Censorship decree of December 19, 1788

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The censorship decree of December 19, 1788 tightened the control of the intelligence system in the Kingdom of Prussia . It goes back to the influence of the Prussian State Minister Johann Christoph von Woellner , who belonged to the anti-Enlightenment secret society of the Rosicrucians , and remained in force with a short interruption in only a slightly modified form until 1848 . Together with the Wöllner religious edict , the censorship dictated the enlightened absolutism practiced by Frederick II .

prehistory

Like its religious-political analogue, the religious edict of July 9th, 1788 , the censorship dictation had its origin in the “ structural change of the public ” ( Jürgen Habermas ) since the 1780s: the bourgeois enlightenmentists , who initially limited themselves mainly to literary and scholarly subjects, made In their magazines and books, political questions are now increasingly the subject of criticism, and the public is becoming increasingly politicized. The religious edict of July 9, 1788 led to debates of discontent, which the monarch wanted to stop, both in the immediate vicinity of King Friedrich Wilhelm II and in public. Since he was only in his second year of reign, his rule was not yet sufficiently consolidated that he wanted to accept protests against government edicts and thus indirectly against his own authority. On September 10, 1788, Friedrich Wilhelm II wrote to his Grand Chancellor Johann Heinrich von Carmer :

"Since I also hear that the freedom of the press in Berlin is degenerating into press righteousness and the book censorship has fallen asleep [...]: So you have to tremble Fiscum immediately against the book printers and booksellers and, by the way, suggest to me how to set up the book censorship on better terms can be. I want to give my subjects all permitted freedoms, but I also want to keep order in the country, which has suffered very much from the licentiousness of the current so-called enlighteners who defy everything. "

The censorship dictation was drawn up by Carl Gottlieb Svarez , the closest collaborator of the Prussian Grand Chancellor Johann Heinrich von Carmer , who was responsible for it under constitutional law. On December 12, 1788, Woellner had warned against making the tightening of censorship he was seeking public because he feared a negative reaction abroad. However, he could not assert himself with the king. On December 19, the "Renewed Censorship Edict of King Friedrich-Wilhelm II. Of Prussia for the Prussian states excluding Silesia", its official name, was issued.

content

With the eleven paragraphs of the censorship dictation, the Prussian surveillance of the press reached a new legal dimension. In contrast to the individual orders under King Frederick II, all areas of censorship have now been recorded in detail and reorganized. The censorship dictated that all printed matter had to be submitted to the censors who gave permission to print. The censorship authorities were the consistory for theological writings, the chamber court and the regional court colleges for legal publications, the foreign ministry for political writings and newspapers, the universities and the city magistrates for weeklies and learned newspapers. Publications of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences and the Medical Institute in Berlin were spared the censorship . At the same time, the censorship dictated the authors, publishers and printers to file a complaint after censors and the Berlin Court of Appeal had to re-examine the case. Paragraph 2 served as a guideline:

"The intention of the censorship is in no way to prevent a decent, serious and modest investigation of the truth, (...) but only to control what is against the general principles of religion, against the state and against both moral and civil order, or aims to hurt the personal honor and good name of others. "

It was forbidden to spread “common harmful practical errors about the most important affairs of people”, especially if they were suitable “to spoil morals through slippery images in enticing depictions of vice, [...] to malicious mockery and malicious censure of public institutions and orders” to lead. Nothing that could "lead to grief and dissatisfaction", that could promote "envy, avenge and slander" and "disturb the calm of good and useful citizens" was allowed to be printed. The type of punishment was also regulated in the censorship dictation. The spectrum ranged from a fine of 5 Reichstalers to imprisonment for a fortress. Writings that had been printed outside of Prussia and could therefore not be checked by the Prussian censors could not be sold if they violated Section 2. Those in the know who supported such a project had to fear fines and imprisonment.

