Meno Castle

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Major Meno Castle

Meno Burg (born on October 9, 1789 in Berlin ; died on August 26, 1853 there ), was the first and for a long time only Prussian staff officer of the Jewish faith , royal Prussian major in the artillery and teacher of the United Artillery and Engineering School . Burg, also known as the Jewish major , achieved the highest rank a Jew could achieve in the Prussian army in the 19th century. Nonetheless, his military career is evidence of the discrimination against Jews in the Prussian civil service .

He fell victim to a cholera epidemic in Berlin. On August 29, 1853, Burg was buried with full military honors in the Jewish cemetery in Schönhauser Allee . More than 60,000 people attended the funeral.

Education and civil career

Berlin High School for the Gray Monastery
Berlin Building Academy

After attending Jewish schools, Burg became a pupil at the Berlin City School in December 1802, which later became known as the Gray Monastery Gymnasium . He left school in 1804 to study with his cousin, the royal building inspector Salomo Sachs . He then attended the Berlin Building Academy , where he passed the exam as a conductor and surveyor in 1807 . Just like his cousin, who was the first Prussian Jew to be accepted into the civil service under King Friedrich Wilhelm II , Burg was also used under Friedrich Wilhelm III. Civil servant. Burg had thus taken up a profession that deviated from those professions that Jews generally had to take up, as the " Revised General Privilege and Regulations " of April 17, 1750 determined for them. Under the impression of the political situation, the norms of the Jewish regulations were obviously not strictly observed. If Burg had decided in accordance with the legal situation, he would have been denied access to the profession he had chosen. Burg was already a civil servant when the edict of March 11, 1812 "regarding the civil conditions of the Jews in the Prussian state" came into force. Although the edict granted the Jews of Prussia new rights, admission to state offices was not intended and was reserved for later legislation.

Entry into the Prussian Army during the Wars of Liberation

Academy of Arts in the academy building on Unter den Linden , where the Berlin State Library has been located since 1914 .
(Photo before 1903).
Prussian Landwehr cavalry in the Wars of Liberation

Burg was about to take his final exam at the Academy of Arts in Berlin when he volunteered for military service on February 14, 1813 during the Wars of Liberation to fight for "Prussia's freedom and rebirth," as he put it. The troop of his choice was the Normal Infantry Battalion in Breslau , an elite infantry unit. After a few days, however, Burg was dismissed from this unit on the grounds that, as a Jew, he was not allowed to serve in the guard corps "according to the existing laws and the prevailing circumstances" . "How natural the rejection of Jewish soldiers in the guard was for the long-established circles can be seen from the fact that State Chancellor Karl August von Hardenberg , otherwise sympathetic to the legitimate demand of the Jews for equality, left two requests from Burg for reinstatement in the guard unanswered. "

Burg then decided to apply to the artillery , a class of troops that at that time enjoyed less esteem among the nobility and that was considered a weapon of the commoners . In order not to risk being fired again, Burg presented himself to the Inspector General of Artillery, Prince August of Prussia , who supported his appointment. He hired him as a bombardier and gave him the right to wear a silver officer's portepee on the crew saber . Meno served in Neisse and quickly rose to the rank of sergeant. Burg, whose achievements were widely recognized, was proposed as an officer by the subaltern officers of his unit after only nine months of service . However, the promotion failed due to the veto of the commanding officer, Captain Karl Moritz Ferdinand von Bardeleben , who refused Burg's promotion to officer on the grounds that "as long as (he) has something to say, no Jew should become an artillery officer". This reset meant that officer candidates who had trained Burg himself should be promoted to officers before him. Even his transfer to a field unit did not help his intended promotion. Only a parole from the enemy could have made a promotion without election of an officer possible. However, he did not go to the front with his unit as intended.

Burg was not, as sometimes falsely claimed, the first Prussian officer of the Jewish faith. Other Prussian soldiers of the Jewish faith had already become officers at the beginning of the war. However, they were soldiers in combat units who were directly under the influence of the front, or they belonged to the militia, the hunter detachments or the Landwehr . Finally, on August 18, 1815, Burg was promoted to second lieutenant of the artillery rather late, and shortly afterwards was transferred as a company officer to the First Artillery Brigade ( East Prussia ) in Danzig .

As an officer of the Jewish faith during the Restoration

United Artillery and Engineering School

As a drawing teacher at the United Artillery and Engineering School in Berlin since 1816 , Burg was promoted to prime lieutenant on July 4, 1826 according to his seniority in the order shown in the rankings and quarters lists . It is noteworthy that during this period of reaction, Burg was promoted in the "rank" while, on the other hand, Jewish volunteers who made legitimate claims to civil service were turned away for their beliefs.

