Dortu Documents

Red Baron was tempted to name this blog the Dortu Files. Indeed, it would be wrong, for what I present here are a few selected documents shown in an exhibition at the Freiburg Stadtarchiv (city archives). The occasion is the 200th birthday of revolutionary Maximilian Dortu, born in Potsdam on June 29, 1826. I wrote a detailed blog about Dortu in 2012.

Archive Director Dr. Florian Hoffmann had compiled many previously unpublished documents about and related to Maximilian.

Revolutionaries shot under martial law in 1849 (unknown author)

The most shocking document on display lists 25 revolutionaries who were executed by firing squad in 1849.

 

The list is headed by Joh. Ludw. Maxi. Dortu from Potsdam, who was shot at the Alter Wiehrefriedhof on July 31, 1849. The two others executed there by firing squad: Friedrich Neff from Rimmingen* on August 9 and Gebhard Kromer, a soldier from Bombach, on August 2, figure on the list.

*Rümmingen

Other known persons of the 1848/49 Revolution are listed too: In Rastatt, following the surrender of the federal fortress to the Prussian invading army, both Regimental Commander Ernst von Biedenfeld and the last governor of the fortress, Gustav Tiedemann, were summarily executed by a firing squad on August 9, resp on August 11, 1849.

Cityscape, circa 1860, by Gottlieb Theodor Hase

Now located in my fully built-up Wiehre neighborhood, the "Old" Wiehre Cemetery was far outside the city in 1849.

I shall continue to show and comment on more displayed documents.

Dortu had already become a "democrat" while still a student, serving as spokesperson for the Association of Radical Democrats in Potsdam. Following the barricade fighting in Berlin in March 1848 (Read the full story in German), Dortu sharply attacked Prince Wilhelm - the future German Emperor Wilhelm I  -accusing him of ordering the troops on March 18–19 to use grapeshot. Because of his derogatory nickname, the "Kartätschenprinz (Cardush Prince)," Dortu was sentenced in June 1848 to 15 months of imprisonment in a fortress. 

He evaded his sentence by fleeing to Brussels. Still, since he did not have a passport and the local police there took notice of his inflammatory speeches, the Belgian authorities deported him to France.

          

He eventually turned up in Paris and stayed at a hôtel meublé on 69 Rue St. Jacques in the Latin Quarter.

Plan of Paris before Georges-Eugène Haussmann milled the Boulevard Saint-Michel through the Latin Quarter in 1860. The Rue St. Jacques runs parallel to the future Boulemich to the east, and number 69 is at the height of the Rue des Ecoles.

Dortu rarely appeared in public; instead, he devoted himself to military-scientific studies to prepare for the expected uprising in Germany.

In May 1849, Dortu finally traveled to Baden to support the revolution there. Gustav Struve recommended him to Johann Philipp Becker, who was building up the Badische Volkswehr (People's Defense Force in Baden), "Dortu is a man of exceptional character, as bold as a lion in battle, impassioned and enthusiastic at the podium, and filled with the noblest patriotism of any age."

Young Maximilian

Becker, a determined democrat, called for swift military action against the approaching counterrevolution, and appointed Dortu as an aide-de-camp in the General Command of the Volkswehr. 

Order of the Day by the General Command of the People's Defense Force to the Mannschaft.

The Commander-in-Chief of the People's Defense Force, Joh. Ph. Becker's order aimed to better organize Baden's Defense Force and contains a warning: Let the reactionaries take note that an executionary army - one that watches over and protects, and stands up for freedom with property and blood - has already been established.

On June 17, Becker entrusted Dortu with organizing the People's Defense Force in the Gernsbach administrative district. There, young Maximilian's impetuosity became evident when he interpreted Becker's daily order of May 27 strictly.

Dortu rode up on horseback with his men in front of the Weisenbach church

On June 24, members of the Volkswehr under the command of Dortu arrested Pastor Franz Xaver Weingärtner and other Weisenbach citizens suspected of counterrevolutionary activities. In fact, the revolutionary government had suspended Weingärtner from office on June 21, because the pastor had made it clear that he was an opponent of the Baden Revolution.

 Nevertheless, Dortu's too harsh crackdown led to his removal from office and punitive transfer to the defensive frontline along the Murg River near Rastatt.

Why does Dortu's fate still move people - especially in Freiburg - to this day?

 
In general, an early death freezes a person's life in time. The myth of an early death dates back to antiquity. The favorites of the gods lead short, glorious lives instead of long, meaningless ones.

 
Young Dortu, who still had his whole life ahead of him, chose to stand by his convictions - and paid for it with his life. His last words: "I die for freedom. Brothers, aim well." still echo every July 31 at the commemoration reunion at the Old Wiehre Cemetery. 

Dortu's lasting impact stems from the combination of his personality, youth, political convictions, and sacrifice. He developed into the quintessential symbol of the failed revolutionary movement of 1848/49.

 
So the obituaries of some of his great contemporaries read:

Wilhelm Liebknecht: "In my life, I have never met anyone else who came as close to the ideal of the young hero as Max Dortu."

 
Amalia Struve, the icon of the Baden Revolution: "In my eyes, Dortu is the martyr who can be regarded as the representative of the enthusiastic German youth. He possessed the full force of that conviction and enthusiasm found in the noblest segment of German youth. Ready for any task - even the most seemingly ordinary - when it came to serving the fatherland, cheerful and undaunted in the face of any danger - he exemplified, perhaps more than anyone else, what deep conviction, combined with youthful energy, is capable of."

 
His former boss, Johann Philipp Becker: "Dortu was a man of the most fortunate dispositions. He combined the critical acuity characteristic of his North German compatriots with that warm enthusiasm for all that is great, beautiful, and good - which is the nobility and magic of youth. He displayed pride in his reflections, power in his voice, and grace in his entire demeanor. Toward his friends, he showed the same devotion and self-sacrifice with which he was committed to his political convictions."
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