Peter Nothjung

Peter Nothjung

Peter Nothjung (born July 24, 1821 in Mülheim am Rhein , † October 4, 1866 in Breslau ) was a German tailor and activist of the early labor movement.

Life

Peter Nothjung was the son of a master tailor. He attended the “ elementary school ” in his hometown for a few years . Here he also met the later defendants Peter Gerhard Roeser and Johann Jacob Klein . Then made an apprenticeship as a tailor. From 1840 to 1842 he went on a craft tour. From 1842 to 1845 he had to serve in the Prussian army for three years. He was sent to the Guard in Potsdam . After that he lived in Berlin (1845/46) then went to Braunschweig and in 1845 to Frankfurt am Main . At the end of 1847 he came to Cologne .

Revolution in Cologne 1848/49

Presumably he became a member of the Communist League at the end of 1847 . In Cologne he also met Röser, a native of his hometown, who was politically active with him. He was involved in the people's demonstration of March 3, 1848 in Cologne, which triggered the revolutionary events of 1848/49 in Cologne. The workers in Cologne made the following demands:

“Demand of the people. 1. Popular legislation and administration. General suffrage and general eligibility in municipality and state. 2. Unconditional freedom of speech and the press. 3. Abolition of the standing army and introduction of a general arming of the people with leaders elected by the people. 4. Free right of association. 5. Protecting work and ensuring human needs for all. 6. Complete upbringing of all children at public expense. "

- Flyer, March Cologne 1848

Since April 1848 he was a member of the management of the Cologne workers' association. Nothjung was also a member of the "Kölner Turnverein", whose president Dr. Albert Erhard was. In September 1848 he was elected to the Cologne "Security Committee". In October 1848, Nothjung was part of the delegation that Karl Marx proposed to lead the Cologne workers' association after Andreas Gottschalk had resigned. In March 1849 he was with Karl Marx and Wilhelm Wolff a member of the Cologne “Primary Voting Committee”. Nothjung was also one of "the electors of the city of Cologne for the election of the deputies to the second chamber" for the "30. District". In 1849 he took part in the Elberfeld uprising together with Friedrich Engels . After the uprising was put down, he was arrested on May 17, 1849 and spent almost a year in custody. Ferdinand Lassalle also supported Nothjung financially. On October 9, 1850, he was sentenced to one year in prison for an earlier insult to a Prussian officer. This sentence was considered served by the pre-trial detention. At the trial of the Elberfeld uprising, he was acquitted on May 9, 1850, like most of the accused. In Cologne he took part in the reorganization of the Cologne federal community and became deputy chairman of the Cologne workers' association. On November 4, 1850 he was commissioned by Peter Gerhard Roeser and Heinrich Bürgers as emissary to visit the communities in northern Germany for the federal government. In Bielefeld he visited Rudolph Rempel and in Hanover the lawyer Dr. Adolf Mensching and Ludwig Stechan . At the beginning of December he was in Hamburg and discussed Wilhelm Haupt and decided to appoint Karl von Bruhn as chairman of the Hamburg community. Via Kiel , Schwerin , where he met the water doctor Heinrich Meier and his brother-in-law Theodor Hahn , he drove to Rostock and went to Berlin, where he arrived around May 1850. It was not until May 8, 1851 that he went to Leipzig .

Cologne Communist Trial

As early as November 11, 1850, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia wrote to his Prime Minister Baron von Manteuffel: “This gave me the idea that I do not want to classify it as a fair one. Namely, whether Stieber is too precious a personality to unfold the fabric of the conspiracy and to give the Prussian public the long-awaited spectacle of an uncovered and (above all) punished conspiracy? ”On May 10, 1851 he was at the train station in Leipzig arrested during the fair because he could not show any valid papers. The police found a list of the names of leading federal members on him. Just a few days later, Marx Friedrich Engels reports: “Nothjung was arrested at the train station in Leipzig. Of course, I don't know what papers have been found ”. The police chief of Hanover Karl Wermuth thanked his colleague Eberhardt from Leipzig for the arrest with the words: “For the announcements of 28./30. v. M. and 2nd / 4th DM, regarding the splendid Nothjung specimen, my thanks. ”The papers found with him were an important piece of evidence in the Cologne communist trial of 1852. Nothjung refused to give any statement to the Saxon officials (May 20). He was threatened with deprivation of “warm food” and “soft bed”. As early as May 16, the Prussian police were informed that Nothjung u. a. the address of the Cologne Central Authority of the League of Communists on December 1, 1851 with him. When he was interrogated by a Prussian official in Leipzig on July 1, 1851, he made a confession as far as it related to the papers found on him. Nothjung was shackled "in chains on the ground" for three months. On August 17, 1851, he was extradited to the Prussian authorities in Cologne. The Cologne police made a profile of him: “Age: 29 years, height 5 feet 8½ inches Prussia. Measure; Face: oval; Hair: black-brown; Eyes: brown; Nose and mouth: common; Chin: oval; Beard: brown. "

