Christian Esselen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christian Esselen (born December 18, 1824 in Ibbenbüren , † May 15, 1859 in New York City ) was a democratically minded publicist, revolutionary from 1848/49 and as a Forty-Eighter emigrant in the USA .

Life

Christian Esselen grew up in Hamm . He studied law at the universities in Freiburg , Heidelberg and Berlin . As a one-year volunteer , he did his military service in a guard regiment in 1846. He was already a member of the political opposition in March . He wrote for Gustav Struves "Mannheimer Volkszeitung".

At the beginning of the revolution of 1848 in Hamm, he signed a revolutionary appeal together with other Westphalian democrats such as Otto Lüning . He is said to have been close to the League of Communists . In the further course of the revolution he was leader of the Frankfurt workers' association and was one of the editors of the "Allgemeine Arbeiterzeitung". Above all, he fought the bourgeois, mostly liberal, ruling class in the city. The workers' association demanded a minimum wage and better education. As a result of repression, the paper was only able to appear three times in Frankfurt, two more editions came out in Hanau before the newspaper had to be finally discontinued. To avoid persecution, Esselen constantly changed his place of residence. He took part in the September uprising in Frankfurt . In the fight against the counter-revolution he belonged to the staff of the people's armed forces under Johann Philipp Becker . After the movement's defeat, both emigrated to Switzerland. There they published the history of the southern German May Revolution in 1849 in Geneva .

Esselen emigrated to the USA in 1852. He was editor of Atlantis magazine in Detroit . In this he criticized slavery and tried to combine European and American cultures. He stuck to his revolutionary goals: “The best preparation for the revolution is to remain fresh in body and spirit, and to prepare and condition ourselves for the coming struggle in Europe by taking part in the battle for freedom here. We must not look upon ourselves as refugees in America. The land is not aour land of exile. Here one can fight as vigourously as in Europe for our highest and most sacred ideals. ”As the paper came in, he moved to Milwaukee and became editor of the Wisconsin Banner. With outside support he succeeded in publishing the magazine "Atlantis" again in 1854. It now had the subtitle. A monthly for science, politics and poetry . But this time too, he was unable to gain enough subscribers. Esselen went to Buffalo , where he published the "Buffalo Telegraph". In addition, he continued to hold on to his magazine. Esselen went to New York City, where the last issue appeared in December 1858. Possibly as a result of his failure, he began to drink and died impoverished in a hospital.

Works

  • General Workers' Newspaper. Organ for the political and social interests of the working people, at the same time newspaper of the workers' association in Frankfurt am Main . Edited by Eduard Pelz and Chr. Essellen. Frankfurt am Main Issue 1 to Issue 5. May 18 to June 10, 1848
  • Otto Lüning / J. Weydemeyer / Christian Esselen, Friedrich Kapp , Rudolf Rempel : To the people. Munster April 2, 1848 . Grote'sche Buchdruckerei, Münster 1848 Flyer
  • Johann Philipp Becker and Christian Essellen: History of the Southern German May Revolution of 1849 . Gottfried Becker, Geneva 1849 download page for pdf
  • Atlantis . Detroit, Mich., 1854-1854
  • What remedy is there against the evil of negro slavery? In: Atlantis. A monthly for science, politics and poetry . New episode. Vol. 3, 1855
  • Technical advances against black and white slavery. In: Atlantis. A monthly for science, politics and poetry . New episode. Vol. 3, 1855
  • German clubs in America In: Atlantis. A monthly for science, politics and poetry . New episode. Vol. 4, 1856, pp. 390-397
  • Atlantis. A monthly for science, politics and poetry . Edited and edited by Christian Essellen. New episode. Eighth volume, year 1858. Months: January to June. H. Bender "Buffalo Telegraph Office," Buffalo, NY Online

literature

  • Daniel Nagel: From Republican Germans to German-American Republicans. A contribution to the identity change of the German forty-eight in the United States 1850–1861. Röhrig Universitätsverlag, St. Ingbert 2012, ISBN 978-3-86110-504-6 .
  • Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon , Volume 6. Leipzig 1906, p. 115 online version
  • Wilhelm Schulte : People and State. Westphalia in the pre-March period and in the revolution of 1848/49 . Münster 1954, p. 543
  • Franz Neuland: proletarians and citizens. Revolution and counter-revolution 1848/49 in Frankfurt am Main . Online (PDF; 69 kB)
  • Carl Heinz Knoche: The German immigrant press in Milwaukee . Ohio State University, 1969 pp. 81-86 1980 edition online
  • Dora Edinger : Christian Esselen. Citizen of Atlantis . In: Michigan History , XXXIV (1950), II., Pp. 133-143
  • Christian Esselen's Babylon . Edited and with an Introduction by Cora Lee Nollendorfs. (German Life and Civilization, Volume 19) Peter Lang, New York 1996, ISBN 978-0-8204-3045-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jörg Nagler: Political Exile at the time of the Vormärz and the Revolution of 1848/49 In: Germany and the West in the 19th and 20th centuries. Stuttgart, 1993 p. 284
  2. ↑ Reprint: Detlev Auvermann, Frankfurt / M. With an introduction by Max Quarck : The first Frankfurter Arbeiterzeitung .
personal data
SURNAME Esselen, Christian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Essellen, Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German publicist and revolutionary
DATE OF BIRTH December 18, 1824
PLACE OF BIRTH Ibbenbueren
DATE OF DEATH May 15, 1859
Place of death New York City