Despite the highest protection from Prince August of Prussia , Burg almost wasn't promoted to captain . In this promotional drama, Burg first had to accept the compromise of being promoted to “captain of the army ”, a rank not equivalent to captain of the artillery. Then he was advised to be baptized in order to make the promotion possible, which Burg ultimately refused. It must be mentioned here, however, that Burg applied for baptism once in 1824 , but allegedly postponed his application on November 16, 1824 “because of family relationships”.

On December 6, 1830, the king announced that he could not even appoint Burg as captain of the army if he did not achieve “the salvation of the Christian faith”. The fact that, in addition to his official services, Burg had also made a name for himself as an author of military non-fiction books and as an instructor for the entire artillery was not taken into account. Burg, who had already contemplated resigning, was promoted to captain of the artillery in the correct order. However, he was not allowed to wear the uniform of the artillery, but only that of a " witness captain ", a special career that was at the bottom of the Prussian army.

As an officer of the Jewish faith in the pre-March period

Second United State Parliament (1848)

It took the new chief of the artillery, Prince Adalbert of Prussia , and the new King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. To do away with the injustice of the discriminatory weapon color. With a cabinet order of April 16, 1844, Burg was allowed to replace the black epaulettes with red shoulder pieces .

Red Eagle Order IV class

However, that was not the end of discrimination. As the rank and quarter lists show, junior ranks were promoted to major in front of Burg . On March 27, 1847, Burg was granted the "character as major in the artillery". That wasn't actually a real promotion. Although his uniform indicated that he was a major, he did not have the post of major. This meant that there was no right to a major's salary and further promotion. That was the end of his military career. The reason given by the castle that the position for a staff officer would have exceeded the budget is not convincing, since two to three younger planned majors were employed at the school who did not have the merits of Burg. The time clearly spoke against admitting Jews to government positions or, if they had one, promoting them in it. Otto von Bismarck was allowed to say in the United State Parliament on June 15, 1847 that he “granted the Jews all rights, except that to hold an official position in a Christian state”; if he were to obey a Jew he would have to feel "deeply depressed and bowed".

Similar to his promotions, Burg was also awarded military medals. Although it had been submitted since 1838 by the inspector of the United Artillery and Engineering School for the Order of the Red Eagle, IV class, it took more than three years for the order to finally be awarded by Friedrich Wilhelm IV. The facts speak for the value of the order that in the artillery brigade, which belonged to the castle until his promotion to captain, there was only one bearer of the order of the red eagle among eighteen captains until the time of the award of the order to the castle eight main people of the school who worked as teachers, Burg was the only one. The situation was different with civil awards, which the Prussian kings apparently found easier to award to Jews. Burg was repeatedly rewarded with high civil awards.

Despite the anti-Semitic harassment, the Jewish major enjoyed great popularity with his comrades. They elected Burg as President of their Pension Grant Fund and Chairman of the School's Honorary Council for Subaltern Officers. He was also a specialist book author recognized far beyond the borders of Germany. His work Geometric Drawing was translated into French and he received the large gold medal of science from the hands of the king and a valuable gift from the Russian tsar.

Devout Jew

tomb

As a devout Jew, Burg took an active part in Jewish community life. For many years he was a member of the board of the cultural association, the board of the Auerbach orphanage and, since 1845, of the Society of Friends . He was active in the Jewish community in Berlin, of which he was a member of the board in 1849/50. Burg resigned from the board when the legitimacy was withdrawn in 1850 for failure to observe the general Jewish privilege of April 17, 1750 in the election, and the board brought an action against it in court. As a royal officer, Burg “did not want to share the opposition to the government”.

Burg tried to make a sharp distinction between his civil service and his religious practice. He lived in the area of ​​tension between his Jewish community, which saw itself as "orthodox", and his state, which called itself "Christian". As a soldier, Burg could not strictly adhere to the ceremonial laws, so that he de facto had to break away from strict orthodoxy . In this respect, he is an example of the neo-orthodox who turned to the new, who held the opinion that civil service did not contradict ceremonial laws.

Meno Burg died at the age of 63 and was buried in the Jewish cemetery Schönhauser Allee in Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg .

King loyal Prussian

Cholera barrack

Religiously rooted in Judaism, Burg described himself in his memoirs as a Prussian loyal to the king. One did not exclude the other. In accordance with his conservative attitude, he fully acknowledged his king and supreme general. With this attitude he found himself in harmony with the national consciousness of the educated Jewish circles with whom he was on friendly terms and whose goal it was to grow into German society and culture, by which they felt increasingly accepted.

On August 26, 1853, Burg died as a victim of the cholera that had just broken out . The funeral, which took place on August 29th with full military honors, was a great event for all of Berlin. The police estimated that about 60,000 people had gathered.

