A Diamond Jubilee

It is not Queen Elizabeth's jubilee; I am addressing the marriage between the territories of Baden and Württemberg sixty years ago, which led to the creation of a new State in Germany's southwest, appropriately named Südweststaat at the time. 

Matching this union had been challenging. In particular, many people in South Baden, with its capital Freiburg, opposed such an unnatural wedding, forcing the Sauschwaben and Badenser, as they mutually refer to themselves, into one bed made in Stuttgart.

States in Germany's southwest in the Weimar Republic and before (©Wikipedia/Ssch)

At the end of World War II, the Allied Forces divided Germany into four zones. The US, occupying most of southern Germany, ceded the territory to the French, which comprised South Baden and the part of Württemberg south of Stuttgart, while retaining control of the Autobahn between Stuttgart and Munich. 

The French part encircled a tiny Prussian enclave, including Hechingen Castle, the ancestral seat of the House of Hohenzollern. Frederick the Great's bones rested in this castle after the war until they were relocated to their final resting place at Sanssouci Castle in Potsdam in 1991, fulfilling Frederick's last wishes. He wanted to be buried near the graves of his beloved whippets.

Let's come back to the main story. In 1946, shortly after the war with Germany, the south of Württemberg and the Hohenzollern territory, which had been under French occupation, regained a little self-determination. These areas merged to form a state called Württemberg-Hohenzollern, with its capital in Tübingen.

The people in the south of Baden, likewise under French rule but disliking the Schwaben, formed the state of Baden with its capital, Freiburg.

At the same time, the northern parts of Baden and Württemberg, occupied by the US forces, were united to form the state of Württemberg-Baden, with Stuttgart as its capital.

Already, the founding fathers of our Grundgesetz (Federal Constitution) regarded this partition as unnatural and favored a marriage, well aware that this was a marriage à trois. 

Leo Wohleb

The man who bitterly opposed his beloved Baden sharing the same bed with two states dominated by Schwaben was Leo Wohleb, a man of only 155 cm but of enormous intelligence and assertiveness.

 

"Unnatural" partitioning in Germany's southwest following American and French occupation (©Wikipedia)

Brought up in Hamburg, my recollection of the marriage of the three states is rather dim. When I started studying physics in Tübingen in 1955, the dice were already tossed. Romantic Tübingen had been the capital of Württemberg-Hohenzollern only until April 25, 1952.

I was once confronted with these historical developments when, at a Studentenkneipe (a students' ceremonial drinking session), I sat with the Liberal Reinhold Mayer, another of those stubborn characters in the southwest. He was the last Ministerpräsident (governor) of Württemberg-Hohenzollern and the first of the newly created Südweststaat, until he was defeated in a state election in September 1953 by his Christian Democratic opponent, Gebhard Müller. All I remember is that Mayer was slurping red wine from the nearby Remstal while we students were downing Stuttgarter Hofbräu beer. As usual, the Kneipe was too noisy for a decent conversation.

Today, 60 years ago, this is all history. During a tour in Freiburg guided by Professor Heinrich Schwendemann, an expert, we visited the historic places where Leo Wohleb lived and worked as a pupil, student, teacher, and eventually as President of Baden. 

We were reminded not to think of earlier divisions, but instead to focus on the common roots of Baden-Württemberg, nicely presented in the form of a mosaic in front of the Basler Hof, Baden's former Ministry of the Interior.

Baden-Württemberg

The three lions in the shield represent the Hohenstaufen, who controlled most of the southwestern territory in the early Middle Ages. On top of the shield from left to right, we recognize the coats of arms of the various regions forming Baden-Württemberg, starting with Franconia (the Franconian rake), followed by Prussia's Hohenzollern, Baden, Württemberg, Palatinate's lion, and last but not least, the Habsburg colors, red-white-red.

**