Welcker serenade

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The Welcker Serenade (also Welcker rally or Welcker demonstration ) was a ceremony by democratically-minded citizens on the evening of September 28, 1841 in Berlin in honor of the Baden liberal Carl Theodor Welcker . The Prussian authorities rated the meeting as an inappropriate demonstration . Both the event and the subsequent measures taken by the authorities attracted a great deal of attention from the politically interested public.

prehistory

In Prussia there was no freedom of assembly in the pre-March period . One way of expressing one's political convictions was to give public honors and expressions of friendship to people who were known for the same views. This could be done through a banquet, a torchlight procession to the house of the honored person or a " serenade ", an evening serenade in front of his house. These forms of showing sympathy are used by all political camps, but above all by the liberals and democrats , who, as a result of the Karlovy Vary resolutions and the persecution of demagogues, could not expect the authorities to give them another possibility of “demonstration” (which means that every public expression was political Claims was meant) would have approved.

One of the advocates of a “constitutional monarchy in the liberal and oppositional sense” was Carl Theodor Welcker. Welcker was well known, especially in southern Germany. When in 1833 he was threatened with imprisonment for allegedly insulting the Grand Duke , his supporters in Mannheim planned a serenade with a torchlight procession to support him. But the serenade for Welcker was stopped by the authorities.

The events of September 28 and 29, 1841

In September and October 1841, Welcker, accompanied at times by Johann Adam von Itzstein , undertook a journey through Saxony and Prussia, which looked like a “triumphant journey” to observers. He was celebrated in Jena , in Leipzig students offered him a “live high”, in Dresden he was given “night music”. When it became known that Welcker would come to Berlin, “an association of scientifically educated men, especially writers” met there and decided to honor him as well.

When he arrived in Berlin, he was initially a guest of Bettina von Arnim's . On September 28, 1841 at 10 o'clock in the evening, a steadily growing crowd gathered in front of the Hotel zum Kronprinzen on Königsstrasse , where Welcker was staying. The Guards Artillery Music Corps played the overture to the opera La muette de Portici by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber, which glorifies the love of freedom . Adolf Friedrich Rutenberg brought out a “Vivat!” On the “bold, tireless champion of German popular rights”. Then Welcker gave "a free, bold speech to the assembled" from the window. The students were particularly prominent among the audience. A total of "thousands" are said to have been present. The crowd sang songs like “ Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland? "And" Freedom I mean "and only dispersed around midnight. The initiators and Welcker continued celebrating in a wine bar. Another rally for Welcker followed the next day.

Well-known participants in the Welcker Serenade

There are some well-known names among the organizers of the serenade, mostly of younger age at the time:

The reaction of the authorities

The next day, on September 30, Welcker felt compelled to leave Berlin. Because he was threatened with expulsion from Berlin. He traveled on to Hamburg , where on October 5th he was given a “serenade” again “by torchlight”. On this occasion, “ Das Lied der Deutschen ” was heard for the first time .

In Berlin, the authorities took action against the authors of the Welcker serenade. They had no recourse against the event as such. Because the organizers had received the necessary official approval in advance, namely through a "real pre-March hussar prank". They had made the responsible official believe that they wanted to serenade the innkeeper of the "Crown Prince". Nevertheless, after Welcker's departure, the police ministry did not want to let the incident stand. Because one thing was obvious. It was "more than a mere serenade". "The banquets and serenades, as the government knew very well, were not for Welcker's person, but for the cause he represented." The government was worried because it was not just a celebration in a small circle, but rather "some mob cheered " would have. Apparently it was more than just a "student demonstration". The government was also concerned because the participants included people from whom they had not expected: Wentzel as an employee of the state newspaper , the son of a senior president, and even the military musicians.

The Prussian Ministry of Police conducted an investigation into the incidents. Probably also in order not to draw further attention to the Welcker serenade, the police ministry recommended in its report to King Friedrich Wilhelm IV , “that there is no reason for further judicial or police proceedings”. The king, however, did not want to leave the Welcker serenade alone. He issued a cabinet order according to which the civil servants among the participants were severely reprimanded . Bruno Bauer, since 1839 private lecturer at the University of Bonn , should be removed from his teaching post. Further measures followed:

  • Rudolf Wentzel lost his job. In one submission, Eichler, Köppen, Meyen, Mügge, Rutenberg and Zabel used it for him.
  • Karl Friedrich Köppen was warned and a three-month police surveillance imposed on him. A total of three participants in the Welcker Serenade were placed “under police supervision”.
  • Wilhelm Cornelius had to leave Berlin.
  • Karl Riedel was also expelled for his participation in the Welcker Serenade. The license to publish the “Athenaeum” was withdrawn from him and Meyen because of their participation in the serenade for Welcker.

