Free Corps
The Revolution
The understanding of time, characterized by dynamism (Johann Wolfgang Goethe) and stasis (Gottfried Keller), that underpins the Kirchheimbolanden city tour(s) on the Middle Ages, Baroque era, and 19th century, also helps to understand the Revolution of 1848/49. The events of these two years also exist in the tension between “Time moves on” and “Time stands still”.
What happened in Kirchheimbolanden back then also gains particular significance from the perspective of today’s constitutional order.
City tour panels 46-60 thus address a historical event that is of particular relevance. They are a further development of the Kirchheimbolanden Free Corps Circular Route, conceived in 1999 by students of the Wilhelm-Erb-Gymnasium Winnweiler.
The storm that swept through Europe – also led to a politicization of the public in Kirchheimbolanden in 1848/49. In 1848, the dominant theme was a state order determined by popular sovereignty, fundamental rights, and the separation of powers, analogous to the constitutional discussion led by the German National Assembly in Frankfurt’s St. Paul’s Church. However, when the constitution adopted by the National Assembly was not recognized by the Kingdom of Bavaria in May 1849, violence escalated in the Palatinate.
The “Battle of Kirchheimbolanden on June 14, 1849” between Prussian troops and Rhenish Hessian Free Corps thus became a stage on the path to the failure of the revolution. In Kirchheimbolanden, both phases – the one conceptualizing unity, rights, and freedom from 1849, and the authoritarian-restorative one from 1849 – can be experienced in various ways.
Volunteer Corps Commanders Bamberger and Zitz
Barricade at the Palace Garden
Barricade at the Palace Garden Revolutionary Site: Barricade Barricades are particularly dramatic symbols of the 1849 Revolution. Especially in Saxony, where 250 people died in barricade fights in May 1849, they also became a subject in fine art. The painter Julius...
Engagement on June 14, 1849
Engagement on June 14, 1849June 14, 1849 in a Visual Depiction Even more than the barricade, the engagement of June 14, 1849 became a myth. This was particularly contributed to by the lithograph "The Battle of the Brave Gymnasts and Freischärler near Kirchheimbolanden...
Mourning Germania
Grave of the Free Corps Fighters
Thieme Printing House
Thieme Printing House 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...
Johann Theobald and Carl Adolf Ritter
Friedrich Glaser
Friedrich Glaser"What Was Deemed Good" Dr. Friedrich Glaser (1814-49) significantly shaped the moderate revolutionary events in Kirchheimbolanden until his death on January 23, 1849. The practical physician became a political actor not least because of the social...
Historical Awareness Today
Historical Awareness Today Developing Historical Awareness The revolutionary scene depicted in the mural by Dr. Edeltraud Sießl combines three elements: the euphoria of the Freischärler, their military resources, and the myth of the barricades. However, the...
Political Awareness 1848-49
Citizens’ Assembly of April 5, 1848
Colonel Seyler
1848/49 in the Museum
1848/49 in the MuseumFrom 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...
Ludwig and Mathilde Hitzfeld
Ludwig and Mathilde Hitzfeld"Confident in Their just Cause" In the final phase of the revolution in spring 1849, which encompassed numerous German regions, the enforcement of the Imperial Constitution was central. The question was whether the constitution adopted by...
Kirchheimbolanden Citizens’ Association
Kirchheimbolanden Citizens' AssociationRevolutionary Site: Political Associations and Assemblies The political activation that triggered the 1848/49 revolution initially manifested in citizens' assemblies [Location 56]. Just a few weeks later, a moderately...
