Neustadt newspaper war

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The so-called Neustädter Zeitungskrieg describes a nearly six-month dispute between the local Rhön and Saalepost in Bad Neustadt an der Saale and the Münchner Zeitung Das Bavarian Fatherland in 1869. At the beginning of the dispute, there were anti-Jewish attacks by the “fatherland” on local events. The question of the location of a school increased the conflict and ultimately led ministries from the Bavarian capital to intervene.

The history

In the Kingdom of Bavaria there were two state elections in 1869. Since the beginning of the 19th century and through the legal reforms following the lost German War of 1866 , the Jewish middle class emancipated itself . The economic and social consequences provoked a frightened reaction from the mostly Catholic population. In the context of the elections on May 20 and November 25, anti-Semitic unrest in the Rhön and Saalepost and in the Bavarian Fatherland can be proven. The places Burglauer , Steinach , Unsleben and Neustadt (still without the title "Bad") are mentioned. Added to this is the desire of the Neustadt bourgeoisie to relocate the Catholic high school from Münnerstadt to Bad Neustadt. The dispute is certainly part of the Bavarian culture war .

The dispute over the grammar school in Münnerstadt

Initially, “The Bavarian Fatherland” contented itself with smaller polemical articles about anti-Semitic conflicts in the region. These mostly appeared under the heading “Vom Saale Strand” . The conflict escalated in the dismissal of the Augustinian Father Friedrich Wester from Munich , who was a teacher at the Gymnasium in Münnerstadt. Whether his person was the spokesman for the Catholic bourgeoisie is speculation. His dismissal from office in November 1869, however, suggests the conclusion. There were now eloquent newspaper articles. The article “Liberales from Neustadt” from December 17, 1869 in the Bavarian Fatherland is likely to be central . Among other things, the "Jewish teachers" from Neustadt were waged. Another attack followed in January 1870: “Neustadt is an official and Jewish town - yes, very Jewish! (...) by Jews, scribes and other liberal mob (...) ” In the same article, the Rhön and Saalepost is described as a “ governable (?) disgraceful sheet ” .

The title bar of the “Rhön- und Saalepost” from the epoch shows the contacts to the publisher Rudolf Mosse in Berlin.

The “Rhön- und Saalepost”, headed by the liberal publisher Max Josef Mayer, argued in several articles against the anti-Semitic newspaper from Munich: “After all, one feels compelled to praise coincidence that the fatherland has just found the author for the office of the Jew-mocking clown ; for the hatred of Jews, which shows itself in such a drastic form, does not fill us with the least concern, is very harmless and must only arouse reluctance and pity in anyone who is free of prejudice. "

End of the conflict in January 1870

There was again a dispute over the pastor in Unsleben . It is of a court hearing because of the "gross abuse of a Catholic. Pastor ” reported in Unsleben. The same text speaks of a “Jewish history” in Steinach. Regarding the incidents in Unsleben, the "Rhön- und Saalpost" takes a position on the Jewish side: "On the occasion of the excesses of some Jewish individuals, which are most disapproved of by all Jews, the author takes once again to break the rule over all Jews ( ...) as if he throws invectives around, which you can only meet in the mouth of a street boy. ” The conflict can be proven for the last time in an article in the Rhön and Saalepost: “ As the leader of the ultramontane, the businessman Otto Schnell definitely had them Liberal local elections challenged with the government; his complaint was rejected, however, so that the clericals were spared the shame of another defeat in their intended new election. ” Subsequently, nothing more about the conflict can be found in both newspapers.

literature

  • Alfons Maria Borst, When Neustadt dreamed the Gymnasium Münnerstadt within its walls, in: Bad Neustädter Heimat-Blätter No. 12, Bad Neustadt ad Saale 1956.
  • Godehard Brune, History of the German Augustinians in the 19th Century. A monastic family history in single pictures, 23rd chapter: P. Friedrich Wester, in: Cor Unum 30 (1972) 57-62.
  • Thomas Künzl, A restless time in Neustadt an der Saale 1869, in: Reinhold Albert , Heimatjahrbuch Rhön-Grabfeld 2014, Mellrichstadt 2013, p. 345 ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alfons Maria Borst, When Neustadt dreamed the Gymnasium Münnerstadt into its walls, in: Bad Neustädter Heimat-Blätter No. 12, Bad Neustadt ad Saale 1956.
  2. ^ The Bavarian Fatherland, January 6, 1870
  3. ↑ Rhön- and Hall Post, January 7, 1870
  4. ↑ The Bavarian Fatherland.
  5. ↑ Rhön and Saalpost. January 13, 1870
  6. ↑ Thomas Künzl, A restless time in Neustadt an der Saale 1869, in: Reinhold Albert , Heimatjahrbuch Rhön-Grabfeld 2014, Mellrichstadt 2013, p. 345 ff.