Johann Friedrich Funck

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johann Friedrich Funck , also Johann Friedrich Funk pseudonym : Capitain (born February 10, 1804 in Frankfurt am Main ; † February 15, 1857 ibid) was a German publicist , writer and theologian . He campaigned for the preservation of freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Germany and was a speaker at the Hambach Festival of 1832.

Live and act

Change to a writer

The meeting point of the Frankfurt liberals at the beginning of the 1830s - including Funck, Sauerwein and Freyeisen - was also the “ Rebstock ” collection point when the Poles passed through , picture from 1897

Johann Friedrich Funck was born in Frankfurt am Main on February 10, 1804, the son of a wage coach . From 1811 to 1821 he attended the municipal high school . In 1821 he began studying theology at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg . There he became a member of the Old Heidelberg Burschenschaft in 1821 . He continued his studies in 1823 at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena . At the age of 21 he returned to Frankfurt. In 1828 he was there the first theological exam in 1816 by the Congress of Vienna to the free city of Frankfurt declared hometown. For a living he gave private tuition until he got an apprenticeship in the Dutch community . In 1830 he had complained about the Frankfurt candidate system in a publication published in Offenbach . This led to the dismissal from the service of the Dutch community. Funck then tried to get employment with Gustav Bunsen (1804-1836), but this was denied him. In 1832 he was struck off the list of Frankfurt candidates for theology, as there was no longer any prospect of getting into office.

The contrast between the ruling church and political tendencies, which Funck got to know during his student days, made him a young rebel. In the absence of the prospect of employment as a clergyman, he turned to writing . As early as 1830 he published for magazines such as the Volkshalle . He criticized the existing conditions in the German Confederation in his writings. In the articles he called for popular sovereignty and the general German republic . The published magazines and leaflets shone beyond the federal capital and went in the same direction as the publications of his compatriots Johann Christoph Freyeisen (1803–1849) and Johann Wilhelm Sauerwein (1803–1847). With both of them, at the end of January 1831, he campaigned for the fate of the Polish "freedom fighters" who moved past Frankfurt into French exile after the November uprising of 1830/31 did not succeed. Frankfurt was in a constant frenzy of enthusiasm for Poland. To propaganda his ideas he appeared in the streets in a costume that the Allgemeine Zeitung called “ à la Fra Diavolo ”. He was responsible for the spread of radicalism and a general mood of protest in the lower strata of the population with his agitatory disposition.

On February 20, 1832, Funck published the New Eulenspiegel , which, however, was banned on March 2 by a resolution of the Bundestag. He appealed against this, in his opinion, arbitrary prohibition and nullified the prohibition by allowing the magazine to continue to appear in Der Eulenspiegel with a barely noticeable change in the title . Funck explained: “ He will not stop writing, even if it costs his life; he wanted to prove that there was at least one free man in Frankfurt. “He also published pamphlets. Because of the bans, he joined the German Press and Fatherland Association , which was founded on January 29, 1832 and which quickly had over 500 members in Frankfurt. On May 19, the Frankfurt Senate decided, at the request of the Bundestag, to ban the magazine Der Eulenspiegel and to confiscate it in bookshops.

Consequences of the journalistic activity

As a member of the German Press and Fatherland Association, Funck and a delegation from Frankfurt attended the Hambach Festival , which began on May 27, 1832. After his speech , he presented Johann Georg August Wirth with a sword as a gift of honor on behalf of his like-minded colleagues . Before that, he had already caused quite a stir when he moved from Neustadt in his old German costume in the pageant to Hambach Castle . On May 28th he was against in the house of the Schoppmann state, where a meeting was taking place. Funck expressed it: "either they wanted to strike then would they stay or they did not want to get rid of what he appropriate hold then one must go." Following this, he reported it in his magazine The Eulenspiegel He spoke out against gun violence and put the Application of this equal to usurpation .

