Eppingen Reading Society
The Eppingen Reading Society was founded in 1831 in the rural town of Eppingen . Reading societies were carriers of bourgeois emancipation in the German-speaking cultural area and belong in the prehistory of the formation of political parties in the 19th century.
Founded in 1831
The Eppinger Reading Society was founded late. Corresponding societies had been founded decades earlier in the larger cities in the area such as Karlsruhe (1784), Pforzheim (1785) and Heidelberg (1785).
The year it was founded can be deduced from a letter to the Eppingen district office . It says there: A reading society has existed in the local city since 1831 with prior knowledge and approval from the district police authority . The members of the reading society, self-supporting elements of the authorities (see membership structure ), applied in this letter of June 19, 1847 to the Grand Ducal Commendable District Office for exemption from the police or after-work hours .
statute
Section 1 of the articles of association read: The company is a closed company . This already manifested that the founders wanted to stay “among themselves”, that is, within their own social class. A narrow circle of the educated and property bourgeoisie did not want to open up to other classes, even if they could read and were able to pay the membership fee.
Only guests could be introduced to society, but locals only once. In addition to the ordinary members, there was the category of the extraordinary members according to three different criteria: a) who only lived temporarily in Eppingen, b) who did not live in Eppingen, c) independent women.
The board of directors, consisting of the 1st chairman, his deputy, the secretary and the treasurer, was elected annually at a general meeting. In the first 50 years of the reading society's existence, the 1st chairmen were Dr. Carl August Wilhelm (official physician and general practitioner) and then the businessman Ludwig August Hochstetter.
The following list of the 1st chairperson gives us an impression of the social significance of the Eppinger reading society:
- ??? until 1889 Oberamtmann Deitenmann
- 1889–1890 Paul Bentel, mayor
- 1890–1907 Dr. Karl Philipp Weng, general practitioner
- 1907–1911 Alfred Widmer, notary
- 1911–1912 Professor Hördt
- 1912–1919 Professor Schulze, Realschule director
- 1919–1920 Albert Wirth, Mayor
- 1920–1922 Professor Zimmermann
- 1922–1925 Professor Schulze, Realschule director
- 1925–1926 Eugen Emmerich, Realschule director
- 1926–1938 Jakob Gebhard, landlord on the Dammhof
Membership structure
Membership lists from 1847 and 1928 have been preserved.
In 1847 there were 32 members, no woman is listed, 12 officials of the district office, the city administration or other government offices. This is followed by merchants (6), teachers (4), clergymen (4). The following professions are listed with one person each: mayor, notary, lawyer, bandmaster, doctor and forester.
The list of members from 1928 shows completely different professions in the differentiation of the social upper class. Of the 52 members of the reading society, 8 are civil servants (the Eppingen district office was dissolved in 1924), 7 merchants, 7 teachers, 6 doctors, 3 master craftsmen, 2 landlords, 2 bank managers, 2 innkeepers and 2 manufacturers. This is followed by a mayor, clergyman, forester, mill owner, pharmacist, brewery owner, brick factory owner, etc. a.
Amazingly, there are also three widows listed in 1928 who may have inherited their deceased husband's membership. The husbands of these widows were farmers, printers and merchants. One of the widows was Johanna Heinsheimer née Kahn (1863–1941), wife of Maier Heinsheimer (1855–1913). He was a successful merchant and long-standing synagogue councilor or head of the Eppingen Jewish community. None of the other Jewish merchants, who played a large part in Eppinger's business life at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, are listed as members.
Social place
The reading party had always rented its social place in an Eppinger inn. The library stood there and the newspapers and magazines were displayed. Conversation and sociability were cultivated here. The room was open to members every night of the week and there were regular events on Wednesday and Saturday nights. As a closed society one did not have to follow the police hour or was expressly exempted from it on request.
Library
The purchase of books, magazines and newspapers was financed from membership fees. The annual general meeting elected a book commission, which together with the board decided on the acquisition of books. The books bought were bound in a uniform cover by the local bookbinder Kepner. The library was located in the rooms of the reading society, and a bookkeeper took care of the loan.
Library holdings
A book catalog from 1913 has survived. In 1933 there were 633 books in the club library. The library was divided into three sections. 1. Fine literature , 85% of the holdings, 2. History, cultural history, life descriptions, memories , 11% of the holdings, 3. Geography, travel books , 4% of the holdings. Reference works, scientific specialist literature, religious books, local and local history works were found in the 1st section. The taste of the time prevailed.
Around 1900 the following newspapers were subscribed to: Karlsruher Zeitung , Neue Badische Landeszeitung , Badische Landespost , Badischer Landesbote , Badischer Beobachter and the Eppinger Volksbote .
Some of the magazines that were obtained around 1900 are intended to provide an insight into the interests of the members. They were: Illustrirte Zeitung , Fliegende Blätter , Illustrierte humorous magazine , Kladderadatsch , Simplicissimus , Jugend (an art magazine after which the term Art Nouveau arose), Die Gartenlaube , Daheim , Vom Fels zum Meer u. a. m.
Maintaining conviviality
According to the statutes, maintaining sociability was the second area of activity of the reading society. There was an entertainment committee for this , and bowling evenings, carnival balls, family evenings with dancing, etc. were organized.
Dissolution in 1938
On March 9, 1938, the members of the reading society decided to liquidate the society . It is not known whether pressure was exerted by the Nazi rulers. In the log book of the association it is written: The changed times and the lack of interest in the society prompted today's general meeting to consider the dissolution of the reading society. The low number of members is also not suitable to continue the society.
In the same year a public library opened in Eppingen , which took over only a small part of the book collection of the reading society. The public libraries and the book halls have the task of leading all strata of the people to the literature of the nation and thereby contributing to the spiritual and moral upliftment of the people. (Meyers Lexikon, 8th edition, Volume 1, Leipzig 1936, Sp. 1339)
literature
- Reinhard Ihle: Closed society, flying leaves and bowling. On the history of the Eppingen Reading Society 1831–1938 . In: Around the Ottilienberg. Contributions to the history of the city of Eppingen and the surrounding area , Volume 6. Heimatfreunde Eppingen, Eppingen 1994, pp. 134–152.
- Otto Dann (ed.): Reading societies and bourgeois emancipation. A European comparison . Beck, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-406-07606-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ General State Archives Karlsruhe, holdings 377/5430 (based on an article by Reinhard Ihle, see literature)