Wilhelm Joseph Reiff

Wilhelm Joseph Reiff (born July 20, 1822 in Kerpen - Hemmersbach near Cologne ; died after April 1860 ) was a German clerk and defendant in the Cologne Communist Trial .

Life

Wilhelm Joseph Reiff was born on July 20, 1822. The following day his father, the trader Jodocus Reiff (born 1796), announced the birth of his son to the mayor Dunwald in Sindorf . His mother was Johanna Marie Sibilla Saßmannshausen . Nothing further is known about Reiff's youth. Wilhelm Stieber writes that he had lived in Cologne since 1842 and worked as a clerk, clerk and commission agent.

Communist Trial 1852

When he was arrested, he was "without a trade", ie unemployed. The Cologne police made a profile of him in 1851: “Age: 29 years, height 5 feet 2½ inches Prussia. Measure; Hair: brown; Forehead: high. Eyes Blue. Nose and mouth: common; Chin: round; Beard: brown. "

On November 8, the authorities had partially completed the investigation and wanted Peter Gerhard Roeser , Johann Heinrich Bürgers , Peter Nothjung , Hermann Heinrich Becker , Carl Wunibald Otto , Roland Daniels , Wilhelm Joseph Reiff, Johann Jacob Klein , Abraham Jacobi , Friedrich Leßner and Ferdinand Indict Freiligrath . The prosecution of the 'Cologne Appelhof' rejected this. Charges were only brought on May 12, 1852, and the Cologne communist trial began on October 4, 1852 . The accused were charged with a "plot" with the "purpose" of "overturning the state constitution" and "arming" the citizens for a "civil war". The trial lasted until November 17, 1852. Reiff was represented by attorney Dr. Represented Thesmar , who said in the plea: “The defendant Reiff, whose defense I lead, has two complaints against the current criminal investigation. It is not just that Reiff has been drawn into it without sufficient cause, has been arrested for year and day, and has been destroyed in his existence for a long time even after his acquittal, and he is just as wrong in the indictment as one of the outstanding leaders of the Communist Party described. ”He concluded that Reiff was innocent as charged. The chief procurator August Heinrich von Seckendorff applied for six years for Reiff without taking into account the pre-trial detention suffered. The court ruled for "five years" imprisonment. With the judgment of November 12, 1852, Reiff's civil rights were revoked for five years in accordance with Section 63 of the Prussian Criminal Code of 1851. He was also given lifelong police custody and had to pay the costs of the trial along with all other convicts. He served the full sentence at Glatz Fortress together with Peter Nothjung. He was released on November 12, 1858.

After imprisonment

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

"He is portrayed by the investigating authority as an insignificant personality, who only seems to have served the Communist League as a subordinate tool, since he could not have been qualified for a more important role according to his intellectual powers."

- Wermuth / Stieber, p. 99.

In December 1853 and February 1854 Reiff submitted two petitions for clemency, which were rejected. He was released from prison on November 12, 1857. Reiff worked again in Cologne as a clerk at Kappesbauer and the coal merchant Fischer . On December 16, 1859, he was wanted in a wanted list for fornication. Reiff fled to London and made a living as a street musician and language teacher. Here he sought contact with Marx, Engels, Lessner, Wilhelm Liebknecht , Georg Lochner and Ferdinand Freiligrath . Because of his position in the Cologne trial, because he was expelled from the federal government in 1850 and because of the profile , everyone refused to make contact. The most recent testimony from him is his letter to Friedrich Lessner, written in Manchester in mid-May 1860 .

“Dear Lessner! (...) I gave up my violin, which I had the opportunity to sell, of course. (...) The purpose of this letter is to ask you to take a walk for me. I have commissioned Stark from Cologne to send letters for me to J. Campell, 2 Agar Street, Strand. He's one of the school agents and a friendly man who also got me private lessons. (…) Address. Mr. Eduard Frost 6, Lord St. Hume Manchester. "

- Reiff to Friedrich Lessner in mid-May 1860.

So far, nothing is known about the further fate of Reiff.

Documents

• Minutes of the committee meeting of the Cologne Workers' Association . November 12, 1848. In: Freedom, Fraternity, Work. Cologne No. 5 of November 9, 1848.
• Minutes of the committee meeting of the Cologne Workers' Association. January 15, 1849. In: Freedom, Fraternity, Work. Cologne No. 3 of January 21, 1849.
• Minutes of the committee meeting of the Cologne Workers' Association. January 25, 1849. In: Freedom, Fraternity, Work. Cologne No. 1 of February 8, 1849.
• Minutes of the committee meeting of the Cologne Workers' Association. January 29, 1849. In: Freedom, Fraternity, Work. Cologne No. 1 of February 8, 1849.
• Minutes of the committee meeting of the Cologne Workers' Association. February 5, 1849. In: Freedom, Fraternity, Work. Cologne No. 8 of March 4, 1849.
• Minutes of the committee meeting of the Cologne Workers' Association. February 15, 1849. In: Freedom, Fraternity, Work. Cologne No. 6 of February 25, 1849.
• Minutes of the committee meeting of the Cologne Workers' Association. February 28, 1849. In: Freedom, Fraternity, Work. Cologne No. 8 of March 4, 1849.
• Minutes of the general assembly of the Cologne workers' association. June 18, 1849. In: Freedom, Fraternity, Work. Cologne No. 32 of June 24, 1849.
• Reiff at the German Refugee Committee in London. June 5, 1850., German. 1 p.
• Wanted poster from December 16, 1859. From Kölnische Zeitung No. 349 of December 17, 1859
• Wilhelm Joseph Reiff to Karl Marx. after January 11, 1860
• Wilhelm Joseph Reiff to Friedrich Engels. May 6, 1860
• Wilhelm Joseph Reiff to J. Campbell. 1860.
• Wilhelm Joseph Reiff to Friedrich Lessner. Center. May 1860

