Georg von Langsdorff

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Georg von Langsdorff

Georg von Langsdorff (born July 14, 1822 in Rio de Janeiro ; † December 26, 1921 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a dentist, parapsychologist , writer and, in 1848, the leader of the rebellious republicans in Freiburg during the German Revolution of 1848/1849 .

Life

Langsdorff was the son of the doctor and naturalist Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff and his wife and cousin Wilhelmine von Langsdorff. The father became the Russian consul general in Brazil in 1812 and undertook a large expedition into the interior of Brazil from 1825 to 1829. Here he fell ill with malaria and cerebral typhus, which prompted the family to return to Europe in 1830, where they lived first in Baden-Baden and then in Freiburg. In 1832 Georg began his training at the grammar school in Freiburg. From 1843 studied medicine at the University of Freiburg , from 1844 to 1846 at the University of Heidelberg and then again in Freiburg. The final exam scheduled for 1848 was no longer possible due to his participation in the revolution.

High school students have been allowed to do gymnastics since 1834, and Langsdorff took part in this. In 1845 he was one of the founders of a gymnastics club in Heidelberg and after his return to Freiburg in 1846 he participated in the founding of the Freiburg gymnastics association from 1844 , of which the surgeon Karl Friedrich Hecker became chairman . Langsdorff became Turnwart, the liberal politicians Karl von Rotteck junior and Carl Mez were also in the club.

In the revolution of 1848

In April 1848 the Freiburg gymnasts formed a military corps and also conducted military exercises in public. Langsdorff was elected leader of the rebellious republicans by acclamation on April 22, 1848 at a popular assembly in Freiburg . Rotteck and Mez had urgently advised against the continuation of the armed uprising due to the already known defeat of Hecker in the battle on the Scheideck , while students and gymnasts wanted to continue and awaited the arrival of Hecker and Struve in Freiburg. Langsdorff also led the federal troops on April 24 during the storm on Freiburg and took command of the troops during the preparations the day before. His troops did not really intervene in the battle near Günterstal on April 23. Langsdorff was accused of being hesitant because, for example, he let the revolutionaries take over Freiburg's municipal cannons late. When the federal troops were attacked on April 24th, the troops had no serious chance and Freiburg was taken in 90 minutes. Langsdorff was given the nickname Münstergeneral because he followed the battles from the cathedral tower with binoculars. The leader and many insurgents fled from the federal troops; Langsdorff via Strasbourg to Muttenz in Switzerland. In September 1848 Langsdorff also took part in the unsuccessful Struve Putsch and then fled to Switzerland again, where he spent the winter of 1848/49 in Zurich .

Langsdorff is also mentioned in the 10th stanza of the ridiculous song Das Puckkasten-Lied by the great Hecker : Langsdorf wants to recognize,
lets himself be guided to the cathedral,
and looks through a perspective,
whether it goes well or wrong.

In exile

Langsdorff moved from Zurich in 1849 with his future wife Amalie Wischek († 1892) to the USA in Erie , Pennsylvania . He worked as a surgeon and obstetrician. His son was born here in 1850. In 1856 he settled in Cleveland , where he completed his training as a dentist at the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in 1861 with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) at the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati . However, he had been running a dental practice for five years.

In 1862 the Grand Duchy of Baden issued an amnesty for the participants in the 1848/49 revolution and Langsdorff returned to Germany from exile, where he settled in Mannheim .

The dentist

On February 27, 1862 he was licensed as a dentist in Mannheim. From 1866 to 1884 he published 43 articles in dental journals, with a particular focus on tooth preservation. His Practical Instructions for the Regulation of Teeth , published in 1863, was one of the first orthodontic textbooks . In 1870 he moved his practice to Freiburg and in 1877 he applied to the Senate of the University of Freiburg, where he had worked unofficially as a lecturer and examiner, the establishment of a subject in dentistry, which was rejected because of insufficient funding; the idea was only realized 15 years later. Around this time Langsdorff closed his practice.

alternative medicine

Langsdorff pleaded for alternative medicine and in 1890 tried to open a private clinic with Kneipp medicine in his house , for which he was refused permission. He was also an advocate of dietary measures and promoted healing magnetism .

