Franz Volk

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Franz Volk (born April 18, 1823 in Offenburg , † June 1, 1890 ibid) was a revolutionary , doctor, historian, mayor. He experienced a changeful fate in the 19th century.

Life

Growing up in a middle-class family, he studied law and was involved in the gymnastics movement (in 1846 the Offenburg gymnastics club was founded by Franz Volk, Karl-Heinrich Schaible and others). He was involved in the March Revolution and was therefore arrested by the Prussian army. After being sentenced by the Bruchsal court to eight years in prison , he fled to Switzerland. At the University of Zurich, whose founding director was Lorenz Oken from Offenburg , he began studying medicine and graduated in Heidelberg. He then worked as a doctor in his home town of Offenburg and gained recognition, which earned him the election of mayor in 1875.

Important dates of life

Volk first studied law. He was chairman of the people's association . During his studies he became a member of the Corps Suevia Freiburg in 1843 , in 1844 a member of the Corps Suevia Heidelberg and in 1844 was a co-founder of the Old Heidelberg fraternity Allemannia .

Franz Volk was arrested in 1848 for high treason . In 1849 he was appointed civil commissioner for Offenburg by the Baden Revolutionary Government and on June 3 he was elected to the Baden Constituent Assembly of 1849 . After the suppression of the revolution, he fled to Switzerland and studied medicine in Zurich .

Volk returned to his hometown Offenburg in 1859 and finished his medical studies in Heidelberg .

In 1875 he was elected mayor of Offenburg. In the years 1881 and 1887 he was confirmed in his office as mayor.

Main work

Witches in the Landvogtei Ortenau and Imperial City Offenburg - An investigation of the witch craze in the Ortenau and Imperial City Offenburg. A contribution to the history of morals; Publishing house Moritz Schauenburg; Lahr 1882 (reprint Offenburg 1978)

The author examines the witch trials in the Ortenau (1557–1630) and the imperial city of Offenburg (1586–1631) with the help of original feuds from the Ortenau and the Offenburg council minutes. The aim of his investigation was above all the "personal circumstances and characters of those affected as well as the spiritual climate" in which the witch hunts arose.

On the basis of his detailed examination of the trials, he comes to the conclusion that the living conditions and morals of the population as well as the belief in the devil and magic promoted by the church formed the basis of the witch hunt. They prevented defendants and plaintiffs alike from understanding the natural causes behind the alleged sorcery. He sees torture as the main driving force behind the witch panics. The tortured defendants voluntarily or at the urging of the investigating judge accused other people who were also arrested and tortured in order to incriminate others again. Mostly women were accused in Offenburg and Ortenau.

Volk emphasized the economic inferiority of these women and their dependence on often ruthless and brutal husbands and employers. In the minutes of the council he found numerous lawsuits for abuse and brawling, alcoholism, adultery and intra-marital violence. He concluded from the trial files that there was a moral picture of the time and saw this as the basis of witch fantasies. Prosecutors and judges alike combined their experiences and ideas, gained from immorality and brutality, with the belief in devils and demons of their time and urged the accused to confess what had not happened.

In contrast to other researchers of his time, Volk did not assume that the stories told by alleged witches actually originated from witch associations or from ideas handed down and lived from ancient times and Germanicism. Because of his experiences as a doctor, he attributed some of the experiences reported by the witches themselves to mental illness or delusions under torture.

With its results and evaluations, Volk can be assigned to the liberal branch of witch research of the 19th century, which is in the tradition of the Enlightenment. He explicitly opposed the thesis advocated at his time and popularly used in the Kulturkampf , namely that the churches in particular were active and driving forces in the persecution of witches. The aim of his research was the enlightenment fight against superstitions of all kinds and the modern occultism of the late 19th century.

Worldview

Volk shared the belief in progress of his time and that of social theorists and publicists, such as B. of Henry Thomas Buckle quoted by him , widespread idea that human society progresses in stages to ever higher civilization and that the natural sciences and technical developments give hope for a reasonable, enlightened future. A witch hunt could no longer exist due to the international traffic and exchange of ideas. His experiences in the 48 revolution and the observations of the anti-Semitic campaigns of his time also led him to the conviction that this future can only be achieved if each individual speaks tolerance and reason in his judgments about his fellow human beings and does not act uncritically and willingly every smear campaign could convince: "We had to see how even a part of our educated youth lent their noblest feelings, the love of justice and patriotism, to a very ordinary party hunt for one of the highest achievements of the modern age - for freedom of belief - as bait dogs. The call "Semite" will later have a different name, but the hunt is the same. "

literature

  • Armin Danco: The Yellow Book of the Corps Suevia zu Heidelberg, 3rd edition (members 1810–1985), Heidelberg 1985, no. 115
  • Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Volume 6: T-Z. Winter, Heidelberg 2005, ISBN 3-8253-5063-0 , pp. 167-168.
  • Franz Volk , in: Badische Biographien (editor Friedrich von Weech), 4th part, Karlsruhe 1891, pp. 480–482 online in the Baden state library

Remarks

  1. ^ Later historians in England Scan : History of the Germans in England: From the first Germanic settlements in Britain to the end of the 18th century
  2. ^ Jacob Schneider: Franz Volk in Switzerland. Retrieved May 24, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Volk (1882), preface
  4. ↑ Volk (1882), preface, pp. 105–109, 127–153
  5. ↑ Cf. on the history of witch research: Behringer, Wolfgang, Geschichte der Hexenforschung. In: Lorenz, Sönke (ed.): Witches and the persecution of witches in the south-west of Germany. Exhibition at the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, September 17 to December 11, 1994. Volume 2: essay volume. Ostfildern (Folklore publications of the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, 2.2), pp. 317–326.
  6. ↑ Volk (1882), pp. 101ff.
  7. ↑ Volk (1882), pp. 153f.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Volk, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Revolutionary, doctor, historian, mayor
DATE OF BIRTH April 18, 1823
PLACE OF BIRTH Offenburg
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 1890
Place of death Offenburg