On November 7, 1841, the initiators of the Welcker serenade were questioned in the police headquarters. They had to sign a lapel stating that they had "neither a political purpose nor an insult to the king in mind", but merely wanted to pay Welcker an honor. Nevertheless, police chief von Puttkammer had "seven Welcker friends" summoned again soon afterwards and warned them not to "talk loosely in public places".

For some of the prominent participants in the Welcker Serenade, the indirect consequences outweighed the immediate consequences. Because those who had not been eyed by the police before, came into their sights through their participation. For those who had previously been regarded as “suspicious elements”, the pressure to observe increased / intensified, for example for Adolf Friedrich Rutenberg. When he became editor-in-chief of the Rheinische Zeitung on February 2, 1842 at the suggestion of Karl Marx , he brought with him the "flaw" of the Welcker Serenade and the "suspiciousness", as the Prussian censorship files with regard to the Rheinische Zeitung testify.

Public concern

The Welcker Serenade and - even more - the subsequent repression against the initiators received widespread attention in the political public and in contemporary journalism, in some cases quite controversial. Contemporaries emphasized that the public rallies for civil liberties had now also reached Berlin. There they had previously "only given serenades and torchlight to painters and scholars, this honor is being given to a liberal German people's member for the first time". The newspaper published by Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué for the German nobility , which portrayed the event of the Welcker Serenade and its originator negatively, took it as “proof” that freedom of speech “is even green in Prussia on the streets blooms ". Ernst Dronke also described the Welcker Serenade in his Panorama of Berlin at the time because he saw it as an example of the fact that in the early 1840s “a forward-striving spirit [made] more and more of itself in the public sphere of bourgeois life”.

There was no lack of sympathy with the disciplined. The director of the Potsdam theater invited the participants in the Welcker serenade to a performance of Antigone des Sophocles , the timeless model for a morally justified rebellion against the state.

The king's actions put a damper on some of the hopes that had been directed towards Frederick William IV before he took office. Nonetheless, the Welcker Serenade was found to be worthy of being included in the official chronicle of his government.

meaning

The Welcker Serenade is historically significant because it shows that in the decade before the revolution of 1848 only a small occasion such as the passage of a well-known liberal was needed, thus both the annoyance of a large part of the bourgeoisie over the political conditions in the Vormärz, especially over the denial of freedom of expression and assembly, as well as its willingness to protest against it, became public. It is mentioned in numerous accounts of German history in the 19th century, especially the prehistory of the revolution in 1848. In the Marxist interpretation, the episode of the Welcker serenade stands for the progressive political and social awareness of the Young Hegelians "towards the retarded, outdated southern German liberalism". Helmut Hirsch draws the conclusion that the events during and after the Welcker Serenade “had a radicalizing effect on the historically most important figures from the whole circle, Marx and Engels ”. "Because the ruling classes in Germany did not want radical lecturers, they gave the world lecturers of radicalism."

Carl Friedrich Welcker drew a special kind of personal résumé when he wrote the article Address, Address System, Political Demonstrations for the second edition of the State Lexicon . He defended "public acts such as serenades and the addresses to those celebrated in public and their public responses" as indispensable for the formation of political opinion. In the “Tribute to freedom and to free-minded men”, “the love of freedom comes to light like wildfire when things are insignificant in themselves”.

swell

literature

  • Karl Wild: Karl Theodor Welcker. A champion of older liberalism . Winter, Heidelberg 1913 (especially the two sections “Journey to Northern Germany” and “In Berlin”, p. 190).
  • Helmut Hirsch : The Berlin Welcker rally. On the early history of the popular demonstrations . In: Archive for Social History , vol. 1 (1961), pp. 27–42 ( online )
  • Wolfgang Eßbach : The Young Hegelians. Sociology of a group of intellectuals . Fink, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-7705-2434-9 .

