Hermann Joachim Hahn

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Hermann Joachim Hahn, contemporary engraving

Hermann Joachim Hahn (born July 30, 1679 in Grabow , † May 21, 1726 in Dresden ) was a Protestant preacher of the Dresden Kreuzkirche . His murder by a Catholic became a major journalistic event in Saxony and led to a civil uprising in the royal seat of Dresden in May 1726.

Life

Hermann Joachim Hahn was born in Grabow in the (partial) duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1679 . He came from a "well-respected priestly family": his father Julius Ernst Hahn (1650–1727) was second pastor in Grabow and was also the court preacher of the Mecklenburg dukes Friedrich and Carl Leopold . His mother Anna was married to a Grabower pastor and was the daughter of the Lübeck council architect Hermann Jäger. Hahn's grandfather was also active as a pastor in Stralendorf and Grabow.

The Gothic Kreuzkirche, Hahn's place of work

Hahn was raised to be godly. He initially received lessons from a rector in Grabow. It was considered a miraculous occurrence that Hahn almost drowned at the age of 12. The man who saved him from the water had already saved his father from drowning. Hahn received lessons in Hebrew and reading the Bible from his father . The father also took him to visit sick people as a pastor.

Accompanied by his older brother Julius Ernst Hahn (the younger), who later became cathedral preacher in Güstrow , Hahn went to Saxony and enrolled at the University of Leipzig to study theology . He studied with Valentin Alberti , Heinrich Pipping and Gottlob Friedrich Seligmann , among others , but interrupted his studies after four years due to a crisis of faith. He went to Schwerin with his brother , but after a short time returned to Leipzig, where he worked as a theology teacher and continued his studies. At the age of 25 he was involved in a serious accident in a carriage, which left him cuffed to his sick bed for a long time. In 1706 Hahn received his doctorate “in Magistrum, and shortly afterwards in Baccalaureum Theologiae”. Hahn refused the call given to him in 1706 to go to the Jakobikirche in Lübeck as a deacon . When in the same year “the lowest diaconate at the Church for Salvation. Creutz in Dresden vacant ”, Hahn was given the position he took up in 1707.

In 1707 he was first appointed as a Sunday midday preacher and in the same year he became “the same early preacher”, 1708 Friday and 1724 Wednesday preacher. He made confession , gave private lessons, cared for the sick and dying, and accompanied "prisoners, inquisites and maleficants" on their final journey to execution. At the same time he strove to convert Catholics to Protestantism, which attracted him the enmity of his opponents. In 1722 the Lutheran side - Hahn himself? - published the pamphlet Conversations in the Reiche of the Living , which consisted of the writing of a four-hour dispute about religion between Hahn and the Jesuit priest Franz Sebastian Nonhardt in the presence of a "high lady" who converted to Catholicism.

Hahn built a school for the poor for 40 children in Dresden , for which he paid himself. On October 15, 1708 he married Sophie Horn, the daughter of his Leipzig teacher Immanuel Horn. The marriage had five daughters and five sons, five of whom died prematurely. His son (Johann) Friedrich Hahn (1715–1787) and his descendants continued the family tradition as pastors in Mecklenburg.

In 1724 and 1726 Hahn fell ill with typhus .

death

Assassination of Hahn by Laubler, contemporary engraving

On May 21, 1726 around noon Hahn was having dinner with the family when the satellite Franz Laubler asked to speak to him. Laubler had been a butcher in Oberhausen near Augsburg before coming to Dresden. Here the Catholic converted to Protestantism under Hahn's leadership. Hahn, who had also supported Laubler with money, got him to work in the military. Without Hahn's knowledge, however, Laubler had converted to Catholicism again shortly before the meeting and had been released from the military. In front of Hahn he pretended to have abdicated and wanted to return home. He had already ordered the stagecoach, but Hahn had to speak to him, "since he had a scruple of conscience and his bliss was attached to it, which he wanted to present to him."

Grave of Hermann Joachim Hahn in the Trinitatisfriedhof

After a short interview, Laubler tried to strangle Hahn with a noose. However, since Hahn caught this with his hand, Laubler stabbed him with six stabs, two of which were fatal.

"It seems as if the murderer, when the blessed man is supposed to lead him across the hall and corridor to his study, and he has had more opportunity to play the sacrifice of Christ with him, and to amuse his ungodly mind. "

- Manzeln, p. 50.