effect

While the censorship under King Friedrich II did not deal with issues outside of politics at all and thus appeared to contemporary scholars to be comparatively tolerant in retrospect, after the censorship decree of 1788 religious and philosophical approaches were also to be suppressed, which quite a few intellectuals in Prussia did got to feel: Friedrich Nicolai , one of the main representatives of the Berlin Enlightenment , had to relocate his General German Library to Hamburg , the Berlin monthly published to Jena and later to Dessau . In 1788 the theologian Karl Friedrich Bahrdt was sentenced to two years' arrest . The writer Franz Michael Leuchsenring and the theologian Andreas Riem , who had spoken out against Prussia's participation in the First Coalition War , were expelled . The philosopher Immanuel Kant was also increasingly affected by censorship measures: in 1791 he came into conflict with Woellner's authority for the first time due to his work On the Failure of All Philosophical Attempts in Theodicy . His collection of essays, Religion within the Limits of Mere Reason , could only appear outside Prussia. In 1794 he was forbidden by cabinet order to write articles for the Berlin monthly journal . It was only after the death of Friedrich Wilhelm II that Kant dared to publish works that were critical of religion and that shook the dogmatic claim of the Bible as represented in theology . As clearly as Kant's statements on questions of religion were censored, he was still able to express himself unreservedly on political questions and at times openly advocated the French Revolution .

The officials from the time of Frederick II interpreted the edict so generously that there was initially no change in the practice of censorship. Some censors like Johann Friedrich Zöllner openly sympathized with enlightenment ideas. On March 5, 1791, Friedrich Wilhelm II wrote an order with his own hand in which he demanded stricter compliance with the edict:

“I am certainly tolerant, just like my ancestors, […] I don't want any compulsion to conscience and read everyone believe what they want. But I can and will never suffer that the common people slip away from the old, true Christian religion through false teachings, and that writings that promote such are published publicly in my country, and from this the censorship of books must be sharper and more attentive. "

As a result, the censorship order was repeated and tightened several times. An occasion for this was provided by Emperor Leopold II , who on December 3, 1791 felt compelled to urge all estates of the Upper Saxon Circle, and thus also the Prussian king, against the “dissemination of all writings and principles that arouse outrage and revolt, especially those by which the overthrow of the current constitution or the disturbance of public peace is promoted ”, to intervene through strict supervision and, if necessary, confiscation and punishment of the“ authors, authors and distributors ”. Friedrich Wilhelm, who was deeply insecure about the events of the French Revolution , immediately wanted to enforce total control of all printing works and bookshops in his kingdom, but allowed his ministers to dissuade him from this project, which in their opinion only caused unrest in the population would. A royal decree of February 28, 1792 urged the subordinate authorities to strictly adhere to the censorship dictation and demanded that they be indulgent when imposing the legal penalties.

The provisions of the censorship dictated remained in force with a brief interruption until 1848 . From 1819 onwards, after a form that was tightened again in the course of the demagogue persecution , which even went beyond the Karlsbad resolutions .

The censorship dictation in comparison

Compared to the relevant decisions in revolutionary France under the Directory and the French Empire , the edict appears to be less strict. In 1800 Napoleon had 60 of the 73 Paris newspapers banned. Friedrich Wilhelm II only banned two newspapers from Jena and Gotha, but withdrew his order on the advice of his ministers. In fact, during the Napoleonic occupation of Prussia, freedom of expression was restricted more than was ever foreseen in the Prussian censorship decree. Instead of bans as in France, the Prussian censorship mainly worked with deletions and extensive "text corrections". Many Prussian authors therefore tried to forestall a text change by having their works printed outside Prussia. A systematic control of the import of printed matter has not yet taken place. According to the historian Wilhelm Bringmann, the censorship dictation was “neither stricter nor milder” than contemporary censorship decrees from other German states.