Publications

  • Meno Burg: The general theory of geometrical drawing . In: The geometric art of drawing, or complete instructions for linear drawing, ink and the construction of shadows . tape 1 . Duncker and Humblot, Berlin 1822 ( limited preview in Google book search [accessed October 9, 2019]).
  • The art of geometric drawing. The general theory of geometrical drawing. Drawing and picking up artillery items I. General geometrical drawing theory - II. Drawing and picking up artillery items. Berlin 1822.
  • The geometric art of drawing / Complete instruction for linear drawing, for the construction of shadows and for ink for artists and technologists and for self-teaching; initially for use in teaching in the royal Prussian artillery schools. Berlin 1848.
  • Meno Burg: The drawing and recording of the artillery material or the geometric drawing art applied to the pictorial representation of the guns, wagons, machines, etc. s. w. the artillery . Duncker and Humblot, Berlin 1845 ( limited preview in Google book search [accessed October 9, 2019]).
  • Account of the Most Recent Improvements on the Lunar Tables. 1824.
  • Architectural drawing, or complete instruction in the constructions involved in drawing architectural objects and machines; both in terms of making a correct linear drawing and determining the shadows. Berlin 1830.
  • Traité du dessin géométrique / Exposition complète de l'art du dessin linéaire. Paris 1847.
  • Traité du dessin et du levé du matériel d'artillerie. Paris 1848.
  • Meno Burg: History of my service life . B. Behr's Buchhandlung, Berlin 1854 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed October 9, 2019]).
  • Meno Burg: History of my service life . Ed .: Ludwig Geiger . MW Kaufmann, Leipzig 1916 ( limited preview in Google book search [accessed October 9, 2019]).

