Göttingen Revolution

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As Göttingen Revolution political unrest are Goettingen from 8. January bis 16th January 1831 referred to who had the goal of King William IV. Wrest a democratic and liberal constitution.

history

causes

After the French July Revolution of 1830 , there was also a call for democratization and liberal constitutions in Germany. While the state of Hanover remained largely calm, violent riots broke out in Göttingen. The immediate occasion was a much-noticed and hated book ( Germany's illustrious sovereigns. When the dynasty of Charles X, King of France was overthrown ) by Judicial Councilor Friedrich Wilhelm Boldewin von dem Knesebeck (1789–1867), who extolled and strengthened the nobility as the keeper of stable conditions Had called for surveillance measures against democratically-minded forces. Above all, the motto of his writing, an alleged quote from Napoleon Bonaparte , enraged the students: "The canaille means people as soon as they have triumphed in battle." In his reactionary pamphlet, Knesebeck had called for "poor individuals of the lower classes" to be banned from studying, to limit the "impertinence of the press" and to intimidate "suspicious philosophers" with state threats. On the New Year's Eve of 1831, students then moved to Knesebeck's apartment and started chanting. Something similar happened to the Göttingen police chief Westphal. A grain merchant with a reputation for being a usurer had his business wrecked.

course

The government had placed three young private lecturers suspected of spreading inflammatory ideas under police supervision and asked them to hand over their lecture notes. In addition to Carl Wilhelm Theodor Schuster and Heinrich Ahrens , these included Johann Ernst Arminius von Rauschenplatt . A Revolutionary Council was formed under his direction. Students put on black, red and gold sashes on the market square and sang revolutionary hymns such as the Marseillaise and "The people stand up, the storm breaks loose". The rebels occupied the town hall on January 8, 1831, but the city's magistrate formally remained in office. The king demanded a free constitution for the Kingdom of Hanover and the removal of the government. According to the recollection of the eyewitness Heinrich Oppermann, the proclamation stated: “In order to remedy the complaints caused by the general need and to make the unrest which has already arisen and which is still threatening safe for public order, a National Guard has come together to meet everyone to maintain public calm for one and one for all. At the same time you want to se. Your Majesty the King immediately presented a most submissive idea that the Hanoverians would also be granted a free constitution with a thoroughly free and self-chosen assembly of estates. ”About thirty delegations from neighboring villages assured the revolutionaries of their solidarity.

The initially completely headless government was adamant and sent about 5000 soldiers to the city under the command of Major General Ludwig August Friedrich von dem Bussche-Haddenhausen . On January 16, the rioters had to surrender without a fight. The troops moved into the city, quartered themselves there and plundered, especially since the officers had promised the soldiers "good days" in Göttingen as a reward. All students had to leave the city within 24 hours. Unless they had fled abroad, the leaders of the uprising were sentenced to draconian sentences. It was not until early March 1831 that calm returned to Göttingen. The Georg-August-Universität Göttingen , which was closed by the government on January 18th, was able to reopen in mid-April. As a result of the uprising, the government made profound changes to the city constitution and replaced the old city constitution from 1690 with a new one. The centuries-old political role of the guilds ended, and their place was replaced by representatives of a class of bourgeois dignitaries.

Artwork

To commemorate the events, the sculptor Andreas Welzenbach created his sculpture Göttingen Elevation in 2011 . According to the jury, the sculpture ensemble should offer citizens the chance to “express their displeasure”. Therefore, the figure has an opening at mouth level through which passers-by can shout their "displeasure into the marketplace". The theme of the art competition was "the contentious Göttingen citizen".

literature

  • Dietrich Denecke: Göttingen: From the Thirty Years War to the Anschluss with Prussia - the resurgence as a university town (1648–1866) , (Bd. 2) Göttingen 2002. ISBN 3525361971
  • Heinrich Albert Oppermann: Hundred Years: 1770–1870: Pictures of time and life from three generations , Leipzig 1870, especially vol. 6, p. 109 ff.
  • Jörg H. Lampe: Freyheit and order: The January events of 1831 and the breakthrough to the constitutional state in the Kingdom of Hanover , Hanover 2009.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ^ Heinrich Albert Oppermann: Hundred Years: 1770 - 1870: Time and Life Pictures from Three Generations , Leipzig 1870, Vol. 6, p. 110
  3. ↑ http://www.stadtarchiv.goettingen.de/texte/stadtgeschichte_Station_1831.htm
  4. ↑ [2]
  5. ^ Heinrich Albert Oppermann: Hundred Years: 1770 - 1870: Time and Life Pictures from Three Generations , Leipzig 1870, Vol. 6, p. 162