Thieme Printing House

Free Corps

Carl Thieme

Publishing a newspaper in the Palatinate during the 1830s and 40s was particularly challenging, especially during the politically turbulent times of the Hambach Festival in 1832 and the Revolution of 1848/49. Should one side with the existing monarchical order or more strongly support the idea of freedom through publications?

Carl Thieme (1800-1848), who in 1826 took over the editing and printing of the “Kirchheimbolander Wochenblatt,” founded six years earlier by Johann Philipp Hahn, found his decision already made by his membership in the “Liberal Party.” He also belonged to the “Press Association.” This led to an indictment for revolutionary activities in 1832, but the proceedings were dropped.

For the following decade and a half, Thieme’s work was entirely dedicated to the “Wochenblatt.” From 1841, it was published “for Kirchheimbolanden and Grünstadt,” and from 1846, it appeared twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays).

Thieme then aligned the newspaper to be explicitly political in 1848. The “revolutionization” now also beginning in Kirchheimbolanden intensified the reporting in the “Wochenblatt” – and vice versa. Thieme thus became one of the most significant political figures in Kirchheimbolanden. However, this came at the cost of his health. He died in August 1848.

However, the “Wochenblatt” was not endangered in its existence. Thieme’s widow, Wilhelmine, continued it in his spirit.

Thieme’s “Wochenblatt” in 1848

The revolutionary wave was already picked up by the “Wochenblatt for Kirchheimbolanden and Grünstadt” in March 1848. Thus, on March 10, one could read, entirely in the spirit of the general “March Demands”:

And in the following issue, the “Wochenblatt” reported:
However, it’s not only concrete political freedoms that are addressed. Equally urgent are serious social questions:
The “motion” mentioned here originated from the deputy Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl, who criticized the drafting of the constitution as not being swift enough, a view shared in Kirchheimbolanden:

Thieme’s “Wochenblatt” in 1849

While the 1848 volume of the “Wochenblatt” primarily documented the discussions in Kirchheimbolanden concerning unity, rights, and freedom, thus providing a local picture of the general course of the revolution in Germany, the situation fundamentally changed from spring 1849 onwards.

First, however, the fundamental rights decided upon in the German National Assembly were proclaimed. In “Wochenblatt” issues 2 to 4, the catalog of fundamental rights, comprising 50 paragraphs, was announced.

On January 23, 1849, the “Wochenblatt” then reported a significant change in the newspaper’s editorship: the typesetter Friedrich Heinrich Rochotte now served as the responsible editor.
Meanwhile, in the National Assembly, the development towards a constitutional monarchy was underway. On March 27, 1849, the corresponding constitution was adopted. The Prussian king was to become the monarchical head.

The “Wochenblatt” then reported on April 6:
However, this simultaneously endangered the Imperial Constitution as a whole. Among others, the King of Bavaria rejected the constitution. Uprisings now occurred in the Rhineland, Hanover, Württemberg, Baden, and the Palatinate, aiming to enforce the constitution by armed means. The “State Defense Committee” in Kaiserslautern took over the organization in the Palatinate. Its name derived from the intention to “defend” the constitution militarily. State countermeasures were therefore to be expected.
The “Wochenblatt” documented the consequence:
With that, the revolutionary events in Kirchheimbolanden abruptly collapsed. From then on, the narrative of public order disturbed by insurgent gangs and the consequent necessary revision of the “monarchical principle” prevailed. Subordination now once again defined journalistic language. A new press law set the framework. It criminalized treating the existing form of government with scorn and contempt. The newspaper therefore had to exercise the utmost caution in its statements. The reporting in the “Wochenblatt” in 1849 thus illustrates all three phases of the year’s revolution: the conceptual “completion” of unity, rights, and freedom, the military attempt to “save” the constitution, and finally, the authoritarian-restorative “response.”