Paulus Klüpfel

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paulus Klüpfel

Paulus Klüpfel (born September 27, 1876 in Schonungen , Lower Franconia ; † July 29, 1918 in Berlin ) was a former Roman Catholic priest and, along with Georg Blumenthal, was one of the early employees of the German-Argentinian businessman and economic reformer Silvio Gesell . The terms “ free economy ” and “ free money ” in the context of Gesell's teaching go back to him. The Freiland-Freeld-Bund, which he founded, was one of the first organizations of the Gesell-inspired movement.

Klüpfel combined Christian-philosophical views with the monetary and land-political reform ideas of the natural economic order (NWO) of Gesell. He is therefore, alongside Johannes Ude, one of the founding fathers of the religious wing of the free economy, which is represented today by the Association of Christians for a Just Economic Order.

life and work

Klüpfel as a Roman Catholic priest (before 1914)

Paulus Klüpfel grew up in simple circumstances, but due to special circumstances he was able to attend a secondary school, take his matriculation examination there and then complete a Roman Catholic theology degree. Little is known about his youth and studies. He wrote about it himself: "My boyhood was like any other, my student life confused and meaningless." He initially worked for a short time in social welfare and was then called to benefit from the Roman Catholic parish of St. Bartholomäus Pottenstein in Upper Franconia . The position, which includes a small rectory and garden, was barely paid. The demands that were placed on him, however, were also manageable and gave the beneficiary sufficient time to deal with Master Eckhart's mystical show, Far Eastern philosophy and aesthetic literature . In his study there were also works by the philosopher Henri Bergson of Jewish origin , the socially critical writer Wilhelm Raabes and the economist and protagonist of the social market economy, Walter Eucken . His letters addressed to good friends from this period make it clear that an inner change took place in him - not least because of his literary encounter with the authors mentioned. He no longer wanted to be a “mere preacher of words” and demanded for himself a “Christianity of action”, which he also called “world work”. From his point of view, the tasks he was faced with could no longer be tackled within the narrow walls of the church: "I have to get down from the pulpit and go to the people."

Gesell's house in the Eden settlement, which was also Klüpfel's home for a time

In the course of 1914 - so the information about the place where his letters to friends were sent suggests - Paulus Klüpfel moved to Berlin. His move was preceded by an intense but ultimately unfulfilled love affair with Anna Seberich, a young Pottensteiner teacher. He had hoped in vain that she would accompany him to Berlin. However, both apparently stayed in contact. From 1916 or 1917 Anna belonged to the small group of Berlin employees who supported Paulus Klüpfel in his work.

Klüpfel initially earned his living as a company employee. In his free time, he dealt intensively with the subject of land reform . He attended lectures by Adolf Damaschke and Franz Oppenheimer . Through the latter, he came into contact with Georg Blumenthal and the Association for Physiocratic Politics that he founded . There he received writings from Silvio Gesell, which prompted him to get in touch with the author personally. In a letter addressed to Gesell it finally says: “For years I have been fumbling around in all subjects of economics, purely out of the need to understand meaning and context. For free! [...] Now [after reading the mentioned writings of Gesell] I must see that our economy is not yet an economy at all. It has to become one first - but thank God it can also become one! ”Klüpfel received an invitation to the Eden settlement near Oranienburg, where Gesell had owned a house on a leased property since 1911. After a short period of getting to know each other, Klüpfel moved in with Silvio Gesell and became his private secretary. He sorted documents, read and corrected Gesell's manuscripts, including his draft of the utopian free-land-free money story Barataria . However, Klüpfel urgently advised him not to publish it.

At Pentecost 1915 a leaflet was published jointly by Gesell and Klüpfel with the title Deutsches Freiland . Klüpfel's contribution to this work is particularly evident where theological arguments and reasons are given. It says there, for example, that there is a “human right to the earth anchored in the eternal throne of God”. The text also contains biblical allusions that go back to Klüpfel. So the landlords would have won the world, but suffered damage to their souls. Here comes the parable told by Jesus of the rich grain farmer . Although Klüpfel had turned his back on the established church, his thoughts and actions remained related to God. He is therefore considered an early representative of the religious wing of the free economy movement. He combined the religious philosophy of the Far East with Christian ethics and distanced himself from both self-interest and the transfer of Darwinian principles to the natural economic order ; Both approaches were previously found within the free economy movement and were also represented by Silvio Gesell. With his concept of marriage anchored in Christianity, Klüpfel also stood against the free love propagated by Gesell and the Physiocrats .

Clump between fellow patients (a few weeks before his death)
Gustav Landauer's letter to Paulus Klüpfel (p. 1; May 1915)
Gustav Landauer's letter to Paulus Klüpfel (p. 2)

In the middle of 1915, Paulus Klüpfel founded the Freiland-Freiland-Bund (FFB), which was one of the early associations within the reform movement initiated by Gesell and which in 1919 merged with the Bund für Freiwrtschaft to form the German Open- Field Free Money Bund (DFFB) . Marie Meixner and Hertha Holtze-Ritter, two teachers who were associated with the women's rights movement, were among the founding members of the FFB. The FFB saw itself as a politically neutral movement. The target group of the FFB was primary social middle class, which should be won over to the natural economic order of Silvio Gesell.