On November 8, the authorities had partially completed the investigation and wanted to indict Peter Gerhard Röser, Johann Heinrich Bürgers, Peter Nothjung, Hermann Becker , Carl Wunibald Otto , Roland Daniels , Wilhelm Joseph Reiff , Johann Jacob Klein, Abraham Jacobi and Ferdinand Freiligrath . The prosecution of the 'Cologne Appelhof' rejected this. Charges were not brought until May 12, 1852, and the trial began on October 4, 1852. The indictments were Röser, Nothjung, Reiff, Becker, Daniels, Otto, Jacobi, Klein as well as Johann Ludwig Albert Erhard and Friedrich Lessner , Freiligrath, against whom a profile was available, had fled to England. The accused were charged with a "plot" with the "purpose" of "overturning the state constitution" and "arming" the citizens for a "civil war". The process lasted until November 17, 1852. Nothjung was represented by the lawyer Schürmann, who said in the plea: “For about thirty years one question has moved Europe (...), the social question. She is not a pipe dream. (…) The charge is based on (the Code pénal ), (…) the meaning and importance of the question put to you must therefore be assessed solely according to French law ”. He comes to the conclusion that Nothjung is innocent in the sense of the indictment. The chief procurator August Heinrich von Seckendorff applied for “eight years” for Nothjung without taking into account the pre-trial detention suffered. The court ruled for "six years" imprisonment. With the judgment of November 12, 1852, Nothjung was deprived of civil rights for five years in accordance with Section 63 of the Prussian Penal Code of 1851. In addition, lifelong police supervision and, together with all other convicts, the costs of the process. He served the full sentence at Glatz Fortress together with Joseph Wilhelm Reiff. In March 1853 Heinrich Bürger was moved to the fortress fortress Glatz . He was released on November 12, 1858.

Last years

Wilhelm Stieber published his The Communist Conspiracies of the 19th Century while he was still in prison . He thinks he is giving a damning verdict on Nothjung when he writes:

“Nothjung is a person without any education, of very limited understanding and very vain; his status as a member of the Confederation brought him into contact with persons from higher ranks on several occasions, and this, as well as the sensation that this investigation caused, may have been the reason why he now considers himself an important person; He doesn't want to know anything more about his trade as a tailor, but only deals with literature, yes, the delusion even goes so far that he is proud of being an atheist . "

- Vermouth / Stieber

He was released from prison in 1858. The Prussian police expelled him from Cologne, Mülheim an der Ruhr on the grounds that he had stayed away from his hometown for seven years. He was also expelled from Berlin. Finally he took refuge in Breslau.

In Breslau he learned the craft of a photographer . In mid-February 1866 he received permission to carry out his trade. Lassalle had supported him financially. Politically he was active as a representative of the ADAV in Wroclaw, but could not be very active due to illness. He died of a lung and larynx disease on October 4, 1866 in Breslau. Not only a workers' newspaper, but also the well-known 'Augsburger Allgemeine' reported on his death.

"From Wroclaw they report to us on the 4th of d. The death of the former tailor Nothjung, who had been involved in the Communist trial in Cologne and who later subsisted on photography, followed. A six-year fortress imprisonment, which he survived in Glatz, is said to have laid the basis for a lung and larynx ailment that led to his death. "

- General newspaper . Augsburg No. 283 of October 10, 1866, p. 4635.

Documents, archival materials

• Minutes of the committee meeting of the Cologne workers 'association August 17, 1848. In: newspaper of the workers' association in Cologne . No. 25 of August 24, 1848
• Minutes of the general assembly of the Cologne workers' association October 22, 1848. In: Freedom, equality, work . No. 2 of October 29, 1848
• Minutes of the committee meeting of the Cologne workers' association November 2, 1848. In: Freedom, equality, work . No. 5 dated November 9, 1848
• Minutes of the committee meeting of the Cologne workers' association January 29, 1849. In: Freedom, equality, work . No. 1 of February 8, 1849
• Peter Nothjung to Ferdinand Lassalle. October 3, 1849. Online
• Power of attorney from the central authority of the Union of Communists in Cologne for Peter Nothjung . November 4, 1850.
• Two letters from Albert Erhard to Peter Nothjung. Late 1849.
• Peter Gerhard Röser and Heinrich Bürgers to Peter Nothjung. December 27, 1850.
• List of addresses owned by Peter Nothjung . November 4 to May 1850.
• Peter Nothjung to Ferdinand Lassalle. February 15, 1860. Online
• Peter Nothjung to Karl Marx. February 27, 1860.
• Peter Nothjung to Karl von Bruhn. April 11, 1864.
• Bundesarchiv Signature RY2 Investigation against Peter Nothjung in preparation for the Cologne Communist Trial . 1848, June 1850 - September 1854 3 vol.
• Federal archive signature RY 2 / I 6/9 / 98. Investigations against Heinrich Bürgers and Peter Nothjung in preparation for the Cologne communist trial . 1850-1851, 1859.
• Federal Archives. Signature RY 2 / I 6/9 / 116. Karl Gangloff and Peter Nothjung 1850, 1851.

