Dr. Johann Georg August Wirth
A freedom fighter from Hof helps shape history
Dr. Johann Georg August Wirth was born on 20 November 1798 in the city on the Saale and died on 26 July 1848 in Frankfurt am Main. As a publicist, publisher, historian, lawyer and politician, Wirth fought throughout his life for freedom of the press, for the publicity of the courts, for the separation of administration and justice, for a common representation of the people, for a head of state elected by the people and for a united Germany.
Knight of freedom
"Only through the free word can the participation of the people in public affairs be awakened."
Dr. Johann Georg August Wirth
Together with Dr. Philipp Jakob Siebenpfeiffer, he wrote the call for the largest popular assembly on German soil, the Hambach Festival of 1832, where he was also the main speaker. Celebrated as a hero of freedom, persecuted as a subversive and accused of high treason, incarcerated in prison for over four years and finally forced to flee into exile, Wirth remained - as Heinrich Heine wrote - "a brave knight of freedom" throughout his life.
Wirth and his wife Regina consciously accepted persecution, separation, economic hardship and exile for their upright walk. Shortly before his death in 1848, he lived to see the revolution in Germany and was given a seat in the National Assembly in Frankfurt's Paulskirche. But before he could take up his work, he died in Frankfurt, not quite fifty years old.
The Wirth monument
Freedom takes center stage
A monument was erected to him as a tribute to the city's great son. The monument refers to Wirth's opposition newspaper "Deutsche Tribüne", which was published in 1831 and 1832.
The Hofer "Tribüne" was designed by sculptor Andreas Theurer in 1997 and a second version was erected in front of the Freiheitshalle in 2012.
"A newspaper a stage an elevation from below it resembles a leaflet
a floating power of a flag without colors black on white
for the power of the word for free thought."
Andreas Theurer, 1997
Recommended reading
to Johann Georg August Wirth
| Axel Herrmann: Johann Georg August Wirth - A political life between restoration and revolution, published by Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2022. ISBN 978-3-7917-3312-8 |
| Michail Krausnick: Johann Georg August Wirth: A pioneer for unity, justice and freedom, Wellhöfer-Verlag, Mannheim 2011. ISBN 978-3-939540-93-9 |
(11 authors):Johann Georg August Wirth (1798 - 1848): A revolutionary from Hof (His person - his time - his effects). Published by the Nordoberfränkischer Verein für Natur-, Geschichts- und Landeskunde, Hof 1999. ISBN 3-928626-32-9 | |
| Elisabeth Hüls: Johann Georg August Wirth (1798 - 1848), a political life in the pre-March era. Droste-Verlag, Düsseldorf 2004. ISBN 3-7700-5256-0 | |
| Wirth, Johann Georg August (ed.): Deutsche Tribüne (1831 - 1832), newly edited by Christof Müller-Wirth and Wolfram Siemann. K. G. Saur Verlag, Munich 2007. ISBN 3-59811543-1 |
City archive
Various books and writings by Wirth can be found in the original or as copies in the Hof town archive and can be viewed by anyone during opening hours. The town archive also has literature about the period, such as the Hambach Festival in 1832.
Internet links
Further information on Johann Georg August Wirth
To mark the 175th anniversary, the Hambach Castle Foundation commissioned the Institute for Historical Regional Studies at the University of Mainz e.V. to develop content for a new exhibition on the Hambach Festival. The new exhibition, which can be seen in the rebuilt and renovated Hambach Castle, documents the events of 1832 and sheds light on the historical background.
Ever since the black, red and gold flag first flew on the Kastanienberg near Neustadt in May 1832, Hambach Castle has been regarded as the cradle of German democracy. Today, the national memorial also includes the exhibition "Up, up to the castle!", which can be visited daily between 10 am and 6 pm. The only two contemporary portraits of Wirth and his wife Regina hang in the castle. They were donated by the Wirth family and painted by Friedrich Hahn.
The Hambach Society for Political Education and Historical Research has been publishing the Hambach Yearbook for 20 years. A homepage is being planned here.
www.siebenpfeiffer-stiftung.de
The foundation, named after Philipp Jakob Siebenpfeiffer, was established more than 20 years ago on the initiative of the Saarpfalz district (Homburg). The aim of the foundation is to research the historical events and personalities who laid the foundations for today's democratic constitution during the Vormärz period.
Following the example of other tourist routes, such as the Romanesque Route or the Porcelain Route, the approximately 280 km long Road of Democracy in south-west Germany between Breisgau and Frankfurt am Main has been commemorating the political awakening to democracy in the region in 1848 (German Revolution) since 2007.
www.erinnerungsstaette-rastatt.de
The Federal Archives have set up a memorial to the freedom movements in German history at Rastatt Palace - an important site in the final phase of the 1848/49 revolution. This is a historical-political place of learning that spans a thematic arc from the freedom movements of the early modern period to the Peaceful Revolution in the GDR in a permanent exhibition. Visitors can expect a lively exhibition from the early modern period to 1989, with a focus on the revolution of 1848/49. All members of the association supporting the memorial site receive the "Rastatter Freiheitsbote" twice a year. This reports on the work of the association as well as projects, events and dates at the Federal Archives Memorial Site. The magazines are available for download as pdf documents on the homepage.
In its extensive permanent exhibition "Schau!Platz Freiheit" - Demokratische Tradition im Westrich, the Zweibrücken City Museum provides information about the freedom and democracy movement in the 19th century. The Saar-Palatinate region, as one of the most important centers of liberal endeavors, is of great importance. The "German Press and Fatherland Association" was founded here in 1832, which shortly afterwards took the initiative for the Hambach Festival.