Footnotes

  1. ^ Helmut Hirsch: The Berlin Welcker rally. On the early history of the popular demonstrations . In: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte , vol. 1 (1961), pp. 27–42.
  2. ↑ Lars Lambrecht : "... With the violence of the French revolutionaries of 1792 ..."? On the reception of the French Revolution and Fichte's philosophy by the Young Hegelian A. Rutenberg . In: Domenico Losurdo (ed.): Rivoluzione Francese e filosofia classica tedesca . QuattroVenti, Urbino 1993, ISBN 88-392-0229-3 , pp. 147-168, here p. 159.
  3. ^ Friedrich von Weech :  Welcker, Karl Theodor . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 41, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, pp. 660-665.
  4. ^ Franz Schnabel : German History in the Nineteenth Century , Vol. 2: Monarchy and Popular Sovereignty . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1933, p. 178.
  5. ↑ Bruno Bauer: History of the constitutional and revolutionary movements in southern Germany in the years 1831-1834 . Egbert Bauer publishing house, Charlottenburg 1845, vol. 3, p. 198.
  6. ↑ Velhagen & Klasingsmonthshefte , vol. 17 (1903), p. 922.
  7. ↑ a b c d Karl Wild: Karl Theodor Welcker. A champion of older liberalism . Winter, Heidelberg 1913, p. 190.
  8. ↑ Newspaper for the Elegant World of November 12, 1841, p. 887.
  9. ^ Newspaper for the elegant world of September 18, 1841, p. 732.
  10. ↑ Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung of October 5, 1841, quoted from Wolfgang Eßbach: Die Junghegelianer. Sociology of a group of intellectuals . Fink, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-7705-2434-9 , p. 206.
  11. ^ Karl August Varnhagen von Ense: Diaries . Brockhaus, Leipzig 1861, vol. 1, p. 339.
  12. ↑ The royal privileged Berlinische Zeitung of state and learned things from October 1, 1841.
  13. ^ Regensburger Zeitung of October 16, 1841.
  14. ↑ Dieter Hertz-Eichenrode: The Young Hegelian Bruno Bauer in the March . Free University, Berlin., 1959, p. 82.
  15. ↑ Johannes Wenzel: Jakob Burckhardt in the crisis of his time . Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaft, Berlin 1967, p. 17.
  16. ↑ Wolfgang Eßbach: The Young Hegelians. Sociology of a group of intellectuals . Fink, Munich 1988, p. 75.
  17. ↑ On his participation in the Welcker Serenade see Johann Jacoby: Briefwechsel 1816–1849 . Edited by Edmund Silberner . Fackelträger-Verlag, Hanover 1974, ISBN 3-7716-1362-0 , pp. 157-158.
  18. ↑ On his participation in the Welcker Serenade see Art. Köppen, Karl Friedrich . In: Killy Literature Lexicon , Vol. 6: Huh - Kräf . 2nd, completely revised edition. de Gruyter, Berlin 2009, pp. 566–568, here p. 567.
  19. ^ Karl August Varnhagen von Ense: Diaries . Brockhaus, Leipzig 1861, vol. 1, p. 340.
  20. ^ Karl Wild: Karl Theodor Welcker. A champion of older liberalism . Winter, Heidelberg 1913, p. 190, footnote 2.
  21. ^ Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben : My life. Records and memories . Rümpler, Hannover 1868, vol. 3, p. 222.
  22. ↑ Peter Rühmkorf : "The song of the Germans" . Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-89244-463-3 , p. 8.
  23. ^ Karl August Varnhagen von Ense: Diaries . Brockhaus, Leipzig 1861, vol. 1, p. 355.
  24. ^ Helmut Hirsch: The Berlin Welcker rally. On the early history of the popular demonstrations . In: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte , vol. 1 (1961), pp. 27–42, here p. 32.
  25. ^ A b Helmut Hirsch: The Berlin Welcker rally. On the early history of the popular demonstrations . In: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte , vol. 1 (1961), pp. 27–42, here p. 31.
  26. ↑ Boris Iwanowitsch Nikolajewski , Otto Mänchen-Helfen : Karl Marx. A biography . Dietz, Berlin 1963, p. 46.
  27. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Benicken: Chronicle of the Nineteenth Century , New Series, Volume 2: 1841 . Expedition of the Thuringian Chronicle, Erfurt 1842, p. 100.
  28. ↑ This is how Wilhelm Klutentreter saw it: The Rheinische Zeitung of 1842/1843 in the political and intellectual movement of the Vormärz. Ruhfus, Dortmund 1966, vol. 1, p. 67: "... the so-called Welcker serenade in Berlin had aroused feelings, but it still had the character of a student demonstration".
  29. ^ Karl August Varnhagen von Ense: Diaries . Brockhaus, Leipzig 1861, vol. 1, p. 357.
  30. ^ Karl August Varnhagen von Ense: Diaries . Brockhaus, Leipzig 1861, vol. 1, p. 358.
  31. ^ Helmut Hirsch: The Berlin Welcker rally. On the early history of the popular demonstrations . In: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte , vol. 1 (1961), pp. 27–42, here pp. 39–41.
