Mathilde Hitzfeld
Mathilde Hitzfeld (born September 1, 1826 in Kirchheimbolanden , † 1905 in the USA ) was a Palatine militant in the March Revolution of 1848/49.
Life
She was the daughter of the canton doctor Ludwig Hitzfeld , one of the most active advocates of democracy in the Bavarian Palatinate .
After the conquest of the Palatinate by the French Revolutionary Army under Adam-Philippe de Custine in 1794 , France annexed the Palatinate on the left bank of the Rhine as Donnersberg ( Département du Mont Tonnerre). This was confirmed by the Peace of Campo Formio in 1797 and the Peace of Lunéville in 1801 . The defeat of France in the War of Liberation brought the region to the Generalgouvernement Mittelrhein in 1814 , from which the Congress of Vienna granted the Bavarian King the Rhine district (from 1837 Bavarian Palatinate ). At first he left the political forms, such as B. Cantons.
When the Palatinate also proclaimed the " Palatinate Republic " in the course of the French Revolution of 48 , Ludwig Hitzfeld belonged to the "People's Representation for the Palatinate".
His daughter Mathilde took part in the building of the barricades in Kirchheimbolanden - the empty castle there had been chosen as the headquarters - against the Prussians called for help by the Bavarian king. In the battle near Kirchheimbolanden on June 14th, 1849, she was with the troublemakers in the palace garden, who, unaware of the retreat of the Palatinate revolutionaries from the town, offered the advancing Prussians in vain resistance in a bloody battle. The Supreme Commander Prince of Prussia, who later became Kaiser Wilhelm I , was present and personally congratulated his soldiers on their success. Captured and charged with high treason by the Bavarian judiciary , Mathilde Hitzfeld was released in December 1849 as a result of an amnesty law. Pictures of Mathilde Hitzfeld, how she fearlessly cheering on fighting revolutionaries on a barricade in Kirchheimbolanden, swinging a black, red and gold flag, became popular.
She emigrated to the United States , where she married the emigrated painter and freedom fighter Theodor Kaufmann (1814–1896) from Uelzen . They had two daughters. Until her husband was recognized in America as an important history painter, the family lived in poverty. After he had achieved respect and prosperity, Mathilde Kaufmann frequented artist and diplomatic circles in Washington, but remained loyal to her homeland through frequent visits. Today nine schools in Rhineland-Palatinate are named after her.
literature
- Anton Maria Keim: Kathinka Zitz-Halein and Mathilde Hitzfeld. Women between revolution and reaction . In: Lebendiges Rheinland-Pfalz 23 (1986), issue 2, pp. 44-50.
- Konrad Lucae: Kirchheimbolanden and the Baden-Palatinate uprising 1848-49 . Kirchheimbolanden 1979.
- Albert Zink: freedom fighter Mathilde Hitzfeld. A woman on the barricades of the Kirchheimbolander irregulars from 1849 . In: Palatinate home sheets . No. 5, December 1957, pp. 89-90.
Individual proof
- ^ Wilhelm Blos : The German Revolution. History of the German Movement from 1848 and 1849. Dietz, Stuttgart 1893, p. 577.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hitzfeld, Mathilde |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Palatine irregulars |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 1, 1826 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kirchheimbolanden |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1905 |
| Place of death | United States |