Constantin Frantz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Grave of Konstantin Frantz in the Johannisfriedhof in Dresden.

Constantin Frantz (born September 12, 1817 in Börnecke ; † May 2, 1891 in Blasewitz ) was a German philosopher, publicist, mathematician and politician. He was temporarily in the diplomatic service of Prussia. He became known as a political writer with reference to Young Hegelianism and Romanticism . Frantz was a pioneer of the Holy Roman Empire inspired Central European confederation and opponents of from Bismarck nationally written German Reich . He was considered an outsider all his life, was later interpreted as a supposed forerunner of the Third Reich and is controversial in its meaning and meaning.

Life

Constantin Frantz was born as the son of the Protestant pastor Klamer Wilhelm Frantz and his wife Karoline Katharine Auguste Frantz, née. Cartel born. He studied mathematics and philosophy in Halle (Saale) and Berlin from 1836 to 1840 . From 1844 he worked in the Prussian civil service (1852–1856 Chancellor of the Consulate General in Barcelona), but resigned in 1862 to devote himself only to writing political memoranda, which he had already started in 1840. He completed his education by traveling, especially in Eastern Europe. (Reference?)

In his writings he criticized national liberalism , to which he assumed bellicose tendencies. In a centralized German nation-state based on the Western European model, he saw a threat to the global position of the European peoples. His federal alternative draft of independent states should include members of the former Rhine Confederation, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Prussia, Lithuania and Austria as well as a restored Poland as a vice-kingdom (ruled by a Lithuanian and Catholic branch line of the Prussian royal family, in personal union with a Prussian imperial title and a Lithuanian Grand Duke title). A solution to the German question through mere force, as in the wars of 1866 and 1871, he rejected as alien to life.

Criticism of German unity

In the nation-state efforts of politicians and scholars, whose way of thinking was limited to the system of the great European powers , Frantz saw the danger that the peculiar geographical and historical conditions ("nature", based on the holistic thinking of Romanticism) which had been political up to then independent regions of Central Europe could not be further developed as individual strengths. Accordingly, their historical development does not point to a nation-state, but to a federative confederation in which the individual parts retained extensive autonomy. The individual states could only develop most strongly in independent, free cooperation. The forces that emerged from this would benefit the entire community of states, which would promote cohesion even without a nation-state form. For him, political togetherness lies in the “nature” of the countries. Frantz did not consider either the large or the small German solution to be future-oriented. In his book " Von der Deutschen Föderation " from 1851 he shows that Prussia is historically not legitimized to take on a leading role in the German question . It is too intertwined with Slavic, especially Polish, conditions for that. A division of Prussia into a German and a Slavic area would dissolve this state. In addition, the "military statehood" of Prussia would not be compatible with the parliamentary statehood of a German nation-state. Austria was also out of the question, since as a multi-ethnic state it could only be accepted into a German empire through division, separated from its historical task in the direction of the Black Sea. As an opponent of the Prussian-Austrian dualism, he was of the opinion that all Central European states were dependent on each other if they wanted to continue to exist successfully. In the Wars of Liberation he saw the old contradiction overcome for a short time, whereas the debate about the nation-state revived dualism.

Frantz described the empire created by Bismarck in an anti-Semitic way as the "German empire of Jewish nationality". He questioned the loyalty of the Jews to the country in which they lived, criticized an alleged too great Jewish influence in the economy and the press, and was already moving in racial categories when he wrote that in his book Ahasuerus or The Jewish Question of 1844 Conversion and baptism did not change anything in terms of being a Jew or the nature that is supposed to result from it.

Central European Federation

According to Frantz's ideal, the Central and Small German states should form a closer "West German Confederation". According to their tradition, they would be purely German, and there would be no legitimation problem for a de facto state formation on a federal basis. In accordance with its intended purpose, Prussia was to concentrate on its eastern provinces, but at the same time be a federal partner of western Germany. The same applies to Austria, which should live up to its character as a multiethnic state and join the federation as such. The cooperation between these three parts should only relate to military protection and common economic areas, so that the respective cultural development of these units would not be hindered. Such a constellation would be to the advantage of all those involved, which in turn would have to prompt neighboring countries such as Switzerland , Belgium , the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries (reference?) To want to join this federation. He considers the Netherlands in particular to be important as a member because they would underline the transatlantic importance of the federation. Such a federal community would appear less threatening to the other major European powers, France and England, than a German nation-state under Prussian hegemony. An alliance between Prussia, Austria, the West German states, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Lithuania and Poland would be militarily strong enough to deter an advance by Russia into Eastern Europe, but with its decentralized and international organization and diverse culture would hardly have a chauvinistic antagonistic effect on the nation states and colonial powers of France and England, would therefore have a peacemaking, stabilizing character.