literature

Web links

Commons : Meno Burg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Julius Löwenberg :  Burg, Meno . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, p. 590 f.
  2. ^ Renatus F. Rieger: Major Meno Burg: A Prussian officer of the Jewish faith (1789-1853) . Dissertation . Duisburg 1990. The apparatus printed here is limited to the most necessary evidence. The specified dissertation contains further information - especially with regard to the classification in the examination of research.
  3. ^ Meno Burg: History of my service life. Ludwig Geiger (ed.). Berlin 1916. ( Edition from 1916 - PDF file , 9.4 MB)
  4. ↑ Jacob Rosenthal: The honor of the Jewish soldier. Pp. 25-27.
  5. ↑ J. Rosenthal: The honor of the Jewish soldier. Pp. 25-27.
  6. ^ RF Rieger: Major Meno Burg (1789-1853). The only Prussian staff officer of the Jewish faith in the 19th century. In: Frank Nägler: German Jewish soldiers. From the epoch of emancipation to the age of the world wars. An exhibition by the Military History Research Office in collaboration with the Moses Mendelssohn Center , Potsdam and the Centrum Judaicum , Berlin. Mittler, Hamburg et al. 1996, p. 125 f. ISBN 3-8132-0525-8 , The Jews were dependent on this privilege, that is, the state protected and tolerated them, insofar as they were protective Jews and submitted to the requirements of the law. After that, they were only allowed to do precisely defined activities. With a few exceptions, which had to be bought, they were allowed to work in the goods, peddling and commission trade or in some crafts that were not subject to guild compulsory. But the state did not prevent them from attending state schools and studying. See also: Julius H. Schoeps: The unsuccessful emancipation . On the tragedy of the German-Jewish relationship. In: Military History Research Office (Hrsg.): German Jewish soldiers . Potsdam 1996, p. 29 ff. And the sources cited there.
  7. ↑ Even half a century later, a surveyor trainee of the Jewish faith was admitted to being sworn in as a surveyor after passing the exams, but he had to be informed that the examination would not entitle him to a state position. See: Order of the ministers for trade etc. and for agricultural affairs of October 6, 1852 (VM Bl, p. 269) . Quoted from: Alfred Michaelis: The legal situation of the Jews in Prussia since the beginning of the 19th century . Berlin 1910, p. 108 f.
  8. ^ Edict of March 11, 1812 regarding the civil conditions of the Jews in the Prussian state . Quoted from: Collection of laws for the royal Prussian states . No. 5. 1812, p. 17 ff.
  9. ^ Menno Burg: History of my service life . Berlin 1854, p. 11 f. (Reprint: History of my service life. Memories of a Jewish major in the Prussian army. Hentrich & Hentrich, 1998, ISBN 3-933471-00-1 . With a small portrait)
  10. ↑ M. Burg: History of my service life. Berlin 1854, p. 14. See also: Letter to the Royal Government in the Moritz Stern estate. In: The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. Jerusalem, pp. 17-418.
  11. ↑ M. Burg: History of my service life. P. 15 f. See also: Moritz Stern estate. In: The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. Jerusalem, pp. 17-252.
  12. ↑ M. Burg: History of my service life. P. 19.
  13. ↑ Meno Burg History of my service life Berlin B. Behr´s bookstore Oberwallstraße 12. ü. 13. 1854 p. 20
  14. ^ Karl Moritz Ferdinand von Bardeleben later became lieutenant general and commander of Koblenz. As such, he headed the Masonic Lodge there. See Chronology / History of the Lodge ( Memento from November 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) ( as a PDF file ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), (PDF, 1.62 MB) at Freemason Lodge Friedrich zur Vaterlandsliebe .
  15. ↑ M. Burg: History of my service life. P. 33.
  16. ^ For example, by Ruth and Peter Gay: The Jews of Germany . Yale University Press, 1994. ( Google Book Search .)
  17. ↑ See also: List of voluntary hunter detachments ( Memento from January 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) from February 3, 1813 at Epoch Napoleon - from the Bastille to Waterloo .
  18. ↑ The conditions of carriage for these formations were different from those for the standing army to which Burg belonged. See: Renatus F. Rieger: Major Meno Burg: A Prussian officer of the Jewish faith (1789-1853) . Diss. Duisburg 1990.
  19. ↑ M. Burg: History of my service life. P. 106.
  20. ↑ Jacob Jacobson: Comments on the article by Carl Cohen: The Road to Conversion - Leo Baeck Institute Year Book VI . 1961. In: Leo Baeck Institute Year Book VII. 1962, p. 333.
  21. ↑ M. Burg: History of my service life. P. 111.
  22. ↑ Werner von Siemens was one of his students, in addition to practically all the leading artillerymen of his time .
  23. ^ The promotion took place on November 11, 1832. M. Burg: History of my service life. P. 114.
  24. ↑ According to his uniform, Burg was no longer intended to lead a troop. See: RF Rieger: Major Meno Burg (1789–1853). The only Prussian staff officer of the Jewish faith in the 19th century. In: Military History Research Office (Hrsg.): German Jewish soldiers . Potsdam 1996, p. 130.
  25. ↑ Burg describes in his service life that Prince Adalbert felt the armaments captain's black epaulets “as a badge, as it were,” a “misfortune that should have been made good long ago”. M. Burg: History of my service life. Pp. 137-139.
  26. ↑ M. Burg: History of my service life. P. 147.
  27. ↑ Explanations in: RF Rieger: Major Meno Burg: A Prussian officer of the Jewish faith (1789-1853) . Diss. Duisburg 1990.
  28. ^ RF Rieger: Major Meno Burg (1789-1853). The only Prussian staff officer of the Jewish faith in the 19th century. In: Military History Research Office (Hrsg.): German Jewish soldiers . Potsdam 1996, p. 130.
  29. ^ Eduard Bleich: The First United State Parliament in Berlin 1847 . Fourth part. Berlin 1847, p. 1783 ff.
  30. ↑ Award day on October 15, 1841. - M. Burg: History of my service life. Pp. 127-130.
  31. ^ RF Rieger: Major Meno Burg. In: Military History Research Office (Hrsg.): German Jewish soldiers. P. 131.
  32. ↑ Among other things, Burg was awarded the great gold medal for science on January 28, 1845 . RF Rieger: Major Meno Burg. P. 131.
  33. ↑ J. Rosenthal: The honor of the Jewish soldier . Campus Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-593-38497-9 , pp. 25-27.
  34. ^ Report on the administration of the Jewish community in Berlin in the years 1849 up to and including 1853. Approved by the board of directors, Berlin 1854, p. 3 ff. - Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums of December 16, 1850. - Aaron Hirsch Heymann: Memoirs . Heinrich Loewe (Ed.), Berlin 1909, p. 322.
  35. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Meno Burg
  36. ↑ M. Burg: History of my service life. Pp. 153 and 161.
  37. ^ RF Rieger: Major Meno Burg. P. 135.
  38. ↑ M. Burg: History of my service life. 165. - Vossische Zeitung of August 27, 1853 and August 28, 1853. - P. 3 f. - VZ of August 30, 1853. - p. 8. - Kraft Prinz zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen: From my life . Volume 1. Berlin 1897, p. 222 f.
  39. ↑ (with portrait; the statement made here that Burg was the only Jewish officer in Prussia after the Wars of Liberation is incorrect. See: Rieger. Dissertation 1990.)
  40. ↑ (The leading, fundamental work on the Jews in state positions in Prussia.)
  41. ↑ The statement made therein that the portrait of Burg was from 1815/20 is incorrect. Burg could only be portrayed in a major's uniform after 1847.
  42. ↑ (Most important work on the genealogy of the Jews in Berlin.)
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on February 11, 2009 .
personal data
SURNAME Castle, Meno
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jewish major; Castle, menachem; Burg, Menke (from paternal grandfather Menachem Menke from Burg)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION first Prussian staff officer of the Jewish faith
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1789
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH August 26, 1853
Place of death Berlin