The parapsychologist

Langsdorff had already turned to spiritualism during his American exile - where he met Andrew Jackson Davis . Between 1883 and 1917 he published around 800 articles in various spiritist journals in Germany and also brought out around 20 books on this topic. After his Freiburg house was auctioned in 1892, after the death of his wife he bought himself as a benefactor at the Evangelical Monastery in Freiburg and went on lecture tours to spiritualist associations all over Germany. In 1905 he went to a Grail Order colony in Arkansas, until he recognized and exposed their fraudulent intentions, and toured Mexico. Only in 1910 did he return to the Evangelical Monastery in Freiburg, where he died in 1921.

Publications

  • The whole of Spiritualism , Leipzig, Besser, 1889 (reprint Paderborn: Sarastro-Verl., 2012)
  • Brief instructions for learning psychometrics or the development of the sixth sense , which is still unexplored in us , Leipzig, Mutze, 1898 (Reprinted in Munich: Carussell-Verlag, 1981)
  • The laws of light and color and their therapeutic application , Karlsruhe 1894 (Reprint Niedernhausen / Ts .: Protzmann, 1977)
  • How can I become a medium? , Leipzig: Oswald Mütze, 1921, 4th edition.
  • A guide for magnetization and massage , Leipzig: Mutze, 1915, 6th, probably u. verb. Ed.
  • The guardian spirits and a comparative overview of the phenomena of life magnetism, received through a medium and published by Dr. Georg v. Langsdorff , Leipzig, Mutze, 1897
  • Practical instructions for the regulation of the teeth , Richter, 1863
  • As an introduction to the study of magnetism, hypnotism, spiritualism and a review of three brochures and a book by the magnetic healer Dr. Jul. Ed. Timmler in Altenburg , published by Karl Siegismund, 1889
  • The rays of light color and their healing power for diseases , Otto Nemnich, 1900

literature

  • Karl Frégonneau: Dr. Georg von Langsdorff † . In: Zentralblatt für Occultismus Volume 15, 1921/22, pp. 357-359 online at the Freiburg University Library
  • Karl Frégonneau: Memories of Dr. Georg von Langsdorff . In: Zentralblatt für Occultismus Volume 16, 1922/23, pp. 129-134 online at the Freiburg University Library
  • Gunda Wegner: Georg von Langsdorff (1822–1921) , dissertation, Freiburg im Breisgau 1989
  • Gunda Wegner: The life of Georg von Langsdorff: Turner, revolutionary and scientist . In: Schau-ins-Land Heft 111, 1992, pp. 79-94 online at Freiburg University Library
  • Ulrike Rödling, Heinz Siebold: The “revolutionary” gymnasts. The role of Freiburg gymnasts in the Baden Revolution . In: Schau-ins-Land Heft 118, 1999, pp. 187–194 online at Freiburg University Library
  • Ulrike Rödling, Heinz Siebold: Der Münstergeneral, people and events, Freiburg in the Baden Revolution 1848/49 , Verlag Moritz Schauenburg, Lahr, ISBN 978-3794605057
  • Andreas Mettenleiter : Testimonials, memories, diaries and letters from German-speaking doctors. Supplements and supplements III (I – Z). In: Würzburg medical history reports Volume 22, 2003, pp. 269–305, here: p. 275.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A gymnastics group had existed since 1844; the association was not founded until 1846; s. Rödling / Siebold p. 189.
  2. ↑ A brother of Friedrich Hecker .
  3. ↑ Langsdorff was with the column operating in the Wiesental under Theodor Mögling ; s. Gustav Struve: History of the three popular surveys in Baden , p. 122.
  4. ↑ s. Wegner p. 89.
  5. ↑ s. Grossherzoglich-Baden Government Gazette , Volume 60, No. 8 of March 5, 1862, p. 82 online in the Google book search .
  6. ↑ s. Wegner p. 88.
  7. ↑ s. Wegner p. 90.
  8. ↑ s. Frégonneau p. 358.
  9. ↑ s. Wegner p. 91.
personal data
SURNAME Langsdorff, Georg von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German revolutionary 1848, dentist, parapsychologist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1822
PLACE OF BIRTH Rio de Janeiro
DATE OF DEATH December 26, 1921
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau