Young Germany (secret society)

The political secret society Young Germany was founded in Bern in April 1834 by five Germans - including the publicist Carl Theodor Barth - at the suggestion of the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini . The model was Mazzini's organization Young Italy ( Giovine Italia or Giovane Italia ), founded three years earlier in Marseille . The occasion was the failed Savoy train to liberate Sardinia . The Young Germany joined shortly after its establishment initiated by Mazzini movement Young Europe at.

The members of the secret society included the revolutionary Maximilien Joseph Moll and the workers' leader Karl Schapper . In February 1835, emigrated to Switzerland Vormärzpolitiker joined Georg Fein into the secret society and directed the in Liestal based Central Committee of the Young Germany from August 1835 to February 1836. He intended to extract the boy Germany from Mazzini organization Young Europe and with the Paris Federation to unite the outlaws . Due to political differences, however, he resigned from the secret society in March 1836.

The German labor movement in Switzerland was influenced by the secret society, which established several Swiss craft associations .

Between the secret society and the literary movement Young Germany , which in the pre-March in the states of the German Confederation occurred, there was no organizational or personal connections. Nevertheless, both groups showed certain similarities in terms of content. Both were in opposition to the restoration policy prevailing in Europe at the time . The revolutionary, democratic-liberal attitudes of the members of the political secret society were also shared by individual representatives of the literary group. In contrast to the literary group, the secret society was actually preparing a political overthrow.

See also

• Jung-Lübeck
• Young Italy
• Young Europe

Literature (selection)

• Article Young Germany (JD) 1834–1836 . In: Dieter Fricke (Hrsg.): Lexicon for the history of parties . Cologne 1985, Volume 3, pp. 149 ff., ISBN 3-7609-0878-0 .
• Ernst Schraepler: Crafts and workers' associations 1830–1853. Berlin 1972, especially p. 29 ff., ISBN 978-3-11-003912-2 .
• Anne-Marie Dubler : Secret Societies. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ See Helmut Bleiber et al. a .: Men of the Revolution of 1848 . Berlin 1987, Volume 2, p. 55.
2. ↑ Cf. Barbara Gant:  Schapper, Karl Hermann Christian Friedrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 564 ( digitized version ).
3. ↑ Dieter Lent: Finding aid for the inventory of the estate of the democrat Georg Fein (1803–1869) and the Fein family (1737–) approx. 1772–1924 . Lower Saxony archive administration. Wolfenbüttel 1991, p. 84 mw Nachw.
4. ^ Anne-Marie Dubler: Secret societies. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz .; Franz Osterroth, Dieter Schuster: Chronicle of the German social democracy . 2nd edition, Berlin, Bonn 1975, volume 1, p. 8.
5. ^ Heinrich August Winkler: The long way to the west . Munich 2000, Volume 1, p. 83 f.