For this purpose Laubler had three long nails, a small rod, a knife and a noose with him. Laubler fled after the crime, but was pursued by the cook and Hahn's boy next door and was finally placed in Dresden Castle . When he was arrested, he testified that he "had thrown a Lucifer from the Dreßdnischen Kirche-Himmel, and killed a soul murderer in a fight: Now his heart, so it was difficult before, was really light as a feather". In custody to Laubler known to the Catholic faith and was on 18 July 1726 "on one to the end on the Old Marckt against the town hall alive on stage verfertigten from above whacked , and Coerper on the court before the State old Dreßdnischen Thor braided on the wheel ”.

Hermann Joachim Hahn was buried on May 24, 1726 at three o'clock in the morning in the Johanniskirchhof . Valentin Ernst Löscher's funeral sermon was given on June 6, 1726 in the Frauenkirche and then appeared in print. When the Johanniskirchhof was secularized in the middle of the 19th century, Hahn's tomb was transferred to the newly established Trinity cemetery . The design of the tombstone is attributed to Johann Christian Kirchner . Hahn's burial place is one of the few remaining graves in the Johanniskirchhof today.

Reactions

Riots

Tuesday, May 21, 1726

Franz Laubler, contemporary engraving

The murder of Hahn upset the city of Dresden. The "common people" in particular were convinced that the deed had been planned by the city's Catholics. In Protestant Dresden there had been religious conflicts again and again since August the Strong's conversion and the subsequent increasing social freedom of the Catholics. These discharged after Hahn's murder. Even before Laublers was arrested, the first attacks on Catholics took place, some of whom were brought to safety by soldiers.

"Now the arrest of the murderer resounded in the whole city, only the angry, and this shed blood of the priests ... unreasonable mob aiming to revenge, increased the hatred of the papists, so even that he ... all persons Cath. Religion, regardless of their status and dignity, fell on the streets in fury, wounded so much with blows, blows and stone throwing that they can hardly get away with their lives ... "

- Anonymous: detailed and true relation ... , p. 5

Merchants from Italy, Tyrol and other Catholic countries closed their shops and hid in their houses.

At the beginning of the tumult, Governor August Christoph von Wackerbarth was probably in the Friedrichschlösschen (at "Sedlitz Castle"), so that Lieutenant General Ernst von Borck first went to Dresden. With the help of the militia , he managed to disperse the people and bring the injured Catholics to safety. Count Wackerbarth returned to the city on the same day in order to calm down the angry people who wanted to lynch Laubler in a personal address. The residents of Dresden were forbidden to leave the house at night. At the same time, two cuirassier regiments appeared in the city, which were posted together with hundreds of other soldiers on the new and old market and were supposed to prevent further attacks. The incident was reported to the king on the same day.

Wednesday May 22, 1726

Count Wackerbarth

Initially, the situation was expected to calm down the following day. During the morning sermon in the Kreuzkirche "arose ... a shouting, though unfounded, as if one wanted to shoot the preacher in the pulpit, and some people at the large church door want to have seen fire and powder, as well as bared swords ..." The suspicion Another attempted murder caused panic among the parish, whereupon the militia stormed the church and arrested people. As a result, a mob formed that "raged and furious ... decided to destroy the Catholics entirely" roamed the streets of Dresden. The group of “apprentice boys, handicraft boys, thieves and rascals” first went to the Jesuit house in Kleine Brüdergasse , where they wanted to murder the clergy who lived there, but who had already fled. So they ravaged the house and threw in the panes. In Schloßgasse they threw in the windows of the Prinzliche Apotheke, but were stopped from further rioting by the militia. The panes of the first Catholic court church, built in 1707, were also destroyed by the mob.

As a result, not only were Dresden's panes destroyed "in all the alleys and streets", but Catholics' apartments and rooms were also ransacked, religious artefacts destroyed and more valuable property stolen. The attacks on Catholics began again, so Count Wackerbarth ordered that Catholics in danger be brought to safety. The residents of the city were also asked to give the places of residence of Catholic believers so that they could be brought to safety.