Balance of powers

A federation halfway between the New World and Russia

The goal envisaged by Frantz was the global political protection of the " occidental international community " against the increasing economic superiority of North America and the potential military supremacy of Russia, as stated in the " Investigations on the European Balance " 1859 and in " Die Weltpolitik " 1882-83 (3 volumes).

Here Frantz follows a draft developed by Friedrich List , namely not to let the emigrants going overseas enrich the US economy, but to direct them in " border colonization " following the German states to southeastern Europe and out of the Danube from the source to the Mouth into the Black Sea to make a German river.

Role of Poland

The role of Poland, which Frantz imagined with a viceroy , a special constitution and administration with its own army, is important so that it forms a buffer against Russia with its " Finnish-Uralic and Tartar-Mongolian elements ", especially since it was Christianized " Western European morals " are to be attributed and stand against " Russian-Mongolism " as the " true and real German hereditary enemy in the East ". Russia is dangerous for him for one important reason: “ If its ability to influence the other Slavic peoples arises from the Slavic nature of Russia, but from those elements its restless drive to conquer and thus the endeavor to approach the other Slavic peoples pull or submit forcibly. And if that ever succeeded, that would be our downfall. After all, Slavism extends deep into Germany through Bohemia. - In view of this, should we not thank God that there is still a Slavic people who up to now have steadfastly resisted all the temptations of Pan-Slavism , which is just the cloak in which Russianism is wrapped, and still with its reluctance despite the gallows and Siberia stated. "

Before that, however, Poland had to " cope with the Jewish economy, without whose elimination a real rebirth would be virtually impossible ". Frantz is therefore of the opinion that bilingualism should be demanded of the Germans and Poles living next to each other and that a Slavic language should be taught in the learned schools in all of eastern Germany. Because more attention should be paid to Slavism precisely because of Russia.

The reservations about the " Jewish economy " are related to another observation by Frantz, which is directed against the "Verpreußung" or Germanization of Polish areas: The Jews of the Province of Posen are in fact Prussian because of the new Prussian constitution of 1848, like the Poles Citizenship has been granted. “ Since then, they have moved into Berlin in increasing numbers, and so the main source of the Jewishness of the capital has become the province of Poznan. The Grand Duchy of Poznan, if it had its special indigenous population, would have had to keep its Jews to itself. The fact that the Polish element was striving to become German and has even been trying to eradicate it for some time has brought no blessing and will not bring any. "

Emergence of a world politics

In the motif of the increasing interweaving of regional economies and cultures around the globe, the pivotal point of Constantin Franz's holistic worldview and its importance for the 21st century can be heard.

Volkish reinterpretation

Like Friedrich List, Frantz was more or less forgotten during his lifetime. His temporary companion, estate administrator and first biographer, the scholar and publicist Ottomar Schuchardt, published a slightly modified version of a book by Frantz between 1899 and 1902 in three volumes, Die deutsche Politik der Zukunft . Based on Friedrich Ratzel , he works on the border colonization aspect, referring to Johann Karl Rodbertus (1805–1875), who calls the Germans a “colonizing people”: “But our colonies are not on the other side of the sea, they are immediate grown out of the old trunk. To the east of the Elbe, they extend to Lake Peipus and the most southeastern bastion of the Carpathians . In the work of colonization the German people were led by two royal houses, both border guards of the empire, in the north the Hohenzollern , whose forerunners were the Hanseatic League and the Teutonic Order , in the south the Habsburgs ”. For Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk , however, his ideas were already so important that he entered into correspondence with him, whom he thought was a pangerman . Its effect "did not begin fully until after the First World War ", so that it was considered a forerunner of the "Third Reich". For Hans-Ulrich Wehler he is a “media critic”, for Jacob Burckhardt he is a “head above the fog”. Kurt Waldheim , later Secretary General of the United Nations and Federal President of Austria, wrote his dissertation on The Imperial Idea with Konstantin Frantz in 1944 .

