Ruckus

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The Hau riot was a street riot in Karlsruhe on July 22, 1907 , the day the verdict was pronounced in the Carl Hau murder case , which temporarily required the use of military forces to restore peace and order and was called a " street fight in peace" ( Ferdinand von Notz ) went down in history.

Rush to a murder trial

Karlsruhe, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Baden , was barely able to cope with the onslaught of the Carl Hau murder trial in July 1907. Long queues of citizens formed in front of the Karlsruhe Regional Court building who wanted to watch the trial. The entire regular police force of the city and the district of Karlsruhe (70 officers) were called in to cope with the rush. It soon became apparent, however, that this was not enough; first the mounted gendarmerie and finally the military stationed nearby were used. Two companies of the 1st Baden Leib Grenadier Regiment No. 109 were deployed under the command of Captain Ferdinand von Notz, who wrote a report about this 19 years later. On the day the verdict was pronounced, around 20,000 onlookers besieged the courthouse; Several attempts were made to break the chain of posts. There had never been such a crowd of curious people at any trial in the German Reich .

Course of the street tumult

During the first days of the trial against Attorney Hau, a large number of curious people came to the streets around the courthouse in Karlsruhe, especially in the evenings. They kept quiet, without rallies, and willingly obeyed the instructions of the police authorities to keep traffic going.

On the evening of July 20, 1907, this audience was eager to see the witness Olga Molitor up close, and that is why, after the end of the Molitor family's trial, the police decided to take a different route from what the audience expected to drive from Courthouse assigned to the “Red House” hotel. In front of the hotel, the occupants of the car were recognized and immediately surrounded by intrusive people. Under the protection of some police officers, the car drove into the courtyard gate without causing any riots.

On the last day of the trial (Monday, July 22, 1907), from noon onwards, a steadily growing crowd surrounded the courthouse, especially on Stephanienstraße. The police presence had to be significantly increased to maintain road traffic and to regulate access to the building; at 8 p.m. the entire available protection team was on hand. At 8.15 p.m. there was a one-hour break, during which the courtroom was cleared.

The crowd on the street had meanwhile grown to a few thousand and made attempts here and there to break the policeman chain and forcibly reach the building entrances. The crowd was strongest at the main entrance to the jury room. There, a squad of around 25 policemen , some commissioned officers and police commissioners, on the orders of the police director Otto Seidenadel , who personally led the security measures, gathered into a semicircle and shoulder to shoulder fended off the crowd.

The police officers' warning calls were unsuccessful and were answered with whistles and hoots. When a few people with admission cards were allowed to enter, the crowd pushed in noisy and ignored renewed warning calls from the police and threats to use weapons. The protection team was unable to withstand the advance, picked up the saber on the orders of the police director and pushed the crowd back onto the roadway. The more level-headed elements left voluntarily, supporting the efforts of the police. The excited crowd, however, only backed away in front of the weapon with whistles and hoots and could hardly be held at a distance from the entrance.

The police director now called the mounted gendarmerie and asked for military support. The former, received by the crowd with shouts and whistles, received instructions from the police director to support the protection team in maintaining the current state of affairs until the military arrived.

Operation order of July 22, 1907

In the meantime, the grand ducal chairman Hans von Krafft-Ebing and the city commander Freiherr v. Reibnitz appeared on the scene of the event. The two companies of the Leib-Grenadier-Regiment sent by the military headquarters under the command of Captain Ferdinand von Notz , also received with hoots and whistles, arrived soon afterwards and now cleared Stephanienstrasse, Linkenheimerstrasse, Akademiestrasse and later also Waldstrasse. in which the rioters between the piled cobblestones resisted violently and threw stones at the troops.

After the verdict had been announced in the courtroom at 2 a.m. and the building had emptied, the troops withdrew and the rest of the security service was taken over by the security team.

A total of eight arrests of those tumultuous people who had stubbornly opposed police or military orders were made. There were no injuries from the use of weapons by the police or the military.

