Georg Kuhlmann

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Johannes Georg Kuhlmann (born April 9, 1812 in Kummerfeld , Holstein , † July 20, 1876 in Bad Soden am Taunus ) was a German confederate and religious socialist.

Life

Youth and Studies

Georg Kuhlmann was the son of a school teacher from Kummerfeld. His brother Wilhelm Ferdinand (born May 20, 1821) was sentenced on April 2, 1864 " to life imprisonment for robbery and repeated petty theft " by the " Holstein-Lauenburg Higher Appeal Court in Kiel ". He spent the first eleven years of his life tending cows and sheep. After that he is said to have been to Rügen with Pastor Willich , Schleiermacher's brother-in-law . In 1828 he was sent to the Danish high school in Altona , which was under the direction of Johann Hans Cord Eggers and later to that of Eutin . After graduating from high school , he studied theology at the University of Greifswald on June 24, 1830 . He was de-registered on April 5, 1832. He completed his studies with a doctorate .

Then he turned to Heidelberg, which he had to leave because of high debts. In 1833 he was in Zurich and gave lessons as a private teacher. Around 1836 he asked the Danish king for financial support, which was also granted to him, and lived in Copenhagen for four years . Finally, in 1840, he traveled to Altona or Hamburg at the expense of the Danish government . In 1837 his book “General world history for the whole people, scholars and non-scholars, school and home, from every class appears. Written according to the sources ”. In 1839 he drew the article “Memorable things from old legislation, for comparison with the character of the new era” with “D. Johannes Georg Kuhlmann in Leipzig ”. On June 23, 1843, Confident Wilhelm Fischer reported from Mainz : “For about two months a certain Dr. Kuhlmann from Holstein (near Altona) in Mainz, with the approval of the government, gives lectures on 'The spiritual and material needs of our time', which generally belong to the direction in which the most important issues of the time must be sought and found. […] The main question now is whether the views and aspirations of Dr. Kuhlmann meet this basic requirement. It would be difficult for Kuhlmann himself to give a sufficient answer to this question. In his lectures (the title given above was chosen by himself, by the way) he gave a description of an 'ideal' state and an ideal society based on a purely theoretical basis. But there was nowhere to be found a trace of the means by which one could even remotely strive towards these ideals. But the content of his lectures can be described aptly in that they contain much truth and much new, just a shame that the true and the new is not true not new. "Another confidant, Hermann Friedrich Georg Ebner reported on September 18, 1843 from Frankfurt am Main : "Dr. Kuhlmann is still making desperate attempts to get there for his Fourierist lectures, alone, he finds few subscribers and begs his way through. And yet he does not want to leave here unheard ”. It has not been established whether he was expelled from Frankfurt. Rather, it can be assumed that he went to Switzerland on behalf of Prince Metternich's Central Investigation Commission in Mainz to collect information about Young Germany and the young workers' movement, the Union of the Just , headed by Weitling in Switzerland .

In Switzerland

In the spring of 1844, Kuhlmann arrived in Switzerland and made contact with Julius Fröbel and Ludwig Seeger . Then he turned to La Chaux-de-Fonds to Hermann Döleke , who provided him with a recommendation to Wilhelm Marr in Lausanne . “The guy has a kind of Christ head [...] speaks a lot about revelation, but otherwise seems to be a very decent fellow, even if you can straighten him a little. Perhaps he can help us in our position towards the communists. The poor devil is currently in bad luck, give him a hand ”. So Kuhlmann first made contact with the 'Young Germans'. But after Marr had cleared him off, he turned to the communists around August Becker and received material support from them. The armourer Karl Greif from the Lausanne “Communist Association” wrote on November 8, 1844: “The association has recently made significant expenditures to support the excellent lectures given by Dr. Kuhlmann, from whom you have already heard, to make possible. These lectures will appear in print shortly and we will draw your attention to them. In it you will get to know socialism from a new, brilliant and humane side, from a side that will silence and reconcile all honest and noble opponents. ”His book“ The New World or the Kingdom of the Spirit on Earth. Annunciation ”was printed and distributed at the expense of the workers' association under Becker. August Becker wrote in the foreword: "Science [of philosophy] has only made us more unhappy by having the building of our previous faith (by Strauss , the Bauer, Feuerbach, etc.) destroyed without building another for it."