literature

• Karl Wermuth , Wilhelm Stieber : The Communist Conspiracies of the Nineteenth Century. In the official order for the use of the police authorities of all German federal states on the basis of the relevant judicial and police acts . 2 parts. AW Hayn, Berlin 1852-1854 (Reprint: Klaus Guhl, Berlin 1976)
• Theodor Müller (Ed.): 45 leaders from the beginnings and the heroic age of the Breslau social democracy . Robert Hermann, Breslau 1925, pp. 16-18 digitized .
• Karl Bittel : The Communist Trial in Cologne 1852 in the mirror of the contemporary press. Edited and introduced . Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1955
• Rudolf Herrnstadt : The first conspiracy against the international proletariat. On the history of the Cologne Communist Trial in 1852 . Rütten & Loening 1958
• Gerhard Becker: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in Cologne 1848-1849. On the history of the Cologne workers' association . Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1963
• Herwig Förder: Nothjung, Peter . In: Karl Obermann et al. (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon zur Deutschen Geschichte . Verlag deutscher Wissenschaften, Berlin 1967, pp. 354–355
• Herwig Förder: Nothjung, Peter . In: History of the German labor movement. Biographical Lexicon . Dietz Verlag 1970, pp. 349-350.
• The League of Communists. Documents and materials. 1836-1849 . Vol. 1, Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1970 (reprint: 2nd edition. 1983)
• Heinrich Billstein: The Communist Trial in 1852 . In: Reinhold Billstein (Ed.): The other Cologne. Democratic traditions since the French Revolution . Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1979, ISBN 3-7609-0467-X , pp. 101-134.
• The League of Communists. Documents and materials. 1849-1851 . Vol. 2, Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1982
• The League of Communists. Documents and materials. 1851-1852 . Vol. 3, Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1984
• Jürgen Herres: The Cologne Communist Trial of 1852. In: History in Cologne. Magazine for town and regional history . 50/2003 online version . (PDF file; 103 kB)

Web links

• Karl Marx: Revelations about the Communist Trial in Cologne . Boston 1853 Online
• The Becker trial . In: The great conversation lexicon for educated stands . First supplement, Vol. Hildburghausen 1853, pp. 1505-1519 online
• Wermuth, Wilhelm Stieber: The Communist Conspiracies of the 19th Century. Berlin 1854, p. 90 online
• General newspaper. Augsburg No. 283 of October 10, 1866, p. 4635 Information about the death of Nothjungs

Remarks

1. ↑ Adolf Mensching (1815–1881) from Wernigerode , studied at the Georg-August University in Göttingen and worked as a higher court attorney in Hanover. Editor of the “Volkszeitung”, Hanover. With him, Wermuth found the so-called 30-page 'Cologne edition' of the Communist Manifesto .
2. ↑ “Contains mainly: police letters, reports, interrogation protocols, especially from Berlin, Dresden, Hanover, Cologne, Leipzig, Rostock; Interrogations of P. Nothjung and HW Haupt; Activity of the League of Communists and Emissaries; Preparation of the trial, list of those arrested up to Aug. 1851; Directory of seized documents and correspondence from the house search at GH Martius, 1850; Copy of the statutes of the League of Justice, Nov. 1848, of the League of Communists Cologne, Dec. 1, 1850, the address of the central authority of the League of Communists Cologne, Dec. 1, 1850, the authority of the League of Communists for P. Nothjung , Nov. 4, 1850; Copy and excerpts from letters between H. Bürgers, PG Roeser and P. Nothjung and an [unknown?] Letter from [K. Marx?] To H. Becker, (1851); Papers confiscated from P. Nothjung. Also contains: report, letter from W. Stieber about: finding a judgment in the process; Supervision of the correspondence of the convicts during the fortress detention, Sept. 1854. 527 sheet "
3. ↑ “Contains among other things: Police reports, letters from Berlin, Dresden, Düsseldorf, especially about: Activities of H. Bürgers, P. Nothjung and other emissaries of the Association of Communists in Germany; Issued passports and visas for Great Britain, including: directory of persons; Signalements by H. Bürgers and P. Nothjung; Copies of the statutes of the League of Communists and the speeches of the Central Authority of the League of Communists to the Bund, London, March 1850, Cologne, December 1, 1850. Also contains: Report on the release from prison of those convicted in the trial, 1859. 75 sheet “.
4. ↑ "Contains: Reports from Leipzig about the interrogations of K. Gangloff and P. Nothjung," Knowledge of the Kgl. Saxon. Appellationsgericht zu Leipzig 'against K. Gangloff and comrades, Dresden 1853, with judgment, inter alia, on the aims and activities of the League of Communists and the Emissaries in Germany; Formation of communities of the League of Communists; Activity of K. Gangloff with reprint of the power of attorney of the League of Communists for P. Nothjung, November 4, 1850; Letter from K. Gangloff to F. Schwenniger, May 11, 1851. 119 sheets “.
5. ↑ Accidentally place of birth "Mülheim ad Ruhr".