In 1915 Paulus Klüpfel received the order for presentation. An objection by Klüpfels referring to his previous occupation was rejected. Due to the results of his drafting , he was spared the front line. He was allowed to do his military service as a porter and clerk in a Berlin gas mask factory. So it was initially retained by the FFB. He wrote brochures, articles and memoranda, of which unfortunately only a few have survived. His correspondence is also noteworthy, including that with Walter Rathenau and with Gustav Landauer , who belonged to the Friends of the Free Economy Movement.

Towards the end of the war year 1916, Silvio Gesell published the second revised edition of his main work The natural economic order through open land and free money . Paulus Klüpfel wrote the preface to this. New to the title of the second edition was the addition "through free land and free money". While the term Freiland came from Theodor Hertzka and others, the term free money goes back to Paulus Klüpfel. Silvio Gesell named the payment method he proposed reform money , rusting banknotes and - very rarely - Schwundgeld . The term free economy , with which the Gesell'schen reform ideas are summarized to this day, was also introduced by Klüpfel. After him, the followers of Gesell call themselves Freiwirtte or Freiwirtschaftler .

In the last year of the war, 1918, Paulus Klüpfel began a voluntary fast , which probably also weakened his already compromised health. For him, not eating was a reaction to the “cold killing” on the front lines. In the summer of 1918 he was admitted to a Berlin military hospital with severe tuberculosis , where he died at the end of July. The burial took place in the Neukölln cemetery behind the Hasenheide .

Publications (selection)

  • “Inside is the infinite will of the world.” The notes of Paulus Klüpfel (1876-1918). With photos, handwritten poems and letters (facsimile) as well as a red chalk drawing by Imre Goth (edited by Hans Vogt): Self-published: Erlau / Passau 1967.
  • Natural economic order . In: Hans Blüher , Werner Schmid , Benedikt Uhlemayr, Hans Joachim Führer, Paulus Klüpfel and others: Silvio Gesell. Contemporary voices on the work and life of a pioneer . Rudolf Zitzmann Verlag: Lauf bei Nürnberg 1960. pp. 107–112. - The article printed here is the foreword to the second edition of the natural economic order written by Silvio Gesell, published in 1916 .
  • Wages and devaluation . Publishing house Freiland-Freileld-Bund . Berlin-Steglitz 1919
  • Money and free money . In: Journal of German Will . Volume 31, issue No. 9 / 1918. pp. 70–73

Literature (selection)

  • Curt Philipp Lorber: The free money and free land theory of Silvio Gesell (1862-1930): A reception-historical consideration with special consideration of John Manard Keynes . Peter Lang GmbH / Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften: Frankfurt am Main 2009.
  • Christof Karner: Catholicism and free economy. The life reform program of Johannes Ude . Publishing house Peter Lang / European publishing house of the sciences: Frankfurt am Main 2002. ISBN 3-631-38923-X . P. 248; 252-254; 357
  • Werner Onken : Silvio Gesell and the natural economic order. An introduction to life and work . Gauke specialist publisher for social economy: Lütjenburg 1999. ISBN 3-87998-439-5 .
  • Günter Bartsch : The NWO movement Silvio Gesells. Historical floor plan 1891–1992 / 93 . Volume 1 in the series Studies on the Natural Economic Order . Gauke specialist publisher for social economy: Lütjenburg 1994. ISBN 3-87998-481-6 . Pp. 25-27.
  • Günter Bartsch: Free economy as an internal and external world task . In: Journal for Social Economy . Episode 87/1990. Pp. 3-12.
  • Hans Vogt (Ed.): Inside is the infinite will of the world. The notes of Paul Klüpfel. * 1876 † 1918. Presented by Hans Vogt . Self-published: Erlau near Passau oJ [1967?].
  • Walther Rathenau : Letters . Verlag C. Reissner 1926. p. 252 (243 .: To Paulus Klüpfel, Berlin , dated April 10, 1917)