rating

The educational scientist Hartmut Titze calls Woellner's regiment "a first modern dictatorship of opinion ". The social historian Hans-Ulrich Wehler writes of a veritable " radical decree " with which Woellner's obscurantism wanted to make Kant and other Prussian philosophers "compliant". The Berlin historian Wolfgang Neugebauer, on the other hand, warns against inferring sweeping state effects from Woellner's intentions. In his opinion, the effectiveness of the edict was limited, also because Woellner's influence on the king waned after 1794. The historian Brigitte Meier also points out that the “subject-specific censorship” made it easier to assess the works and “prevented the previous arbitrariness in the appraisal”.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Horst Möller : Princely State or Citizens' Nation. Germany 1763-1815 . Siedler, Berlin 1994, p. 498.
  2. ↑ Censorship in the Age of Enlightenment. History - theory - practice
  3. ^ Brigitte Meier: Friedrich Wilhelm II. King of Prussia: A life between Rococo and revolution . Blow. Regensburg 2007. ISBN 978-3-7917-2083-8 . P. 210
  4. ^ Daniel Schönpflug : Luise von Preußen: Queen of Hearts. Beck. Munich 2010. ISBN 978-3-406-59813-5 . P. 101.
  5. ^ Uta Wiggermann: Woellner and the religious edict. Church politics and ecclesiastical reality in Prussia in the late 18th century. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2010, p. 414 f.
  6. ^ Horst Möller: Princely State or Citizens' Nation. Germany 1763-1815 . Siedler, Berlin 1994, p. 498.
  7. ↑ Ursula E. Koch : French Revolution and Prussian Daily Journalism 1789 In: Otto Büsch and Monika Neugebauer-Wölk (eds.): Prussia and the revolutionary challenge of 1789 (= publications of the Historical Commission in Berlin, vol. 78). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1991, p. 226 f. According to Marion Schulte: About the civil conditions of the Jews in Prussia. Goals and motives of the reform period (1787–1812) . de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-030603-3 , p. 58 (accessed via De Gruyter Online), but university publications were also subject to censorship.
  8. ↑ Axel Schumann: Berlin Press and French Revolution. The spectrum of opinions under the Prussian censorship 1789–1806 . Unprinted dissertation, Technische Universität Berlin 2001, p. 57 ff. ( Online , accessed February 11, 2018).
  9. ^ Wilhelm Bringmann: Prussia under Friedrich Wilhelm II. (1786-1797) . Peter Lang. Bern 2001. ISBN 978-3-631-37427-6 . P. 230
  10. ↑ Quoted from Marion Schulte: About the civil conditions of the Jews in Prussia. Goals and motives of the reform period (1787–1812) . de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-030603-3 , p. 58 (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  11. ↑ Axel Schumann: Berlin Press and French Revolution. The spectrum of opinions under the Prussian censorship 1789–1806 . Unprinted dissertation, Technische Universität Berlin 2001, p. 57 ff. ( Online , accessed February 11, 2018).
  12. ^ Wolfgang Neugebauer : The education system in Prussia since the middle of the 17th century. In: Otto Büsch (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Prussischen Geschichte , Vol. 2: The 19th Century and Great Subjects of the History of Prussia. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-083957-9 , p. 656 (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  13. ^ Hans Martin Sieg: State service, state thinking and service attitude in Brandenburg-Prussia in the 18th century (1713-1806). Studies on the understanding of absolutism (= publications of the Historical Commission in Berlin, vol. 103). de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2003, ISBN 978-3-11-089868-2 , p. 293 f. (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  14. ^ Wilhelm Bringmann: Prussia under Friedrich Wilhelm II. (1786-1797). Peter Lang. Bern 2001. ISBN 978-3-631-37427-6 . P. 230.
  15. ↑ Torsten Liesegang: Public and Public Opinion: Theories from Kant to Marx (1780-1850) . Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2004, p. 61.
  16. ^ Brigitte Meier: Friedrich Wilhelm II. King of Prussia: A life between Rococo and revolution. Blow. Regensburg 2007. ISBN 978-3-7917-2083-8 . P. 214
