Julius Oppermann

Julius Oppermann (born June 9, 1825 in Diez , † January 1, 1880 in Wiesbaden ) was a democratic editor at the time of the 1848 revolution in Nassau.

Julius Oppermann attended from 1839 to 1843 the school Philippinum Weilburg and then studied at the universities of Marburg , Bonn and Heidelberg law . He completed his studies in Wiesbaden on August 11, 1847 with the first state examination. Then he got involved in the democratic movement in Nassau. The first political document with his name was a leaflet from the Security Committee in Diez of March 8, 1848 to the residents of Diez , in which the events of March 2-4, when Duke Adolf von Nassau wrote the “ Nine demands of Nassauer ”approved.

He was on the board of the gymnastics club and in the spring of 1848 led the democratic movement in Diez an der Lahn. On April 28, 1848, in a large popular assembly, he reprimanded the “ March Minister ” Hergenhahn for fighting against popular sovereignty and demanded the immediate withdrawal of Nassau troops from Baden, where they fought against the Republicans (see Baden Revolution ). This earned him the charge of being an anarchist , and he was transferred to the office of Selters without any reference . Thereupon he resigned and in August 1848 succeeded the editor of the Freie Zeitung Dr. Ferdinand Möller . In the following years he turned to the labor movement, but without wanting to touch the property. He published in the Freie Zeitung also a call to gather in Frankfurt in March associations of 6 May 1849 the soldiers to those in the St. Paul's Church adopted constitution if necessary to defend with the weapon. On June 10, 400 deputies from all over Nassau came together in Idstein for the " Idstein Democratic Congress " and demanded that the government accept the National Assembly, break off relations with the provisional central authority and with the anti-constitutional states, and withdraw troops from the Palatinate and Baden and to call a constituent assembly for Nassau. Oppermann was one of the leading figures in the congress. At that time he was anti-Prussian.

Because of this publication and other pamphlets and newspaper articles between May 8 and 27, 1849, Oppermann was charged with treasonous acts and insulting the King of Prussia. But the jury, who all came from Nassau, acquitted him in the jury trial on October 23 and 24, 1849 in Wiesbaden. Oppermann had the negotiation copied and later published the transcript. Another high treason trial took place in Wiesbaden from February 8th to 15th, 1850. This time it was directed not only against him, but against ten leading participants in the Idstein Congress. Here too, the accused were acquitted by the jury. This hearing was also recorded and published.

Although advertisements were regularly placed in his Freie Zeitung that recommended emigration to America and described the country in the best light and that his half-brother Ludwig Holzhäuser had also emigrated there, Oppermann himself decided against it. He said that America was very low in social development because one class of people, the slaves, was respected as equal to the animals. He also believed that in America capital made people heartless and one would long for the brotherhood of the old homeland.

On July 20, 1850, he resigned the editorial office of the Freie Zeitung for health reasons. He now wanted to become a lawyer. However, he was refused the required second state legal examination because he had not completed the two years of civil service required for admission to the examination. He had to earn his living as a legal assistant and legal advisor in Limburg and Diez. In Diez he was also a member of the local council. He also wrote a number of articles for the Rhein-Lahn-Zeitung , a liberal newspaper founded in 1859. For example, he campaigned for the freedom of establishment for doctors in Nassau. In 1863 he temporarily took over the editing of the Elberfelder Zeitung before moving to Berlin. His attitude towards Prussia changed more and more. Oppermann finally advocated the "Einpreußung" of Nassau and became a staunch opponent of "small states".

Even before 1866 Oppermann was a supporter of Bismarck and was convinced of the need to reorganize the military. The Prussian cause had become for him the German cause. Nevertheless, he did not find a job in the Prussian administration and finally earned his living as secretary of the Wiesbaden Chamber of Commerce and Industry .

After his health had been bad for a long time, Oppermann succumbed to a brief serious illness on January 1, 1880 in Wiesbaden. A half-sister had taken care of the unmarried man in the end.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Struck p. 218.
2. ↑ Lenz-Fuchs p. 201.
3. ↑ One word for the freedom of doctors in Nassau . Printed in: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Staatsarzneikunde . Volume 19, 1862, pp. 3-8.

literature

• Renate Lenz-Fuchs: Julius Oppermann from Diez: A revolutionary of the year 1848. In: Rhein-Lahn-Kreis Heimatjahrbuch 1988 . Pp. 195-203.
• Wolfgang Heino Struck: Julius Oppermann from Diez (1825-1880). On the story of a Nassau forty-eight man. In: Nassau Annals . Volume 78, 1967, pp. 216-277.