Joseph White Hair
Joseph Weißhaar (born March 4, 1814 in Pfohren ; † May 22, 1870 in Zurich ) was an innkeeper and politician as well as the leader of a Badische Freischartruppe which was defeated in Steinen on April 20, 1848 after a short battle.
Life
Weißhaar was born as the son of an innkeeper in Pfohren and later took over the Engel inn in Lottstetten . With his wife and cousin Wallburga he had 6 children. His restaurant was on the road from Schaffhausen to Zurich and was a station for changing horses. In addition, trading in grain was carried out here on a large scale. White hair was accordingly wealthy and influential.
In the Hecker Uprising (April 1848)
At the beginning of 1848 Weisshaar was elected commander of the Lottstetter vigilante group. In March he was a member of the central committee of the Baden Volksvereine for the Upper Rhine District . As early as the beginning of April, at a popular assembly in Dettighofen , it was decided to join the planned Hecker procession and Weißhaar was elected colonel of the squad from Klettgau . While Hecker's Freischar set out in Constance on April 13th, Weißhaar and his high Rhine column did not begin the march westwards - to Loerrach - until April 17th. The column, which Gustav Struve had also joined in Grießen , moved on via Nollingen to Loerrach, where he moved into Loerrach on April 20th (Maundy Thursday) with 600 men. The history painter Friedrich Kaiser from Lörrach depicted this entry in a painting.
At the news of Hecker's defeat in the battle on the Scheideck , the column marched on to Steinen to come to Hecker's aid. The column of Weißhaar-Struve could only take part of the fleeing people. A small rifle department was pushed towards today's Steinemer district Schlächtenhaus. The advancing federal troops under Colonel Hinkeldey attacked the group. Struve negotiated a half-hour truce. The majority of the Freischar had already fled from Steinen and Struve, with the support of Theodor Mögling and August Willich, had the bridge over the Wiese bei Steinen demolished in order to make it more difficult for the troops to pursue the scattered Freischoten. Hinkeldey moved on the other, right bank of the river to Lörrach after a detachment of the rebels under Mögling defended the river crossing with a volley of fire.
Weißhaar fled to Rheinfelden in Switzerland and his band disbanded. After making a deposit he was able to stay in Lottstetten after the Hecker uprising was put down.
During the Struve Putsch (September 1848)
In the second Baden uprising under Gustav Struve in September 1848 - the Struve Putsch - Weißhaar was no longer able to take part, as it ended within three days with the battle for Staufen . However, Struve had expected the later arrival of White Hair.
In the Baden Revolution of 1849
After the outbreak of the Baden Revolution, Weißhaar was appointed civil commissioner for the Jestetten district. On May 28, 1849, Weisshaar, as civil commissioner, invited all mayors and presidents of the people's associations as well as all citizens who are particularly concerned about the elections and the “constitutional assembly” to a preliminary consultation for this election in Eggingen . Weißhaar was elected as one of four members of the fourth district (Jestetten, Waldshut, Blumenfeld, Bonndorf, Stühlingen) on June 3, 1849 .
The remnants of the revolutionary army moved up the Upper Rhine to Waldshut and Grießen, from there to Lottstetten. They moved into camp near Baltersweil and deployed the artillery near Bühl against the Prussians who were rapidly advancing. On July 11, 1849, Sigel crossed the Rhine near Eglisau together with Joseph Weißhaar and the rest of the troops on the advice of Colonel Rudolf Benz von Pfungen , commissioner of the cantonal government of Zurich , they were disarmed and interned. August Willich , who after the lost battles of 1848 had reunited the Willich Free Corps in France with the Besanconer Arbeiter-Companie , and his adjutant, Friedrich Engels , also entered neutral ground here on July 12, 1849. The Becker Freikorps went to Rheinau Switzerland.
Condemnation and amnesty
On June 24, 1850, Joseph Weißhaar was sentenced to eight years in prison and confiscated a large part of his property by the court in Bruchsal for high treason. In January 1851, the higher court in Karlsruhe confirmed the verdict on appeal.
His wife later obtained a reduction in the high fine that was also contained in the judgment. Since he was in Switzerland, he could not be detained. He used the amnesty issued by Grand Duke Friedrich I when he took office in 1857 to stay in Lottstetten, where he sold all of his property. After previously running a timber trade in Zurich, he settled in St. Fiden in the municipality of Tablat in the canton of St. Gallen as an innkeeper and brewer and was granted citizenship with his three sons on October 23, 1864 .
Anecdotes
Joseph Weißhaar is rooted in the history of the Klettgau to this day , he was known as a capable businessman but also as a daredevil who was ready for all sorts of jokes and cheeky pieces, these have been passed down in numerous anecdotes, even a legend has arisen about him. For example, he is said to have tied the end of the tablecloth of a richly laid table to the tail of his St. Bernard dog in a noble Zurich hotel, when he went out he quietly called Barry , who then covered it quietly, the laughter was of course his pleasure, which he liked paid out of his full purse. Another time he made a bet that he would be in Zurich within an impossibly short time, he harnessed two fiery horses in front of his hunting carriage - and instead of landing on the Rhine bridge near Eglisau, next to it in the Rhine, he was only able to save himself with difficulty. Before the battle near Steinen, the adjutant Malzacher, the innkeeper of Bülach, reported to him: D´Prüße chömme! and further said: I think, Colonel, the chaibe Prüße are bigoscht but able to shoot us! - What, shoot or not shoot, I shoot! was Weisshaar's answer, but when the first blessed and dead came, the irregulars left the field. (freely retold) from cheerful stories from home.
literature
- Karl Friedrich Hoggenmüller: From the history of the community Lottstetten. Municipality of Lottstetten (Ed.), 1981.
- Karl Friedrich Wernet: The political development in the Klettgau. In: Franz Schmidt (Ed.): The Klettgau. 1971, DNB 730470016
- Hans Matt-Willmatt : Cheerful stories from home. In: Heimat on the Upper Rhine. 1965.
- Wolfgang Hug, Kurt Benda, Andreas Ch. Weiß, Manfred Dietenberger, in: Heimat am Hochrhein Jahrbuch des Landkreis Waldshut , 1998, Volume XXII, Landkreis Waldshut (Ed.) ISBN 3-7650-8190-6
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Gustav Struve: History of the three popular uprisings in Baden. Jenni, Sohn, Bern 1849, pp. 69/70
- ^ Theodor Mögling: Letters to his friends , p. 93
- ^ Gustav Struve: History of the three popular uprisings in Baden. Jenni, Sohn, Bern 1849, pp. 125/126
- ↑ Government Gazette No. XXXII (3) of May 19, 1849, p. 301
- ↑ Karl Friedrich Hoggenmüller: From the history of the community Lottstetten. Municipality of Lottstetten (Ed.), 1981, p. 310.
- ↑ Karl Friedrich Hoggenmüller: From the history of the community Lottstetten. Municipality of Lottstetten (Ed.), 1981, p. 302 ff.
- ↑ Hans Matt Willmatt: cheerful stories from home. In: Heimat on the Upper Rhine. 1965/66, pp. 137-138.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | White hair, Joseph |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German innkeeper and revolutionary |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 4, 1814 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Poking |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 22, 1870 |
| Place of death | Zurich |