  32. ^ Helmut Hirsch: Karl Friedrich Köppen. The most intimate Berlin friend of Marx . In: Ders .: Thinkers and Fighters. Collected contributions to the history of the labor movement . Europäische Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt am Main 1955, pp. 19–81, here p. 49.
  33. ^ Ernst Dronke: Berlin . Literary Institute, Frankfurt am Main 1846, vol. 1, p. 213.
  34. ^ Helmut Hirsch: The Berlin Welcker rally. On the early history of the popular demonstrations . In: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte , vol. 1 (1961), pp. 27–42, here p. 38.
  35. ↑ Wolfgang Bunzel: "The most perfect union of science with life". Letters from Eduard Meyen to Arnold Ruge (1838–1841). In the S. (Ed.): Intersection of Romanticism. Text and source studies on 19th century literature. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1997, pp. 143–204, here p. 150.
  36. ↑ Eberhard Quadflieg: Documents on becoming Constantin Frantz . In: Historisches Jahrbuch , vol. 53 (1933), pp. 320–357, here p. 323.
  37. ^ Julius Lasker , Friedrich Gerhard: The German people's uprising in 1848, its struggle for free institutions and its victory jubilation. A folk and memory book for future generations . Friedrich Gerhard, Danzig 1848, p. 166 ( digitized version ) of the University and City Library of Cologne.
  38. ↑ The first four years of Friedrich Wilhelm IV's reign or materials on the history of Friedrich Wilhelm IV's government . Vol. 1: From June 7, 1840 to July 26, 1844 . Voigt, Königsberg 1842, p. 44.
  39. ^ Karl August Varnhagen von Ense: Diaries . Brockhaus, Leipzig 1861, vol. 1, p. 376.
  40. ^ Gustav Mayer : The beginnings of political radicalism in pre-March Prussia . In: Ders .: radicalism, socialism and bourgeois democracy . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1969, pp. 7-107, here p. 54.
  41. ↑ Joseph Hansen (Ed.): Rheinische Letters and Files for the History of the Political Movement 1830–1850 , Vol. 1: 1830–1845 . Baedeker, Essen 1919, p. 318.
  42. ↑ For example: Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung of October 5, 1841, Regensburger Zeitung of October 8, 1841 and October 26, 1841, Augsburger Postzeitung of November 9, 1841.
  43. ↑ For the different representations of the course of the Welcker Serenade and the different evaluations, see the Regensburger Zeitung of October 16, 1841.
  44. ↑ Newspaper for the Elegant World of November 4, 1841, p. 864.
  45. ^ Newspaper for the German nobility of November 6th, 1841, p. 354.
  46. ^ Ernst Dronke: Berlin . Literary Institute, Frankfurt am Main 1846, vol. 1, p. 212.
  47. ^ Neue Würzburger Zeitung of November 17, 1841.
  48. ↑ On the "free draft" in the first year of Friedrich Wilhelm IV's reign see Otto Vossler : The Revolution of 1848 in Germany . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1967, p. 52.
  49. ^ The first four years of Friedrich Wilhelm IV's reign or materials on the history of Friedrich Wilhelm IV's government. Part 1: From June 7, 1840 to July 26, 1844 . Voigt, Königsberg 1842, p. 39.
  50. ↑ Friedrich Arnold Steinmann : History of the Revolution in Prussia . Friedrich Gerhard, Berlin 1849, p. 44.
  51. ^ Eduard Burckhardt: General history of the latest time . Vol. 5: History of the years 1840–1846 . CB Lorck, Leipzig 1850, p. 38.
  52. ^ Johann Georg August Wirth , Wilhelm Zimmermann : The history of the German states from the dissolution of the empire to our days , Vol. 3. Kunstverlag, Karlsruhe 1850, p. 694.
  53. ^ Heinrich von Treitschke : German history in the nineteenth century . Vol. 5: Until the March Revolution . Hirzel, Leipzig 1894, p. 274.
  54. ^ Veit Valentin : History of the German Revolution from 1848-49 , Vol. 2: Until the end of the popular movement of 1849 . Ullstein, Berlin 1931, p. 49.
  55. ^ Friedrich Engels: Works and writings up to the beginning of 1844 together with letters and documents . Marx-Engels-Verlag, Berlin 1930, p. LXIII (text identical to Marx-Engels-Werke (MEW), vol. 41). See also on Welcker's visit to Berlin in 1841: Friedrich Engels: Works, Articles, Drafts up to August 1844 (= Marx-Engels Complete Edition (MEGA), Dept. 1, Vol. 3), Dietz, Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-05- 003353-3 , pp. 971 and 1252.
  56. ^ A b Helmut Hirsch: The Berlin Welcker rally. On the early history of the popular demonstrations . In: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte , vol. 1 (1961), pp. 27–42, here p. 42.
  57. ^ Carl Friedrich Welcker: Art. Address, address system, political demonstrations . In: Staats-Lexikon, 2nd ed. Vol. 1, pp. 144–148, citations p. 145.