Johann Georg Heinzmann

The 1018-page 2nd part of Heinzmann's Kleiner Schweizer-Chronik contains material on the history of the Helvetic Revolution .

Johann Georg Heinzmann (born November 27, 1757 in Ulm ; died November 23, 1802 in Basel ) was a German bookseller, writer and compiler .

Life

Heinzmann's father had made it from a wandering tailor's apprentice to a wealthy merchant in Ulm, but then lost his fortune completely through unfortunate guarantees. This meant that Heinzmann had to leave high school in 1770 at the age of 13 and begin an apprenticeship in bookselling at Löffler's bookstore in Mannheim. He stayed there until 1776 and read enthusiastically, then returned to Ulm, where he worked near Stettin . In 1778 he moved to Bern , where he became clerk at the Haller's bookstore , which was then run by Rudolf Albrecht Haller .

In the following years Heinzmann went on numerous business trips and also lived in Lausanne for one year (1782) and two years in Basel (1783–1784). In 1780 a first compilation appeared, the Feyerstunden der Grazien , a reading book intended primarily for female readers, which was finally published in 6 volumes by 1794. In this as well as in later writings, Heinzmann had individual parts reprinted under different titles to improve sales, so there was the second volume as a poetic anthology for daughters and the third to sixth volumes as a textbook of useful sciences for girls of more mature age . In the preface to the first edition of 1780 he writes: Incidentally, my first concern was not to include anything in this book that might have offended morality and subtle feelings. Accordingly, the selection is committed to promoting gentleness and piety, and Heinzmann's own contributions follow a very traditional image of women.

In 1785 another compilation appeared, the Litterarian Chronicle , in which, as usual, he made use of various sources, mostly without naming the sources. At the same time he brought out a selection of Lessing's writings ( Analects for Literature ), which prompted Friedrich Nicolai in the General German Library to write about the "Harpy family" of reprinters who "have always [...] put their tainted hands in the most delicious meals [ beats] ”. Heinzmann's name is not mentioned, Nicolai only speaks of a "clean guild member". Heinzmann, who, according to his own statement, had only wished to "wind up a cypress to the memory of Lessing", complained in his preface to the third volume of the Litterarian Chronicle about Nicolai, who lacked "moral goodness", but looked for himself in the episode to avenge Nicoli as possible. It must be recognized, however, that some of Lessing's important works printed by Heinzmann were out of print in the book trade at that time, so he did a great job of spreading them, at least Rudolf Ischer.

In 1787 Heinzmann brought out Albrecht von Haller's diary of his observations about writers and about himself , although it is unclear how Heinzmann came into possession of the records. In the preface to this pamphlet he sharply attacked Haller's personal physician and student Johann Georg Zimmermann , from whose works he already made use of the Graces in the Feyer's hours and in many other ways . The attack had no consequences and Heinzmann also continued to use Zimmermann and expressed his praise in later writings, where he used Zimmermann as a witness against the North German reconnaissance.

In the summer of 1787, Heinzmann went to Ulm to find out about the possibility of establishing a branch there. In autumn 1788 he married Marianne Hagnauer from Aarau († 1802). He published his own love letters in 1791 under the title Letters from a Swiss Youth to His Bride , in which he describes his own character as heated and sensitive, which is why he needs a gentle and indulgent woman all the more. The couple only returned to Bern in autumn 1789, where Heinzmann began to work for the Typographische Societät .

His next compilation, the Bürger-Journal , initially appeared as a magazine in monthly issues and contained articles on all sorts of topics: Precautions against being buried alive , popular multiplication, moral improvements, child murderers and underemployed servants who succumb to fornication, a colorful variety with guidelines for guidance both of the state and of the household, the whole in the sense of a civic education shaped by the spirit of the Enlightenment . However, when it comes to the Berlin educators about Nicolai, Heinzmann expresses himself conspicuously derogatory and speaks of “false educators”, “wage writers”, “matadors” etc. In the following years he also gave some language textbooks, dictionaries and school books out, as well as edification writings and travel literature ( advice for travelers 1793; news for travelers in Switzerland 1796). In 1794 and 1796, the description of the city and republic of Bern finally appeared in two volumes, with Heinzmann only authoring the second volume. In this he used strong words about the bad habits and vices of the farmers, cautiously rebukes the Bernese merchant spirit and expresses himself very cautiously, if not praising, about the government and the police.