In the December issue of the Gesellschaftsspiegel 1846, Moses Hess published a first criticism of Kuhlmann's book (" Umtriebe der Kommunistische Propheten "), which was later expanded for the planned "Vierteljahrsschrift" and entered the German ideology as a manuscript . In the fifth chapter of the second volume of the German Ideology, the authors came under the heading “'The Dr. Kuhlmann aus Holstein 'or The Prophecy of True Socialism. 'The New World or the Kingdom of the Spirit on Earth. Proclamation '”concludes:“ The teaching of the prophet is reassuring in every sense, and after these samples of his scriptures one can certainly not be surprised at the applause which some cozy sleepyheads received ”.

In the article “Communism” in the state lexicon by Rotteck and Welcker it says about Kuhlmann and his book: “In some relationship, a certain Dr. Kuhlmann, who did not earn too much credit for diverting his devout followers from a direction that could turn out to be materialism in a further continuation. Otherwise, the only writing he has known, the title of which already betrays a great deal of arrogance, is a confusion presented in the solemn, confident language of self-sufficient restriction; especially with some leaps into the field of psychology, which are sometimes related to the 'psychological studies on church and state by Dr. Remember Bluntschli . "

Last years

In the summer of 1845 he and others were expelled from the cantons of Vaud and Neuchâtel . He went to Stuttgart , where he became acquainted with Johannes Ronge , Heinrich Loose and Christoph Friedrich Grieb from the German Catholic movement . In February 1846, Kuhlmann stayed in Aachen , Trier , Mannheim , Cologne and Mainz. In a conversation with Wilhelm Fischer he made him familiar with his "system". “He preaches a refined socialism that fights most resolutely against blatant communism, but then also opposes Fourierism, because in its system of organizing work it looks first, if not exclusively, at the satisfaction of physical needs. Kuhlmann's socialist system, because it subordinates everything to the spirit, has a religious basis. It wants to turn men into brothers, and in order to achieve this it works to heal the cancer damage to society in a material way by depriving the value of the capital, which now appears everywhere as a creative and influential person. The property should have its rights undisturbed, the haves should also be compelled by necessity (that is, through the further spread of socialism) to join it, whereby their property loses the value it had in the old, that is the present world , would have."

The London Communist Correspondence Committee reported to Karl Marx in Brussels on June 6, 1846 : “The Swiss and Parisians have bombarded us with such a mass of writings that we cannot get rid of (including 125 pieces New Worlds by Kuhlmann-Jesus ). "On June 9, 1847, the Union of Communists regretted in a circular:" The situation of the Federal Government in Switzerland is not as good as we would have liked. [...] and allowed themselves to be exploited in the most disgraceful way by very pathetic industrial knights, for example the solemn Georg Kuhlmann from Holstein. "

Some Confidential reports from Kuhlmann have survived from 1847 and 1848. The next surviving testimony from him is the essay “Was ist das Od?” From 1856. In it Kuhlmann shows himself to be a supporter of mesmerism and the theory put forward by Karl von Reichenbach about the Od (by Odin ), which is a life force should. In his studies von Reichenbach claimed that particularly talented people, he called them sensitive , can perceive weak light phenomena from magnets in dark rooms . Kuhlmann agreed with this claim.

In March 1873 in Dresden, Kuhlmann published an appeal for the establishment of a magazine "Der Herold des Tages, Zentralorgan des 'Hort'". He wanted to collect 5000 thalers start-up capital and have the "Herold" appear from July 1, 1873, and also use it to finance his lectures under the title "The Word of Time". A reviewer of the brochure of the Berlin Philosophical Society commented under the heading “A great plan for world improvement”: “This is the announcement of Mr. Georg Kuhlmann, a European weary who, consumed by the worldly pain of the pessimism of the Schopenhauer or Hartmanne , no longer likes anything wants in the west of the old world, neither its religious, political nor social doings; who, however, does not raise anchor for the new world ”. The announced magazine never appeared.

Johannes Georg Kuhlmann died during a cure in Bad Soden, at which time he was living in Berlin .