Individual evidence

1. ^ Statement by Klein on October 16, 1852. (Karl Bittel, p. 88.)
2. ↑ Herwig Förder (1967), p. 354.
3. ^ Facsimile in: Heinrich Billstein, Karl Obermann. Marx in Cologne. Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1983, ISBN 3-7609-0766-0 , p. 151.
4. ↑ Karl Bittel, p. 88.
5. ↑ Neue Rheinische Zeitung . Extra supplement No. 204 from January 25, 1849.
6. ↑ Peter Nothjung to Ferdinand Lassalle October 3, 1849.
7. ↑ Marx-Engels Complete Edition . Department III. Vol. 3, p. 1183.
8. ↑ The League of Communists . Vol. 2, p. 306.
9. ^ Wilhelm Haupt to Karl Marx December 3, 1850 (Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe. Department III. Vol. 3, pp. 687-688).
10. ↑ Rudolf Herrnstatt, p. 12 f.
11. ^ "Directory of addresses owned by Peter Nothjung. November 4th to May 1850 "
12. ↑ Marx-Engels-Werke Vol. 27, p. 269.
13. ↑ Rudolf Herrnstadt, p. 356.
14. ↑ Karl Bittel, p. 17.
15. ↑ Facsimile from Karl Bittel, after p. 16.
16. ↑ Abraham Jacobi: Memoirs from Prussian Prisons . Quoted from Der Bund der Kommunisten Vol. 3, p. 67.
17. ↑ Karl Bittel, p. 21.
18. ↑ ^{a b} Karl Bittel, p. 48.
19. ↑ Karl Bittel, p. 19.
20. ↑ Karl Bittel, p. 201.
21. ↑ ^{a b} Karl Bittel, p. 298.
22. ↑ § 63 pr. StG Online
23. ↑ "Of the people convicted in the communist trial are (...) Nothjung and Reiff in Glatz". ( Bayerische Landbötin . No. 11, January 13 , 1853.)
24. ^ Friedrich Engels to Karl Marx July 20, 1854; Peter Gerhard Röser to Ferdinand Lassalle December 9, 1858.
25. ^ Karl Marx: Preparations for Napoleon's future war on the Rhine ( New-York Daily Tribune No. 5950, May 19, 1860) see Marx-Engels-Werke Vol. 15, pp. 49-50 DEA Archive Online .
26. ^ Peter Nothjung to Ferdinand Lassalle February 15, 1860.
27. ↑ Der Social-Demokratie , Berlin October 10, 1866. Printed in: Der Bund der Kommunisten . Vol. 3, p. 371.
28. ^ In: Gustav Mayer : Ferdinand Lassalle. Legacy writings . Vol. 2, Berlin 1923, p. 21.
29. ↑ The League of Communists, Vol. 2, p. 305.
30. ↑ Karl Bittel. P. 89.
31. ^ League of Communists. Vol. 2, pp. 349-350.
32. ↑ The League of Communists, Vol. 2, pp. 305–308.
33. ^ In: Gustav Mayer: Ferdinand Lassalle. Legacy writings . Vol. 2, Berlin 1923, pp. 218-220.
34. ↑ Marx-Engels Complete Edition. Department III. Vol. 10, pp. 316-317.
35. ^ Gustav Mayer: Unpublished Lassalle documents. In: People's Watch for Silesia . Breslau April 11, 1925.
36. ↑ Detailed biography, note 326, p. 536 f.