After the Hambach Festival, he continued to be critical of the government in his magazine Eulenspiegel and organized public meetings. He received warnings in June 1832 as a result of two Senate resolutions. On September 17, 1832, the police office sentenced Funck to four weeks' imprisonment for various articles in the German People's Hall . He went to court against it and was later acquitted of the offense in April 1833. Through his participation in the festival, he was brought into custody by the government on November 12, 1832 for a criminal offense in the text " Die Fackel ". The sentence was a five-month prison sentence served on September 26, 1833. During his time in prison, the Frankfurt Wachensturm took place on April 3, 1833. Funck was freed from this, but the attempted coup failed and as a result some of those involved surrendered. Funck did not flee and returned to prison.

In the time after his sentence had been served, Funcke held several lectures with up to 400 listeners on German history. These were soon banned by the police. As early as 1832 he wrote in his writings about the collapse of the German Empire under Ludwig the Pious . The Frankfurt Bundestag, which was under the influence of Austria's head of government, Prince von Metternich , banned these writings. He continued his revolutionary activities and in particular distributed the Bauern-Conversations-Lexikon , which he published together with Sauerwein and Freyeisen. Funck founded a secret men's society together with Sauerwein, Freyeisen and Carl Bunsen. He also led drill exercises for his like-minded comrades, which were supposed to improve the military strength of the existing civil armament in Frankfurt.

This led to another arrest on March 8, 1834, with precisely these activities as a charge, whereby Funck denied participation in the federal government as well as the promotion of military strength. His colleagues Freyeisen and Sauerwein fled abroad. There were protracted legal proceedings. On February 8, 1936, the Frankfurt Court of Appeal sentenced him to five years in prison on the basis of a ruling by the Göttingen Law Faculty. He sent appeals and sounds to the Lübeck-based Higher Appeal Court of the Four Free Cities to avert the sentence. On June 30, 1837, this acquitted him of his participation in the men's association, but as a verdict it announced three years of penal service because of his writing and dissemination of the peasant lexicon and the preparation and implementation of military training. Funck served the sentence ordered for him in Fort Hartenberg near Mainz , where he was incarcerated after the Konstablerwache in Frankfurt was considered too unsafe to keep prisoners. There on the Hardenberg he learned new languages ​​such as Spanish, Swedish, Dutch, English and others. He also taught his fellow prisoners in German, Latin, Greek, geography and mathematics. Funck made no petition for clemency because, following his rigid legal sense, he formulated sharp protests against the judgment. The complaints were unsuccessful and did not alleviate or shorten the prison term. In the summer of 1840 he was released and decided to move back to Frankfurt. There he remained quiet until the outbreak of the revolution of 1848/1849 . He issued "seditious" pamphlets during this time. He remained true to his radical revolutionary convictions until his death on February 15, 1857 in Frankfurt am Main.

Characteristics of Funck

Rudolf Jung remarks on the character of Funck that Fuck was always true to his convictions. He displayed his convictions by wearing a "black, red and gold" cockade on the headgear. He did not give up the views from the 1930s, not even when comrades-in- arms turned to the Gotha party . He was a man of varied knowledge and well-readiness, a rigid, rugged character. It did not demand outward advantages or popularity. Richard Schwemmer describes Funck as the bearer of a radical idea that entered Frankfurt with the Poles in 1831. He was "always true to himself and unshakably firm in the principles to the point of rigidity [sic]". In the Brockhaus, Funck is described as a thrifty man who was far from luxury. He did not spend money on pub pleasures and gave it to his beloved mother. Even his fate did not tarnish the cheerful character. Funck was nicknamed the “ Capitain ” in the presence of his friends .