May 23 to May 29, 1726
In the following days the situation in Dresden calmed down. Hahn was buried on May 24th. On May 29th, the entire citizens of Dresden signed an ordinance in which they assured that they “to keep themselves peaceably, do serious restraint to their servants and servants, to refrain from all disputes, especially religious matters, and not to give rise to unnecessary arguments and should give the opportunity etc. "

Publications

Memorial sheet
Title page of Löscher's funeral sermon with a portrait of Hahn's funeral

After Hahn's murder, numerous works and pamphlets appeared in quick succession on his life and above all the circumstances of his death. Hahn was increasingly elevated to a Christian martyr and his name was interpreted metaphorically:

Anonymous - funerary inscription (1726)

Here rests the dear rooster, which crows hard enough
that many a penitent Hertz let bitter tears flow.
Now God has raised him to the choir of martyrs.
Therefore Peter will soon have to weep in Rome,
because the righteous blood from a priest's crypt,
together with the blood of Thorner, also calls for vengeance.

Other publications (selection)

  • 1726: Picander - The Assassination Murder Of The Weyland Well-Venerable Mr. M. Hermann Joachim Hahns, Bey of the Church for Salvation. Creutz in Dresden In the 14 years of well-deserved Seel-Sorgers and Archi-Diaconi with suffering weeping from Picanders
  • 1726: Anonymous - Cumbersome news of the cruel murders of a faithful teacher, the well-honored and well-learned gentleman. M. Herrmann Joachim Hahns, SS Theol. Baccalaurei and in the Dreßdnischen Ministerio to the H. Creutz Diaconi who in an unheard-of manner by six murderer stitches on May 21, 1726 by a repentant satellite Frantz Laubler was pitifully killed and killed in his priestly apartment
  • 1726: Curriculum Vitae, or: Life, Death and Burial of the Weyland High Venerable Mr. M. Hermann Joachim Hahn's SS Theol. Baccalaurei, Diaconi and the Mittoch preachers of the time for salvation. Creutz in Dreßden put on by Piqvantern
  • 1726: Bellamintes - The story about the bloody death of his teacher, ST Mr. M. Hermann Joachim Hahns, who was murdered by a murdered teacher, Dreßden swimming in bloody tears is mediated by an ode of lament and consolation, which is an unbound epitaph of the soul. Man's added, addressed pityingly by Bellamintes
  • 1726: Bernhard Walther Marperger - The one force that the Christians use village, On Sundays Rogate, Ao. 1726. in the Königl. and Churfl. Saxon Castle Church to be recognized (peace sermons that were held after Hahn was murdered)
  • 1726: A noble lady - conversation in the realm of the living, Between the last miserably murdered Evangelical clergyman, M. Herrm. Joachim Hahn, and the well-known Jesuit, Father Nonnhardt, In Dressden, Bey opportunity one in 1722. From a noble lady, From the true Evangelical to the Papist religion there happened garbage (published in Frankfurt and Leipzig 1726, first edition 1722)
  • 1726: S. - The sad Andencken of the month of May, As on the 21st of the same in the deviated 1726th year, the ... Mr. M. Herrmann Joachim Hahn ... In his house ... by Frantz Laublern, a repentant satellite with 5th stitches assassin Wise was murdered, Wolte renew the memory of this tragedy in a few unbound lines a sincerely compassionate S.
  • 1726: Valentin Ernst Löscher: The well-speaking blood of an innocently killed Abel, Became on June 6th 1726 in the women's church to Dreßden in a witty corpse sermon ... Herr, M. Hermann Joachim Hahnen, well-deserved and loyal - presented to the hard-working Archi-Diacono at the Creutz Church in Dreßden, in honor and blissful glory

Works by Hermann Joachim Hahn

  • 1708: Paulus redivivus
  • 1710: Koenigius contractus et illustratus
  • 1710: Proposal of a correct means of eradicating the ignorance in Christianity, which is even very torn among Christians. In 3 sections
  • 1710: Main register on Misandri (M. Joh. Sam. Adami) Delicias evangelicas
  • 1713: The one in the doctrine of the worthy use of the confessional and salvation. Thoroughly teaching communion catechers
  • 1713: The sensible service with several Easter songs
  • 1719: Deliciae deliciarum, or those for salvation. Emotional delight with edifying contemplation of those ...
  • 1720: Old and new from the song treasure of the Evangelical Church, or song book of 947 songs
  • 1724: Obliged idea of ​​how he used to behave towards his confessors both in the confessional and outside it, according to the demands of his conscience
  • 1726: Last words that he uttered to his entrusted congregation on Sunday Cantate the 19th May 1726, and want to speak to her on the following Wednesday the 22nd ejusd (posthumously)
  • 1726: Twelve Char-Freytags sermons (posthumous)