Quotes

“A formal revolution was never intended in this way, rather they were entirely convinced of it and, when they joined forces, started from the idea that if the workers were instructed about their interests, they would in the event that a revolution happened to break out, they would would know how to behave. "

- Interrogation protocol WJ Reiff.

literature

• Wermuth- 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, DNB 770195547. )
• Karl Bittel : The Communist Trial in Cologne 1852 in the mirror of the contemporary press. Edited and introduced . Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1955.
• Manfred Häckel: Freiligrath's correspondence with Marx and Engels . 2 parts. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1968.
• The League of Communists. Documents and materials. 1836-1849 . Volume 1, Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1970.
• The League of Communists. Documents and materials. 1849-1851 . Volume 2, Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1982.
• The League of Communists. Documents and materials. 1851-1852 . Volume 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. (on-line)
• Wermuth, Wilhelm Stieber : The Communist Conspiracies of the 19th Century. Berlin 1854, p. 99. (online)
• Klaus Körner: Kölner Komunnistenverfahren , in: Kurt Groenewold, Alexander Ignor, Arnd Koch (Hrsg.): Lexicon of Political Criminal Processes, online, as of January 2018

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Previous information on the year of birth was "about 1824".
2. ↑ Birth certificate No. 39/1822 "Sindorf district Bergheim government department of Cologne". Copy of the birth certificate from the Kerpen city archive.
3. ↑ Karl Bittel, p. 48.
4. ↑ Karl Bittel, p. 22.
5. ↑ Karl Bittel, p. 48.
6. ^ Karl Bittel, p. 206.
7. ^ Karl Bittel, p. 298.
8. ^ Karl Bittel, p. 298.
9. ↑ § 63 pr. StG online
10. ↑ "Of the people convicted in the communist trial are (...) Nothjung and Reiff in Glatz" ( Bayerische Landbötin . No. 11, January 13 , 1853.)
11. ↑ The League of Communists . Volume 3, p. 497.
12. ↑ Ferdinand Freiligrath to Joseph DuMont January 5, 1860 (Manfred Häckel. Part 2, p. 164.)
13. ↑ "Profile. The merchant Wilhelm Joseph Reiff, who was brought up for investigation here for fornication, is on the run. By sharing his signaling below, I ask all police officers to watch over him, to arrest him in case of trespass and to have him brought before me. Cologne December 16 2859. The chief procurature, Boelling. Signalement: Age 37 years, height 5 feet 3 inches, hair and eyebrows brown, nose blunt, mouth usually brown beard, chin broad, face oval, complexion healthy, pale, stature medium. Special features: a link is missing on the index finger of the left hand. ”Quoted from Manfred Häckel. Part 2, p. 164.
14. ↑ “The Reiff came here, as he says on the advice of Liebknecht, Lochner, etc.! He wants support from me, he street music ”. ( Friedrich Engels to Karl Marx. May 7, 1860. Marx-Engels-Werke . Volume 30, p. 52.)
15. ^ Wilhelm Joseph Reiff to Friedrich Leßner in mid-May 1860.
16. ↑ The League of Communists . Volume 1, p. 865.
17. ↑ The League of Communists . Volume 1, p. 896 f.
18. ↑ The League of Communists . Volume 1, p. 1147.
19. ↑ The League of Communists . Volume 1, p. 902 ff.
20. ↑ The League of Communists . Volume 1, pp. 1147-1148.
21. ↑ The League of Communists . Volume 1, p. 908.
22. ↑ The League of Communists . Volume 1, p. 1150.
23. ↑ The League of Communists . Volume 1, p. 960.
24. ^ IISG Marx Engels estate, signature O 42.
25. ↑ Marx-Engels Complete Edition . Department III. Volume 10, p. 154.
26. ↑ Marx-Engels Complete Edition . Department III. Volume 10, p. 540.
27. ^ IISG Marx Engels estate, signature R89.
28. ↑ The League of Communists . Volume 3, p. 498.
29. ↑ Shlomo Na'aman : On the history of the League of Communists in Germany during the second phase of its existence. In: Archives for Social History. Hanover 1965, p. 42.
30. ↑ Detailed biography, Note 737, p. 497.