Heinzmann's most important and in any case most independent work is Appel to my Nation from 1795, also under the title On the Plague of German Literature . Here he takes up the feud with Nicolai again and deals with North German rationalism and the Berlin Enlightenment on a polemical 500 page, which he not only blames for the speculative book market, the professionalization of authors and the “reading mania”, but for what he is responsible for believes to recognize an anti-Christian conspiracy. The work is regarded as a main source for the conspiracy theory of the counter-Enlightenment, which wanted to attribute the political developments of the revolutionary time to the secret work of a group essentially identical to the Illuminati League, which was covertly working towards the overthrow of the throne and altar, and it continued to have an impact the ideology of the restoration after the Congress of Vienna . In its literary critical parts it represents a sweeping blow against the Berlin and Weimar authors of the time, first of all against Nicolai, of course, but also against Schiller , Goethe , the well-paid Wieland , against Kotzebue , Klinger and of course against Heinse .

The work and the attitude behind it met with approval from the Bern government, which intended to morally arm the population in difficult times of threat from revolutionary France, whereby a recourse to history and the presentation of past glory from the war seemed promising. Heinzmann was therefore commissioned to write a corresponding work, which appeared from 1795 in three volumes as Kleine Chronick für Schweizer , a compilation of various historical works on the history of Switzerland with special emphasis on the Bernese part of the same.

In spite of such efforts, the situation for Bern became increasingly critical in 1798 and Heinzmann was entrusted with the publication of the Eidgenössische Nachrichten as the official organ of the Bern government with the aim of promoting loyalty to the state, patriotic sentiments and the inflaming of fighting spirit. On March 5, 1798, the Bernese were defeated in the Battle of Grauholz and French troops moved into the city. In the following issue of March 17th, the Swiss Federal News showed a completely different attitude, Bern's war efforts were described as presumptuous and the French were apostrophized as an instrument in the hands of the Most High. Some Swiss people have never forgotten this flexibility. In 1812 Markus Lutz wrote in his necrology of memorable Swiss from the 18th century :

“But no sooner had General Brüne moved into the city and the old state institutions abolished, than he adopted a strikingly different tone, which was humble and flattering for the French. His “Frühstunden in Paris”, Basel 1816, are a compilation of praises of revolutionary deeds and events, only with the funny exception of the passages where the sight of so many undeniable infirmities and defects instantly irritates the author to the gall, and warm and emerges coldly from the same mouth. "

His newfound admiration for revolutionary France was his undoing when he decided to leave Bern, now France, and at least temporarily return to his hometown Ulm. He sent his wife and children ahead and then traveled by stagecoach, in which he got into conversation with some French emigrants and apparently sang the song of the revolution to them. His travel companions then apparently informed the competent authorities in Ulm, namely Heinzmann arrived there on May 2nd and on May 7th he was informed that he had to leave the city within 12 hours, as it was feared that Heinzmann would now also be in Ulm start a revolution. This process, which identified him as a martyr of revolutionary sentiments, he provided further publicity by publishing a corresponding paper ( Exposé d'un traitement arbitraire, eprouvé par un citoyen d'Ulm 1798). The Ulm council then countered the presentation of Heinzmann with a record-based presentation of the bookseller, Johann Georg Heinzmann, who had been instructed to leave Ulm at the request of the local KK, the fortress commandant Colonel Baron von Schaumberg .

After returning to Bern, Heinzmann became managing director of the Typographische Societät and published the Eidgenössische Nachrichten with an unchanged tendency under the title Neue Berner Nachrichten . In June and August 1798 he then went on a trip to Paris . From the correspondence of this trip with later additions, the above-mentioned book Early Hours in Paris emerged , in which he reveals that the impurity and immorality of the capital, the numerous robberies and murders and the public exhibition of obscene paintings his belief in the revolution but occasionally shaken. His hope, expressed there, that Bonaparte would follow the example of George Washington and, after the achievements of the revolution had been secured, would quietly withdraw into private life, were notoriously disappointed. In the same year 1800 he had published his essays on Napoleon, increased by a few anecdotes, under the title Life and Heldenthaten von Bonaparte, Chief General of the Frankish Armies and now the first consul of the great republic , and was thus the author of one of the first biographical writings on Bonaparte.

Heinzmann died in 1802 at the age of 44 on a trip to Ulm (where he intended to settle again) in Basel.