literature

  • Anonymous: Detailed and true relation of the 21st Maji of this 1726th year in Dreßden by a god-forgotten villain at the blissful Mr. M. Hahnen cruelly committed priest murder. In addition to certain particularities that are differentiated, these are opposed to bitter untrue stories . Dresden 1726.
  • Franz Laubler. Murderer of the preacher Hahn in Dresden . In: Michael Kirchschlager (Ed.): Murderer / robber ogre. One hundred biographies of German criminals from the 15th to 18th centuries . Adaptation of the original from 1786. Festa, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-86552-024-3 , pp. 133–140.
  • Mathis Leibetseder: The host in the throat: a "terrible bloody act" and the Dresden tumult of 1726 . UVK Verlagsgesellschaft, Konstanz 2009, ISBN 978-3-86764-208-8 .
  • Joh. Christoph Manzeln: Detailed, well-founded and accurate news of the life and death of Tit. M. Herrmann Joachim Hahns, S. Theologiae Baccalaurei, in the Ministerio zum Heil. Creutz in Dreßden Diaconi ..., Who died miserably on May 21, 1726 by a murderous hand: At the instigation of the XIX. Legis thought well-löbl. Societät brought to light with a sincere pen . Pestle, Dresden 1727.
  • Hahn, Hermann Joachim. In: Johann Heinrich Zedler : Large complete universal lexicon of all sciences and arts . Volume 12, Leipzig 1735, column 207 f.

novel

In Ina Seidel's novel Lennacker (1938), Hermann Joachim Hahn is one of the main characters in the chapter The Seventh Night and his murder is the climax of the plot.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Manzeln: Detailed, well-founded and accurate news of the life and death of Tit. Mr. M. Herrmann Joachim Hahns… , p. 8.
  2. ↑ There is no evidence that Pastor Christoph (Caspar) Hahn in Watzkendorf was also his ancestor. It is said of his grandfather Georg Hahn that he came from Neubrandenburg .
  3. ↑ Manzeln: Detailed, well-founded and accurate news of the life and death of Tit. Mr. M. Herrmann Joachim Hahns ... , p. 12.
  4. ↑ Manzeln: Detailed, well-founded and accurate news of the life and death of Tit. Mr. M. Herrmann Joachim Hahns ... , p. 22.
  5. ↑ Manzeln: Detailed, well-founded and accurate news of the life and death of Tit. Mr. M. Herrmann Joachim Hahns ... , p. 23.
  6. ↑ Manzeln: Detailed, well-founded and accurate news of the life and death of Tit. Mr. M. Herrmann Joachim Hahns ... , p. 24.
  7. ↑ Manzeln: Detailed, well-founded and accurate news of the life and death of Tit. Mr. M. Herrmann Joachim Hahns ... , p. 29.
  8. ^ Full text of the first edition , Halle, 1722; later edition: Conversation in the realm of the living, Between the recently miserably murdered Evangelical clergyman, M. Herrm. Joachim Hahn, And the well-known Jesuit, Father Nonnhardt, In Dressden, Bey the opportunity of an apostasy that happened there in 1722 from a distinguished lady, from the true evangelical to the papist religion . Frankfurt and Leipzig, 1726.
  9. ↑ Manzeln: Detailed, well-founded and accurate news of the life and death of Tit. Mr. M. Herrmann Joachim Hahns ... , p. 46.
  10. ↑ a b Manzeln: Detailed, well-founded and accurate news of the life and death of Tit. Mr. M. Herrmann Joachim Hahns ... , p. 54, footnote 1.
  11. ↑ Detailed and true relation ... , p. 5.
  12. ↑ Detailed and true relation ... , p. 6.
  13. ↑ Detailed and true relation ... , p. 7.
  14. ↑ a b c Detailed and true relation ... , p. 8.
  15. ↑ Detailed and true relation ... , p. 18.
  16. ↑ Printed in Detailed and Truthful Relation ... , p. 20. The "Thorner Blut" parallels the murder of Hahn with the Thorner Blood Court , which had taken place only a year and a half earlier.
personal data
SURNAME Hahn, Hermann Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Protestant preacher
DATE OF BIRTH July 30, 1679
PLACE OF BIRTH Grabow (Elde)
DATE OF DEATH May 21, 1726
Place of death Dresden