1848/49 in the Museum

From the Hambach Festival 1832 to the Revolution 1848/49

One of the main focuses of the museum in the Stadtpalais Kirchheimbolanden is dedicated to the Revolution of 1848/49 (Room OG 9). The Hambach Festival of 1832 is also a theme, where the ideas of unity and freedom were politically and effectively established (Room OG 8). And the Kingdom of Bavaria, to which the Palatinate belonged since 1816, also has its museum space (Room OG 7).

The Hambach Festival is primarily presented through its two main exponents, Philipp Jakob Siebenpfeiffer [1798-1845) and Johann Georg August Wirth [1798-1848), whose National Festival of the Germans on May 27, 1832, had around 30,000 visitors – men and women. A group from Kirchheimbolanden was also present, including the postmaster and innkeeper Johann Theobald Ritter [Location 52] and the baker Jakob Daum, who reports on the festival and its legal consequences at an audio station.

In the subsequent museum section (Room OG 9), the three main phases of the revolution are presented across more than 120 sqm using over 200 objects.

The political upheaval in the spring of 1848, with the demand for greater participation rights, is closely linked in Kirchheimbolanden to the physician Dr. Friedrich Glaser (1814-49) [Location 53]. His commitment significantly contributed to the political mobilization of the public with the citizens’ assembly on April 5, 1848 [Location 56] and the Kirchheimbolanden Citizens’ Association [Location 60]. The memorial plaque (Station 4) dedicated to his memory aptly summarizes his work in the language of the time: To the noble fighter for truth, light, and unity, Dr. Friedrich Glaser, this monument is dedicated by the Citizens’ and People’s Association Kirchheim in May 1849.

The subsequent institutionalization of the revolution in the summer and autumn of 1848 is marked, among other things, by two prominent black-red-gold flags – of the citizens’ militia and the volunteer corps – (Stations 8, 1). Despite all the national euphoria, it was important to ensure internal security, but also to resolutely make the democratic awakening visible and accompany it, especially since the German National Assembly had been drafting an imperial constitution in Frankfurt’s St. Paul’s Church since May 18, 1848 (Stations 11, 12).

However, when Bavaria and Prussia in particular rejected the imperial constitution proclaimed on March 28, 1849, a test of strength ensued. An uprising also broke out in the Palatinate. The constitution was now to be enforced militarily “from below”.

How this unfolded in detail in the Palatinate is extensively presented (Stations 2, 3, 10, 13, 20), beginning with the declaration of independence of the Palatinate and the four-week activity of the Provisional Government of the Palatinate (Station 13).

The end is then made evident by the Kirchheimbolanden Palace Garden Battle between Rhenish Hessian volunteer corps and Prussian troops [Location 48]. The events are dramatized on a room-high room divider (Station 18) and at an audio station with the report of a volunteer (Station 16).

The consequence is marked by the “Emperor’s Table” (Station 2), where the commander-in-chief of the Prussian troops, Crown Prince Wilhelm, the later Emperor Wilhelm I (Station 3), drafted the declaration of the Rhenish Palatinate into a state of war.

So, was the political commitment to unity and freedom worthwhile? This was not just a men’s issue. It also concerned women. This becomes clear at the audio station

(Station 10), where Mathilde Hitzfeld (1826-1905) speaks. For the Kirchheimbolanden revolution icon clearly shows how the female sphere of life was emancipated by the revolution.

Despite all formal failures, not only was the emancipatory guidance fundamental for the socio-political development of the revolution, but above all, the ideas of freedom (fundamental rights, popular sovereignty, and separation of powers) and unity (creation of a German nation-state) remained on the political agenda.

First, however, the victorious state power had to restore “order” and hold those responsible for the revolution accountable (Stations 25, 26).

Soon, however, the “Memory Foundation” also began, in Kirchheimbolanden with the erection of a “Germania” (Station 23) [Location 49]. While this was a striking sign of “Memoria” in 1872, accents were repeatedly set later (Station 24). The Kirchheimbolanden Volunteer Corps City Tour is also part of this.