Spy reports (selection)

“There is probably no city in all of northern Germany that is less suitable than Berlin for the emergence and prosperity of the social endeavors of the new era. [...] This state of absolute doubt led on the one hand to complete indifference, on the other hand to unlimited negation and argument or to one-sided criticism, the extreme tip of which is the well-known Stirner , whose book “ The One and His Own ” this page is also the most highly praised of all books. "

- Berlin, September 17, 1847

“Ms. Bettina von Arnim will begin her eight-week captivity in the house bailiwick these days . It is believed that she will take this punishment with pleasure to show the government that she disdains their grace. This woman is generally respected here and has a great reputation here, and this will also be significantly increased by her imprisonment. "

- Berlin, October 23, 1847.

“ Georg Schirges , a former intimate friend of A. Becker, the editor of the telegraph and the workshop, heads the association and devotes almost all of his time and energy to it. He is not committed to any particular social system, but lives in the view that everything in life must develop and shape itself and that one should in no way anticipate this self-development. "

- Hamburg, January 17, 1848.

Works

  • Commentationes duae inaugurales, quarum altere de notione, fine et usu historiae universalis agit, altera in eo versatur, ut exponat, quid liberi antiquitatis populi de regno variis que rerum puclicarum formis statuerint .
  • Purpose and uses of general world history for human life. To the heart of the entire German people. With reference to general world history . Leipzig / Hamburg / Itzehoe 1835
  • General world history for the whole people, scholars and non-scholars, school and house, from every class. Written from the sources . 1st volume Schuberth & Niemeyer, Leipzig / Hamburg / Itzehoe 1837
  • Memorable things from old legislation, for comparison with the character of the new era . In: New Yearbooks of History and Politics . Edited by KHL Pölitz . Brockhaus, Leipzig 1839, pp. 115–144 digitized
  • The New World or the Kingdom of the Spirit on Earth. Annunciation . M. Vaney, Geneva 1845 digitized
  • What is the od? In: Illustrated family book for entertainment and instruction in domestic circles . Triest 1856, pp. 193-200
  • Program of a magazine to discuss the great questions of life of the present, especially the religious, moral and social, under the title: The Herald of the Day, central organ of the 'Hort' combined with an invitation to all, whom it is welcome, to promote the Company . Printed by Schubert and Kreschmar, Dresden 1873 SLUB Dresden

literature

  • General world history for the whole people based on the sources . Started by JG Kuhlmann, continued by Emil Ferdinand Vogel; along with folded maps of the old & new world and an outline of the exploration. 2. u. 3rd vol., Schuberth & Niemeyer, Leipzig / Hamburg 1839–1841
  • Carl von Rotteck , Carl Welcker : Das Staats Lexikon, encyclopedia of all political sciences for all classes . new through u. verb. u. Probably ed., Johann Friedrich Hammerich, Altona 1846, p. 322 digitized
  • Wilhelm Marr: Young Germany in Switzerland. A contribution to the history of the secret connections. Wilhelm Jurany, Leipzig 1846 digitized
  • Wilhelm Lüders (Ed.): Des Dr. Kuhlmann New World or the kingdom of the spirit on earth. For the German people, for citizens, farmers, soldiers and everyone pleasant, useful and instructive to read. In an extract . Meißner & Schirges, Hamburg 1850
  • Kuhlmann, Johannes Georg . In: Lexicon of Hamburg writers up to the present . 4. Vol. Hamburg 1858-1866, pp. 259-260
  • A great plan to improve the world . In: The thought. Journal of Scientific Research and Criticism . Edited by CL Michelet and J. Bergmann . Organ of the Philosophical Society in Berlin. 7th vol. Nicolaische Buchhandlung, Berlin 1867, pp. 260-262 digitized
  • Ernst Barnikol (ed.): History of religious and atheistic early socialism. First edition of the secret report written by August Becker in 1847 and submitted by Georg Kuhlmann to Metternich and by Vinets Rapport, along with an introduction . Mühlau, Kiel 1932, pp. 76-80.
  • The League of Communists. Documents and materials 1836–1849 . Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1970, pp. 70, 204, 286, 350, 480, 1022.
  • Hans Adler (ed.): Literary secret reports. Metternich agents' logs. Volume 1: 1840-1843 . With a foreword by Walter Jens . Information press - CW Leske, Cologne 1977, ISBN 3-434-00297-9 , pp. 42, 231, 237, 240, 244.
  • Hans Adler (ed.): Literary secret reports. Metternich agents' logs. Vol. 2 1844-1848 . With a contribution by Dieter Langewiesche . Information press - CW Leske, Cologne 1981, ISBN 3-434-00354-1 , pp. 123-127, 170, 187, 191.
  • Antje Gerlach: German literature in exile in Switzerland. The political propaganda of the associations of German refugees and craft associations in Switzerland from 1833–1845 . V. Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 1975, pp. 288 ff. (Studies on Philosophy and Literature of the Nineteenth Century 26) incomplete digitized material