Judicial processing

The Karlsruhe jury court dealt on September 25, 1907 in a lengthy session with the street tumult that took place on the night of September 22nd / 23rd. July 1907 during the negotiations of the Hau trial.

The prosecution had brought charges against eight defendants, mostly of resisting and insulting armed forces, and one defendant of serious bodily harm committed by throwing a stone. Most of the defendants who appeared belonged to civil professions (merchants, wine travelers, hairdressers, coachmen) and by no means gave the impression of being brave brothers. The lawyers Paul Frühauf , Albert Gönner , H. Haas and Rödelstab-Bruchsal acted as defense counsel for four defendants .

The charges were reasonably segregated and not for riot . They were only heard at the beginning of the meeting, which was chaired by the Chief Justice Dr. Ritter went on, joined for the purpose of negotiating.

About 40 witnesses, mostly from the military, including the officers in command that night, were summoned. The hearing lasted from 10 a.m. with a short interruption until 4.30 p.m. The extensive evidence showed that the mostly unpunished defendants had appeared before the district court out of curiosity and not out of riots, and that these conflicts with the organs of the authority, apart from two cases, were relatively not too serious. The impression arose in court, and this was also emphasized by the defense attorneys, as if the real brawlers had evaded justice.

The evidence also showed that the military commanded to cordon off behaved correctly under very difficult circumstances and did not take excessive measures despite the considerable resistance and isolated attacks by the crowd, particularly on Waldstrasse.

The verdict was pronounced after a half-hour discussion at 6.15 p.m. it read:

  1. Locksmith Albert Kiefer, against whom the most serious charges of resistance and aggravated bodily harm, the latter committed by throwing a stone, had been brought before, is sentenced to a fine of 30 ℳ, possibly 10 days in prison, for resistance.
  2. Coachman Joseph Sadtler was sentenced to 5 weeks in prison for resistance.
  3. Worker Adolf Weißbrod to a prison sentence of 10 days for public insult.
  4. House boy Karl Kunich for resistance to a prison sentence of 3 weeks.
  5. Wine traveler Hermann Schaub for public insult to a prison sentence of 10 days.
  6. Hairdresser Gottlieb Stadelbauer to 1 week imprisonment for resistance and 1 week imprisonment for insults.
  7. and 8. The accused painter Joseph Damm and factory workshop worker Jakob Becker are acquitted of the charges brought.

The military command was given the authority to publish the verdicts on insults.

In the grounds of the judgment, the presiding judge pointed out that the defendants did not take part in the street riot to any significant extent, even though it had to be clear to them that such resistance often had unforeseeable consequences for those involved themselves and for the soldiers in command could. It is regrettable that the main perpetrators and especially the main ringleaders who participated in the stone throwing could not be identified.

When determining the sentence in favor of the accused, the passionate excitement of the masses of those days should be taken into account. In the case of the defendant Kiefer, the stone throwing against Grenadier Rehnig has not been proven with certainty. The coachman Sadtler had behaved quite improperly when, despite permission to drive through, he hit the crews with a whip. The insults proven against the defendants Schaub and Stapelbauer should not be underestimated in view of the social position of the defendants. With regard to the defendants Damm and Becker, the evidence gave no evidence of involvement.

Contemporary commentary

About the action of the military:

“Various reports are made about the actions of the military themselves. One is unanimous in the praise of the commanding officer, who as it were paternal admonishing and worried talked to the crowd and warned them of the dire consequences. Elsewhere, before the restoration of 'Zum Mohren' ( Linkenheimer Tor ), a section of soldiers is said to have acted immediately against the public without warning and in doing so brought harmless and respected people into dangerous situations. In general, however, the fact that the street appearances were bloodless speaks for the caution with which the military proceeded, despite the unpleasant experiences of individuals. "

About the behavior of the audience:

The course of the Hau murder trial in Karlsruhe shows how easily pathological passions can infect the whole population through a kind of mass hypnosis and drive them crazy, even in our 'enlightened' times and even in a city that is passed off as particularly 'mature' politically . Many thousands of people (one report estimates it at 20,000) besieged the courthouse and had to be kept in check by a military presence. Why? Because the accused was an interesting personality, a modern intellectual, an adventurous speculator of the American school, a fictional character such as has never been described so strangely in detective novels. The Sherlock Holmes fever had made the public particularly receptive to this adventurer and his enigmatic endeavors. When, in American fashion, he cold-bloodedly left the court to provide circumstantial evidence , this trick impressed the audience enormously and also promised an exciting 'to be continued' for every day. When he actually woven a romantic love story and implied that he would rather die than be indiscreet, the public's reason was completely over. It threatened the lady, who suspected her silence was making the “ingenious superman” the victim of his gentlemanly duty, and who knows what would have happened if the accused had succeeded in bringing the trial to a close with this novel effect . It was only the explanations of the last few days and hours that sobered the audience, and the verdict was silently accepted. In 1907 a jury trial took place in the liberal model city of Karlsruhe! The military had to protect the independence of the jury against the street mob, which is said to have mostly consisted of members of the better classes. "

swell

  • Court hearing against lawyer Hau , in: Karlsruher Zeitung of July 23, 1907.
  • The street tumult of 22./23. July before the Karlsruhe lay judge , in: Badische Presse from September 25th and 26th, 1907.
  • The happenings on the street . in: Badische Presse , noon edition of July 23, 1907.
  • The internal politics of the week [Commentary on the Karlsruhe murder trial, Hau], in: Neue Preußische Zeitung , morning edition No. 349 of July 28, 1907.

Press coverage

  • Requirement of the military , in: Der Volksfreund , Volume 27, No. 168, First Sheet, Karlsruhe, Tuesday, July 23, 1907.
  • The "Street Revolution" , in: Der Volksfreund , Volume 27, No. 169, Karlsruhe, Wednesday, July 24, 1907.
  • To bathe. Accompanying phenomena to the Hau process , in: Schwäbische Kronik . Mittagsblatt , no.340 of July 24, 1907.
  • Wilhelm Raupp: In the stream. A spiritual tragedy in five pictures , in: Braunschweiger Landeszeitung of March 17, 1926 (with an attached comment by Ferdinand von Notz).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Court hearing against lawyer Hau , in: Karlsruher Zeitung of July 23, 1907.
  2. ↑ The street tumult of 22./23. July before the Karlsruhe lay judge , in: Badische Presse from September 25th and 26th, 1907.
  3. ↑ What goes on in the street . in: Badische Presse , noon edition of July 23, 1907.
  4. ^ The internal politics of the week [Commentary on the Karlsruhe murder trial, Hau], in: Neue Preussische Zeitung , morning edition No. 349 of July 28, 1907.
  5. ↑ http://www.pkgodzik.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Hau-Krawall/1907-07-23_Gerichtsverhandlung_gegen_Rechtsanwalt_Hau.pdf
  6. ↑ http://www.pkgodzik.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Hau-Krawall/1907-09-26_Der_Strassentumult_vor_dem_Schoeffengericht.jpg
  7. ↑ http://www.pkgodzik.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Hau-Krawall/1907-07-23_Die_Vorgaenge_auf_der_Strasse.pdf
  8. ↑ http://www.pkgodzik.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Hau-Krawall/1907-07-28_Die_innere_Ppolitik_der_Woche.jpg
  9. ↑ http://www.pkgodzik.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Hau-Krawall/1907-07-23_Requirierung_des_Militaers.jpg
  10. ↑ http://www.pkgodzik.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Hau-Krawall/1907-07-24_Die_Strassenrevolution.jpg
  11. ↑ http://www.pkgodzik.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Hau-Krawall/1907-07-23_Begleiterschommen.pdf
  12. ↑ http://www.pkgodzik.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Hau-Krawall/1926-03-17_Im_Strom.pdf
  13. ↑ http://www.pkgodzik.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Hau-Krawall/1908-01-17_Badischer_Landtag_zum_Fall_Hau.jpg