  17. ^ Horst Möller: Primacy of Foreign Policy: Prussia and the French Revolution 1789–1795 . In: Jürgen Voss (Ed.): Germany and the French Revolution. 17th Franco-German Historians' Colloquium of the German Historical Institute in Paris (Bad Homburg September 29 – October 2, 1981 ) (= supplement of Francia, 12). Artemis, Munich / Zurich 1983 ISBN 3-7608-4662-9 , p. 77 ( online , accessed February 11, 2018).
  18. ^ Wilhelm Bringmann: Prussia under Friedrich Wilhelm II. (1786-1797) . Peter Lang, Bern 2001, ISBN 978-3-631-37427-6 , p. 230.
  19. ^ Brigitte Meier: Friedrich Wilhelm II. King of Prussia: A life between Rococo and revolution. Blow. Regensburg 2007. ISBN 978-3-7917-2083-8 . P. 211.
  20. ^ Wolfgang Neugebauer: Brandenburg-Prussia in the early modern period . In: the same (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Prussischen Geschichte , Vol. 1: The 17th and 18th centuries and major subjects of the history of Prussia . de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2009. ISBN 978-3-11-021662-2 . P. 370 f. (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  21. ↑ Gert hail pasture: journalistic everyday life in the Prussian province during the French Revolution. In: Holger Böning (Ed.): French Revolution and German Public. Changes in the press and everyday culture at the end of the eighteenth century. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1992. ISBN 978-3-11-141520-8 , p. 252 (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  22. ↑ Ursula E. Koch: French Revolution and Prussian Daily Journalism 1789 In: Otto Büsch and Monika Neugebauer-Wölk (eds.): Prussia and the revolutionary challenge of 1789 (= publications of the Historical Commission in Berlin, vol. 78). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1991, p. 226.
  23. ↑ Bärbel Holtz : Statehood and obstruction - Prussia's censorship practice as a political cultural phenomenon. In: Acta Borussica . New series, 2nd row: Prussia as a cultural state, section II, volume 6: Prussia's censorship practice from 1819 to 1848 in sources . de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-040927-7 , p. 28 f. (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  24. ^ Wilhelm Bringmann: Prussia under Friedrich Wilhelm II. (1786-1797). Peter Lang. Bern 2001. ISBN 978-3-631-37427-6 . Pp. 233-235.
  25. ^ Wolfgang Neugebauer: Brandenburg-Prussia in the early modern period . In: the same (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Prussischen Geschichte , Vol. 1: The 17th and 18th centuries and major subjects of the history of Prussia . de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2009. ISBN 978-3-11-021662-2 . P. 370 f. (accessed via De Gruyter Online)
  26. ^ Wilhelm Bringmann: Prussia under Friedrich Wilhelm II. (1786-1797). Peter Lang. Bern 2001. ISBN 978-3-631-37427-6 . P. 230
  27. ↑ Hartmut Titze: The politicization of education. Studies on the social and political function of education from the Enlightenment to high capitalism , Fischer Athenäum Taschenbücher, Frankfurt am Main 1973, p. 82, quoted from Wolfgang Neugebauer: The education system in Prussia since the middle of the 17th century. In: Otto Büsch (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Prussischen Geschichte , Vol. 2: The 19th Century and Great Subjects of the History of Prussia. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2012, ISBN 978-3-11-083957-9 , p. 656 (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  28. ↑ Hans-Ulrich Wehler: Deutsche Gesellschaftgeschichte, Vol. 1: From Feudalism of the Old Empire to the Defensive Modernization of the Reform Era 1700–1815. CH Beck, Munich 1987, p. 276.
  29. ^ Wolfgang Neugebauer: Brandenburg-Prussia in the early modern period . In: the same (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Prussischen Geschichte , Vol. 1: The 17th and 18th centuries and major subjects of the history of Prussia . de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2009. ISBN 978-3-11-021662-2 . P. 371 f. (accessed via De Gruyter Online)
  30. ^ Brigitte Meier: Friedrich Wilhelm II. King of Prussia: A life between Rococo and revolution. Blow. Regensburg 2007. ISBN 978-3-7917-2083-8 . P. 210.