Gelterkindersturm
Gelterkindersturm is the name given to the attack on the night of April 6th, 1832 by the rural population in Basel on the community of Gelterkinden loyal to Baselstadt .
The history
In 1830 things were fermenting in the canton of Basel . The rural population was relatively in the minority in the Grand Council . Taxes and fees were comparatively higher for rural workers than for city dwellers. The communities demanded equality, but the city did not grant them this. The political climate was poisoned and many villages separated from the city. However, some communities stuck to Basel. Gelterkinden was one of these villages loyal to Basel.
In the village there were two large silk ribbon weaving mills owned by the Basel silk gentlemen, the "Upper Factory" and the "Lower Factory". These offered the Gelterkinder trimmings work and a livelihood; they did not want to mess with the townspeople and they stayed true to Basel. This in turn did not please the surrounding communities and the Gelterkinder residents were severely threatened. In order to protect the village, three companies of federal troops were therefore stationed in Gelterkinden by resolution of the assembly . However, the city also wanted to pay tribute to Gelterkinden by sending him a garrison troops of 160 men under the command of Captain Geigy via Rheinfelden , Fricktal , Anwil and Großholz on April 6, 1832 .
The federal representatives Merk and La Harpe and the commander of the federal troops, Colonel Donats, did not like the fact that the Basel “Stänzler” (this is how the municipal professional troops were called) came to Gelterkinden. They feared tensions might arise - and they were right. On the same day armed Basel bidders (they were called liberals, revolutionaries or patriots) appeared at the village border and the number kept growing.
The storm
Soon the first shots were fired and the first wounded. The "Lower Factory" went up in flames. The federal representatives sent negotiators and promised to drive the Stänzler out of Gelterkinden. Then the liberals withdrew a little. However, the Basel defenders did not want to withdraw. The federal troops then fled Gelterkinden and retreated via Rickenbach to Rheinfelden, so hastily that they even left their guards behind.
Now that the federal mediators and defenders were gone, the old Engelwirt von Liestal appeared on the lower bridge; he was called "General Buser". He was a well-known agitator and the leader of the Basel bidder. He incited the revolutionaries and called for murder and manslaughter. Nothing stopped the attackers. Now the Stänzler noticed that their presence would only bring bad luck to Gelterkinden. They retreated via Rünenberg to Aarau and over to Säckingen , then along the right bank of the Rhine to Basel. With the withdrawal of the Basel troops, the resistance collapsed and the Basel bidders took the village. They feverishly searched for Samuel Pümpin and Rössliwirt Freivogel, the two leaders of the Gelterkinder, and for Pastor Buxdorf, but couldn't find them. Inspector Pümpin's houses were set on fire.
After the long night, the attackers were plagued by hunger and thirst. They broke into cellars and pantries and feasted on wine and food. What they disliked to drink they willfully spilled on the cellar floor. Even in the church on the altar there was supposed to be wine, schnapps, sausage and bread from the rectory. In the back room of the “Rössli” restaurant lay the wounded Basel residents who had been left behind. The drunk country workers "treated" them with fists and rifle butts, one was killed with a bowling alley ball.
Five men and one woman lost their lives in the Gelterkindersturm from April 6th to 7th, 1832 and were buried in a common grave. Soon afterwards, a “Gelterkinderverein” was founded in Basel with the aim of helping the hard-hit village. Within a very short time, over thirty thousand francs were raised.
The new canton of Baselland
On August 26 , 1833, the Swiss Federal Diet sanctioned the separation of the Canton of Basel into two half-cantons, with the proviso that they should reunite later. The worst opponents of a separation, Gelterkinden and Reigoldswil , had to surrender to their fate. A year later, when the new canton of Baselland celebrated its first birthday, the clappers on Gelterkinden's church bells were cut off so that the prescribed festive bells could not be held. A funeral service was held in Reigoldswil.
In 1840, Gelterkinden was occupied again by Baselbieter troops at the Gelterkinderhandel .
See also
literature
- Local history of Gelterkinden from 1864, pages 73-75
- Gelterkinden Local History from 1966, page 20
- 430 Years of Pümpin von Gelterkinden from 1986, pages 100-104
Web links
- Friedrich Freivogel, Rössli host
- Gelterkinder economic history - the origins (last part): "We have two Brafe Wirthshouses here" , article from the Volksstimme from June 15, 2000 (PDF file; 208 kB)