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ Genealogy.net: casualty lists 1.Welkrieg ; viewed on June 11, 2020
  2. ^ Günter Bartsch: The NWO movement Silvio Gesells. Historical floor plan 1891–1992 / 93 . Volume 1 in the series Studies on the Natural Economic Order . Gauke specialist publisher for social economy: Lütjenburg 1994. p. 25
  3. ↑ Quoted from Hans Vogt: About the life, faith and will of Paulus Klüpfel . In: Inside is the infinite will of the world. The notes of Paul Klüpfel. * 1876 † 1918. Presented by Hans Vogt . Self-published: Erlau near Passau oJ [1967?]. Pp. 121-132; here: p. 124
  4. ↑ A selection of the correspondence can be found in Hans Vogt (ed.): Inside is the infinite will of the world. The notes of Paul Klüpfel. * 1876 † 1918. Presented by Hans Vogt . Self-published: Erlau near Passau oJ [1967?]. Pp. 41-119
  5. ↑ Hans Vogt: About the life, faith and will of Paulus Klüpfel . In: Inside is the infinite will of the world. The notes of Paul Klüpfel. * 1876 † 1918. Presented by Hans Vogt . Self-published: Erlau near Passau oJ [1967?]. Pp. 121-132; here: 124f
  6. ^ Günter Bartsch: The NWO movement Silvio Gesells. Historical floor plan 1891–1992 / 93 . Volume 1 in the series Studies on the Natural Economic Order . Gauke specialist publisher for social economy: Lütjenburg 1994. p. 25f
  7. ↑ Quoted from Günter Bartsch: Free economy as an inner and outer world task . In: Journal for Social Economy . Episode 87/1990, p. 4; Sp I
  8. ↑ Hans Vogt (Ed.): Inside is the infinite will of the world. The notes of Paul Klüpfel. * 1876 † 1918. Presented by Hans Vogt . Self-published: Erlau near Passau oJ [1967?]. P. 83f. While one of the letters to Marie Meixner (January 1, 1914) was still written in Pottenstein, the next letter to her (November 1, 1914) and all other letters name Berlin as the place of writing.
  9. ↑ Werner Onken : Silvio Gesell and the natural economic order. An introduction to life and work . Gauke Fachverlag für Sozialökonomie: Lütjenburg 1999. p. 136. - Anna Seberich's collaboration can only have been short-lived. In 1916 she ("teacher at the Pleicherschule") was elected chairwoman of the Würzburg Women's Suffrage Association. She held this office until the association was dissolved in 1919. ( Würzburg.de: Würzburg women make politics. 100 years of women's suffrage in Germany . Booklet for the 1919 exhibition, pp. 14–15 ; PDF online, viewed on June 25, 2020)
  10. ↑ Quoted from Günter Bartsch: Free economy as an inner and outer world task . In: Journal for Social Economy . Episode 87/1990. P. 6; Sp II
  11. ↑ Werner Schmid: Silvio Gesell. The life story of a pioneer . Cooperative publisher of free economic writings : Bern 1954. S. 117
  12. ^ Günter Bartsch: Free economy as an internal and external world task . In: Journal for Social Economy . Episode 87/1990. P. 8; Sp II
  13. ^ Christof Karner: Catholicism and free economy. The life reform program of Johannes Ude . Publishing house Peter Lang / European publishing house of the sciences: Frankfurt am Main 2002. ISBN 3-631-38923-X . P. 253f
  14. ↑ Hertha Holtze-Ritter also appears at the 8th German Pacifist Congress in 1919 and, in her contribution, demands "not to lose sight of the deeper economic context"; see Hellmuth von Gerlach (Ed.): Eighth German Pacifist Congress, convened by the German Peace Society and the Central Office for International Law (negotiation report) . Berlin (June 13 to 15) 1919. p. 62 ( online )
  15. ^ Günter Bartsch: The NWO movement Silvio Gesells. Historical ground plan 1891–1992 / 93 . Lütjenburg 1994. p. 325
  16. ↑ Hugo Luczak: History of the FFF movement in Germany. A look back . Verlag der FZ Zeitung: Erfurt 1931. S. 21f
  17. ^ Günter Bartsch: Free economy as an internal and external world task . In: Journal for Social Economy . Episode 87/1990, p. 10; Sp II
  18. ^ Deutscher Freiwirtschaftsbund (Ed.): Journal Freiwirtschaftliches Archiv. Journal of Natural Economic Order . 4th year. Issue 9 / December 1928
  19. ↑ International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam): Photocopies of letters from Gustav Landauer to Silvio Gesell (1914) and Paulus Klüpfel (1915-1917)
  20. ↑ The foreword to the natural economic order (1916) can be found printed among others by Hans Blüher, Werner Schmid u. a .: Silvio Gesell. Contemporary voices on the work and life of a pioneer . Rudolf Zitzmann Verlag: Lauf bei Nürnberg 1960. pp. 107–112
  21. ^ Hans-Joachim Werner: History of the free economy movement. 100 years of struggle for a market economy without capitalism . Waxmann: Münster, New York 1989. ISBN 3-89325-022-0 . P. 15
  22. ↑ Werner Onken: Silvio Gesell and the natural economic order. An introduction to life and work . Gauke specialist publisher for social economy: Lütjenburg 1999. p. 52
  23. ^ Günter Bartsch: Free economy as an internal and external world task . In: Journal for Social Economy . Episode 87/1990, p. 11; Sp II
personal data
SURNAME Klüpfel, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman Catholic priest, founder of the Free Land Free Money Federation
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Sparing
DATE OF DEATH July 29, 1918
Place of death Berlin