Fonts

Editor:

literature

in chronological ascending order

Johann Georg Meusel : Das Gelehre Teutschland (Lemgo), 4th edition, 2nd volume, 1783, p. 83; 1st supplement, 1786, p. 261; 2nd supplement, 1787, p. 131; 3rd supplement, 1788, p. 148; 4th supplement, 1791, p. 250; 5th Addendum, 1st Division, 1795, p. 575; 5th Edition, 3rd Volume, 1797, pp. 179-181; 9th Volume, 1801, pp. 549-552; 11th volume, 1805, pp. 334 f .; 14th volume, 1810, p. 85 f.
Albrecht Weyermann : News from scholars, artists and other strange people from Ulm. Ulm 1798, pp. 300-310. (Pp. 306–310: catalog raisonné written and commented by Heinzmann.)
Theophil Friedrich Ehrmann: Heinzmann. (A contribution to the political martyrology of our time.) In: Latest state advertisements, 5th volume, 4th piece, Germanien (Hamburg) March 1, 1799, pp. 484-508.
Johann Jacob Gradmann : The learned Swabia or Lexicon of the Swabian writers who are now living. Ravensburg 1802. pp. 223-230. (With catalog raisonné.)
Heinrich Wilhelm Rotermund : Heinzmann (Johann Georg). In: Johann Samuelersch , Johann Gottfried Gruber : General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts . 2nd Section, 5th Part, Leipzig 1829, pp. 25-27.
Albrecht Rengger (ed.): Johann Georg Zimmermann ’s letters to some of his friends in Switzerland. Aarau 1830, pp. 57 f., 62 f., 66 f.
Rudolf Ischer: Johann Georg Heinzmann. 1757-1802. In: Collection of Bernese Biographies. Published by the Historical Association of the Canton of Bern. 3rd volume, Bern 1898, pp. 376-409.
Karl Goedeke , Edmund Goetze: Outline of the history of German poetry from the sources. 2nd Edition. Ehlermann, Leipzig 1929, vol. 12, pp 100 -102.
Josef Nadler : literary history of German Switzerland. Leipzig / Zurich 1932, p. 291.
Heinrich Scheel : South German Jacobins. Class struggles and republican aspirations in the German south at the end of the 18th century. Berlin 1962, pp. 417 f., 476.
Gerhard Sauder : The dangers of sensitive perfection for female readers and the fear of novels in a women's library. In: Readers and Reading in the 18th Century. Heidelberg 1977, pp. 83-91.
Reinhard Wittmann : Afterword. In Johann Georg Heinzmann: Appeal to my nation. About the plague of German literature. Reprographic print of the Bern 1795 edition, Hildesheim 1977, pp. 1–41.
Reinhard Wittmann: History of the German book trade. Munich 1991, pp. 127, 186 ff., 197, 217.
Uwe Schmidt: Southwest Germany under the sign of the French Revolution. Citizen opposition in Ulm, Reutlingen and Esslingen. Ulm 1993, pp. 289-293.
Hans-Georg von Arburg: Heinzmann, Johann Georg. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Reinhard Wittmann: Heinzmann, Johann Georg. In: Wilhelm Kühlmann (Ed.): Killy Literature Lexicon . Authors and works from the German-speaking cultural area. 2., completely revised Ed. De Gruyter, Berlin 2009, vol. 5, p. 224 f.
Holger Böning : Johann Georg Heinzmann. In: The Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century German Philosophers. Oxford 2010.

Web links

Literature by and about Johann Georg Heinzmann in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

personal data
SURNAME	Heinzmann, Johann Georg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Burkardt, August (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German bookseller and writer
DATE OF BIRTH	November 27, 1757
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ulm
DATE OF DEATH	November 23, 1802
Place of death	Basel

[1] tized version

[2] Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek, Vol. 66 (1786), pp. 302 f., Digitized .

[3] Lessing: Analects for the literature . Vol. 1, Bern 1785 S. V .

[4] Ischer: Johann Georg Heinzmann. 1757-1802. In: Collection of Bernese biographies. Vol. 3. Bern 1898, p. 382.

[5] Haller: Diary. Preface p. XI ff.

[6] Publishing bookstore founded in 1758 by Vincenz Bernhard Tscharner in Bern.

[7] For example, vol. 2, p. 310 ff. Or vol. 3, p. 99 ff.

[8] Wittmann: Heinzmann, Johann Georg. In: Killy Literature Lexicon. Berlin 2009, vol. 5, p. 224.

[hls48000-9] A ^b ^c Ernst Bollinger: Eidgenössische Nachrichten. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

[10] Printed in: Theophil Friedrich Ehrmann: Latest state advertisements. Collected and edited by friends of publicity and civics. With 4 side dishes. Volume 5. Mutzenbecher, 1798, pp. 492-508, digitized . Heinzmann's writings on the matter are printed on pp. 484–491.