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Date and place of death according to the Bad Soden death register No. 43/1876, accessed via ancestry. com on July 11, 2018
  2. ↑ Antje Gerlach (p. 288) erroneously writes “Lummerfeld”.
  3. ↑ Most highly privileged Schleswig-Holstein advertisements . New episode. 28th year, Glückstadt 1864, p. 163.
  4. ↑ Antje Gerlach, p. 288. Willich had died in 1807.
  5. ↑ Schleichermacher married the widow Henriette von Willich on May 18, 1809.
  6. ^ New necrology of the Germans
  7. ↑ Antje Gerlach, p. 288.
  8. ↑ Dirk Alvermann, Barbara Peters (ed.): The students of the royal University of Greifswald 1821-1848. Greifswald 2003, p. 54.
  9. ↑ Commentationes duae inaugurales, quarum altere de notione, fine et usu historiae universalis agit, altera in eo versatur, ut exponat, quid liberi antiquitatis populi de regno variis que rerum puclicarum formis statuerint .
  10. ↑ Antje Gerlach, p. 288 f.
  11. ↑ Hans Adler. Vol. 1, p. 231.
  12. ↑ Hans Adler. Vol. 1, p. 244.
  13. ↑ See also the report by Wilhelm Fischer of February 24, 1846. (Hans Adler. Vol. 2, p. 123.)
  14. ↑ Ernst Barnikol.
  15. ↑ Antje Gerlach, p. 291.
  16. ^ Wilhelm Marr: The young Germany in Switzerland . Pp. 216-217.
  17. ↑ Antje Gerlach, p. 290.
  18. ↑ The League of Communists. P. 204.
  19. ↑ The New World or the Kingdom of the Spirit on Earth. SV
  20. ^ Galina Golowina: The project of the quarterly of 1845/46. To the original plans of the manuscripts of the 'German Ideology' . In: Marx-Engels-Jahrbuch 3 . Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1980, pp. 260-274.
  21. ↑ Jakow Rotkitjanski: On the history of the relationship between Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and Moses Hess in Brussels 1845/46 . In: Marx-Engels-Jahrbuch 9th Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-320-00277-5 , p. 231.
  22. ↑ Hans Adler. Vol. 2, p. 125.
  23. ↑ “The latest news is that the Prophet Dr. Kuhlmann was here a few days ago. A very messed up guy. At first, conscious of his personal worth, he approached us extremely harshly and schoolmasterly: he wanted to win us over. […] The Bougeois by name has messed around with him a lot. I immediately hated the guy. " Roland Daniels to Karl Marx March 7, 1846 ( Marx-Engels Complete Edition, Department III. Vol. 1, p. 514; Der Bund der Kommunisten. P. 284.)
  24. ↑ Hans Adler. Vol. 2, p. 123.
  25. ↑ Hans Adler. Vol. 2, pp. 123-124.
  26. ↑ Marx-Engels Complete Edition, Section III. Vol. 2, p. 223; The League of Communists. P. 350.
  27. ^ Bert Andréas (Ed.): Founding documents of the League of Communists (June to September 1847) . Ernst Hauswedell, Hamburg 1969, p. 37; The League of Communists. P. 480.
  28. ^ Entry Bad Soden death register no. 43/1876, accessed via ancestry. com on July 11, 2018
  29. ↑ Hans Adler. Vol. 2, p. 171.
  30. ↑ Hans Adler. Vol. 2, p. 187.
  31. ↑ Hans Adler. Vol. 2, p. 191.
personal data
SURNAME Kuhlmann, Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kuhlmann, Johann Georg (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Confident and religious socialist
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1812
PLACE OF BIRTH Kummerfeld
DATE OF DEATH July 20, 1876
Place of death Bad Soden am Taunus