Works

  • 1843: principles of true and real absolute idealism.
  • 1844: Philosophy of Mathematics.
  • 1844: Attempt on the family constitution.
  • 1846: On the present and future of the Prussian constitution.
  • 1848: Poland, Prussia and Germany, a contribution to the reorganization of Europe.
  • 1850: our policy.
  • 1851: The Constitutional.
  • 1851: Our Constitution.
  • 1851: From the German Federation.
  • 1852: Louis Napoleon.
  • 1852: The state disease.
  • 1857: Preschool for the Physiology of States.
  • 1858: The politics of the future.
  • 1858: "Quid faciamos nos?"
  • 1859: The military state.
  • 1859: Investigations into the European equilibrium.
  • 1861: The Events in America.
  • 1861: Three and thirty sentences from the German Confederation.
  • 1862: Criticism by all parties.
  • 1863: The source of all evil.
  • 1864: The Danish succession dispute and federal politics.
  • 1865: The restoration of Germany.
  • 1870: The dark side of the North German Confederation.
  • 1870: The nature of the state.
  • 1871: The new Germany.
  • 1872: The Religion of National Liberalism.
  • 1873: Dispatch of the national liberal press.
  • 1874: National liberalism and Jewish rule.
  • 1877: German answer to the oriental question.
  • 1878: The fall of the old parties.
  • 1879: Federalism as the guiding principle for social, state and international organization, with special reference to Germany.
  • 1880: Sheets for German politics and German law.
  • 1880: Schelling's positive philosophy.
  • 1881: The social tax reform.
  • 1882-83: World politics with special reference to Germany.
  • 1899: The danger from the east. (Subsequent work, published by Ottomar Schuchardt in “ Die deutsche Politik der Zukunft ”, Vol. 1, Celle 1899.)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Die Weltpolitik - with special reference to Germany , Second Department, II. Germany and Central Europe , Chapter 5, p. 62 ff, Constantin Frantz, 1882, reprinted by Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1966
  2. ^ Richard S. Levy: Antisemitism. A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution . Volume 1, ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara 2005, p. 244.
  3. ^ A b Günther Franz about Konstantin Frantz in Bosl / Franz / Hofmann: Biographical dictionary on German history. Study edition , licensed edition by KG Saur Verlag (1973) for Weltbild Verlag Augsburg 1995, Volume 1, p. 719.
  4. ↑ Constantin Frantz / Ottomar Schuchardt, Die deutsche Politik der Zukunft, Vol. 1 , Celle 1899, p. 298. - Friedrich List and his time. Economist, railway pioneer, politician, publicist. 1789-1846 , ed. from the city of Reutlingen on its 200th birthday, Reutlingen 1989, p. 192 f.
  5. ↑ C. Frantz, The Danger from the East , p. 166 f. in: O. Schuchardt, The German Policy of the Future , Vol. 1, pp. 10–167.
  6. ↑ C. Frantz, The Danger from the East , p. 163 f. in: O. Schuchardt, The German Policy of the Future , Vol. 1, pp. 10–167.
  7. ↑ Ottomar Schuchardt: The German policy of the future. Vol. 2, Celle 1900, p. 61 f. - On Schuchardt's concept of colonization in Eastern Europe cf. Bert Riehle: A new order of the world: Federal theories of peace in the German-speaking area between 1892 and 1932. Göttingen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht) 2009, ISBN 3-89971-558-6 , pp. 125–129.
  8. ^ Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk: The new Europe . The Slavic point of view. Berlin 1989 (first edition 1918), p. 13 f.
  9. ^ Hans-Ulrich Wehler: Nationalism and Nation in German History , p. 172; in: Helmut Berding (ed.): National consciousness and collective identity. Studies on the development of collective consciousness in modern times 2. Frankfurt a. M. 1996, pp. 163-175.
  10. ^ Alfred Mühr: The German Emperors. Dream and reality of the empire. Wiesbaden 1971, p. 459.
personal data
SURNAME Frantz, Constantin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1817
PLACE OF BIRTH Bornecke
DATE OF DEATH May 2, 1891
Place of death Blasewitz (now part of Dresden )