the borders of 1772 (before the partitions of Poland ). It ended with eight death sentences and numerous prison terms. After the start of the March Revolution of 1848, the accused were given amnesty .
prehistory
In the Polish subdivisions, new organizations emerged in the 1840s with the aim of renewing the Polish state. These included the Democratic Society in Warsaw and the Province of Poznan . The Plebeian League around Walenty Stefański was also formed in Poznan . This also radiated into West Prussia and Pomerania ; However, only a few ethnic Poles lived in Pomerania (in the border areas). A restoration of Poland-Lithuania within the borders before 1772 would have been tantamount to a radical reversal of the inner-Prussian reunification process.
In the spring of 1845 the Central Committee in Poznan decided to prepare an uprising. The main reason was the fear that political reforms within the partitioning powers could spill the Polish identity. It was planned to attack the Prussian and Austrian units stationed there in Posen and Galicia and to trigger an uprising in the Russian part of Poland. This should turn into a general war. The aim was to rebuild the Polish state within the borders before the Polish partitions . In January 1846 it was decided in Cracow to form a national government headed by Karol Libelt .
The plans did not come to fruition in Prussia because they had been betrayed to the police. The leaders were arrested. A trial against the rebels was being prepared in Prussia. In Krakow, on the other hand, the Krakow Uprising broke out .
In the run-up to the trial, the Prussian criminal procedure law was fundamentally redesigned. A law of 1846 introduced public oral proceedings and a public prosecutor's office to represent the prosecution.
Process flow
On August 2, 1847, the trial of 254 Polish accused began before the Berlin Supreme Court , after about 1,100 people had been investigated. Due to the high number of accused, the trial did not take place in the courthouse but in the church of Moabit Prison .
The court consisted of the presiding judge Koch and eight assessors. There were also the two public prosecutors and 20 defense lawyers. The process took four months. Negotiations took place on 91 days.
The public prosecutor accused the defendants of high treason . Large parts of the public were on the side of the defendants. Ludwik Mierosławski's defense speech on August 3, 1847 made him popular. The trial ended with the pronouncement of the verdict on December 2, 1847. Mierosławski and seven other defendants were sentenced to beheading by the ax . In 97 cases, prison sentences were imposed, some of them long. The majority of the defendants were acquitted.
amnesty
After the beginning of the March Revolution, a crowd of people demonstrated on March 20, 1848 in front of the royal palace, successfully demanding the release of the prisoners. These were then led through the streets in triumph. From the balcony, even Friedrich Wilhelm IV saw himself compelled, in view of the revolutionary situation, to bow to the Poles in a symbolic soothing gesture. Karol Libelt and Mierosławski gave acclaimed speeches. Joy rallies were also held in the province of Poznan. This went over to the so-called " Wielkopolska Uprising of 1848 ".
swell
- Gustav Julius (Ed.): The Poland Trial. Trial of the 254 Poles who were accused of high treason by the public prosecutor at the Royal Court of Appeal as a party to the enterprise to restore a Polish state within the limits of 1772 (at first instance) in the building of the state prison near Berlin . Berlin 1848 ( e-copy ).
literature
- Eberhard Schmidt: Court of Justice and the rule of law . In: Otto Büsch, Wolfgang Neugebauer (ed.): Modern Prussian history. 1648-1947 . de Gruyter, Berlin 1981, ISBN 3-11-008714-6 , p. 643.
- Manfred Alexander: Small history of Poland . Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-010522-6 , pp. 214f.
- Daniela Fuchs: The great Poland trial in Berlin and Bettina von Arnim's commitment to the accused Mierosławski . In: Julia Franke (ed.): A European freedom fighter. Ludwik Mierosławski 1814–1878 . Association of Friends of the Museum of European Cultures, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-88609-525-8 , p. 19 ff.
- Deutsche Zeitung, Heidelberg 1847 Google digitized version
- of August 8, 1847 about the opening session of the trial on August 2, 1847, pp. 306-307 Google digitized version
- of August 9, 1847 on the meeting of August 3, 1847 with the appearance of Ludwik Mierosławski, pp. 314–315 Google digitized version
- of August 10, 1847 on the meeting of August 4, 1847, pp. 322–323 Google digitized version
- of December 7, 1847 on the meeting of December 2, 1847, p. 1275 Google digitized
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ Krzystof Makowski: The Grand Duchy of Poznan in the revolutionary year of 1848 . In: Rudolf Jaworski, Robert Luft (Ed.): 1848/49. Revolutions in East Central Europe . Oldenbourg, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-486-56012-3 , pp. 149-172, here p. 151.
- ↑ Gustav Julius (Ed.): The Poland Trial. Trial of the 254 Poles who were accused of high treason by the public prosecutor at the Royal Court of Appeal as a party to the enterprise to restore a Polish state within the limits of 1772 (at first instance) in the building of the state prison near Berlin . Berlin 1848, column 695 ( Google digitized version )
- ^ Krzystof Makowski: The Grand Duchy of Poznan in the revolutionary year of 1848 . In: Rudolf Jaworski, Robert Luft (Ed.): 1848/49. Revolutions in East Central Europe . Oldenbourg, Munich 1996, pp. 149–172, here p. 152.