literature

Remarks

Remarks
  1. Cf. Friedrich Funk in Johann Georg August Wirth: The National Festival of the Germans in Hambach , Philipp Christmann, Neustadt, 1832, p. 48 online at: books.google.de & Adam Sahrmann: Contributions to the history of the Hambach Festival , Topos Verlag, 1930, p. 130 online at books.google.de & Richard Schwemer, Hist. Commission d. Stadt Fa M., History of the Free City of Frankfurt am Main (1814–1866) , Volume 2, J. Baer, ​​Frankfurt am Main, 1912 online at: archive.org
  2. 1831 in Rudolf Jung: Funck, Johann Friedrich. General German Biography (ADB) . Volume 49.Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1904, p. 211.
  3. For a given reason, he wanted to stand his beard in honor of Sylvester Jordan's, which the Frankfurt candidates were not permitted in Rudolf Jung: Funck, Johann Friedrich in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 49, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1904, pp. 211f.
  4. See old German costume and PDF Funck old German costume p. 173.
  5. The magazine Neuer Eulenspiegel (1832) was banned on March 2nd by resolution of the Bundestag, brought in by the Prussian Bundestag envoy Nagler, together with Johann Georg August Wirth's German Tribune , Philipp Jakob Siebenpfeiffer's Westbote and Rotteck's Neue Zeitschwinge . See: Richard Schwemer, Hist. Commission d. Stadt Fa M., History of the Free City of Frankfurt am Main (1814–1866) , Volume 2, J. Baer, ​​Frankfurt am Main, 1912 online at: archive.org
  6. Pamphlets were among other things "Amusements", "Ernst and Scherz", "Torch" according to Rudolf Jung: Funck, Johann Friedrich. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie. (ADB). Volume 49, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1904, pp. 211f.
  7. Funck traveled with the lawyers Friedrich Siegmund Jucho and Dr. Langer, the merchants Hinckel and Herold, the booksellers Johann Valentin Meidinger (1797–1851) as well as Karl Körner and Gustav Peter Körner , Sauerwein and the owner of the Gasthaus zum Rebstock Stolze. See in Richard Schwemer, Hist. Commission d. City of Frankfurt am Main, history of the free city of Frankfurt am Main (1814–1866). Volume 2, J. Baer, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1912, p. 513 online at: archive.org
  8. today Fort Gonsenheim
Footnotes
  1. a b c d e f g h i j Rudolf Jung:  Funck, Johann Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 49, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1904, p. 211 (ADB: Funck, Friedrich).
  2. a b c d e f Brockhaus: Conversationslexikon der Gegenwart . tape 2/4 . FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1839, p. 242 ( online at: books.google.de ).
  3. ^ Richard Schwemer , Historical Commission of the City of Frankfurt am Main : History of the Free City of Frankfurt am Main (1814–1866) Volume 2 . J. Baer, ​​1912, p. 492 ( online at: archive.org ).
  4. ^ Richard Schwemer, 1912, p. 495.
  5. Richard Schwemer, 1912, pp. 501f.
  6. a b Richard Schwemer, Hist. Commission d City of Frankfurt am Main: History of the Free City of Frankfurt am Main (1814–1866) Volume 2 . J. Baer, ​​1912, p. 504 ( online at: archive.org ).
  7. Richard Schwemer, 1912, pp. 511f.
  8. 1832 1982 Hambach Festival. Freedom and unity Germany and Europe. An exhibition by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate for the 150th anniversary of the Hambach Festival . Neustadt 1983, ISBN 3-87524-034-0 , p. 146 f.
  9. Benjamin Krebs: Presentation of the main results from the investigations carried out in Germany because of the revolutionary plots of recent times . Federal President's Printing Office, Frankfurt am Main 1838, p. 26 ( online at: books.google.de ).
  10. ^ Rudolf Jung:  Funck, Johann Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 49, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1904, p. 211 f.
  11. a b c d e f g h i j k Rudolf Jung:  Funck, Johann Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 49, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1904, p. 212.
  12. ^ Johann Georg Krünitz : economic-technological encyclopedia . tape 195 . Paulische Buchhandlung, Berlin 1848, p. 118 ( online at: books.google.de ).
  13. ^ Johann Georg Krünitz, 1848, p. 118.
  14. ^ Johann Georg Krünitz, 1848, p. 117.
  15. ^ Johann Georg Krünitz, 1848, p. 118.
  16. a b Brockhaus: Conversation Lexicon of the Present . tape 2/4 . FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1839, p. 244 ( online at: books.google.de ).
  17. ^ Richard Schwemer, 1912, p. 495.