The Heppenheim Conference or Heppenheim Assembly was a meeting of 18 leading southern and western German liberal politicians on October 10, 1847, at the inn Zum halben Monde in Heppenheim, Bergstraße. A key outcome of the discussions at the Heppenheim conference was the demand for the creation of a German nation-state and the granting of civil rights. These demands can be seen as the program of the moderate bourgeois-liberal forces in the run-up to the March Revolution. At the same time, the meeting paved the way for the Frankfurt National Assembly.
Political environment The civil rights introduced in some German states after the French Revolution by the Napoleonic Code Civil, as well as the constitutions subsequently granted in some states of the German Confederation after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, mostly based on Article 13 of the Federal Act and often linked to old traditions of professional law, were curtailed in the years between 1819 and 1830 by the Carlsbad Decrees and other restorative measures. For a short time, the unrest in France and Belgium in 1830 reversed this trend, as states such as Saxony and the Electorate of Hesse were granted constitutions, and freedom of the press was no longer restricted in Baden. However, after the demonstration for civil rights and national unity at the Hambach Festival in 1832 and the unsuccessful attempt at an armed uprising at the Frankfurt Wachensturm in 1833, the pressure on representatives of constitutional and democratic ideas was increased again through censorship and bans on meetings.
The parliamentary-democratic opposition and the movement for a German nation-state were then essentially confined to the chamber parliaments of the states in which state constitutions had been implemented. This was particularly true of the southern states, especially Baden. However, the members of the various state parliaments had comparatively little contact with each other during the Vormärz, although individual politicians had personal networks throughout Germany. The Hallgarten circle around Adam von Itzstein stands out here in particular. But other well-known politicians such as Robert Blum, David Hansemann, and Friedrich Daniel Bassermann also had extensive contacts in many states of the German Confederation.
In the mid-1840s, the escalation of the First Schleswig War and the construction of the Rastatt and Ulm fortresses, as well as the growing social and economic tensions that led to the hunger riots of 1847 in several states, led to more intensive attempts to network and unify the cooperation of oppositional liberal and nationalist forces, such as the founding of the Deutsche Zeitung in 1847.
Conference
Organization and planning
According to a written account given by Itzstein to Blum in 1847, Itzstein met Hansemann by chance in the apartment of the co-editor of the Deutsche Zeitung, Karl Mathy. Hansemann advocated the idea that the opposition members of the Baden, Württemberg, Hesse, and Rheinpreussens state parliaments should hold a joint meeting to coordinate their actions in their respective chamber parliaments to help the idea of German unity and civil rights, gain greater influence. According to a letter written by Bassermann to Heinrich von Gagern, the organizers went so far as "we may hope to form the beginning of a German Parliament in Heppenheim.Letter from Bassermann to Gagern dated September 21, 1847, quoted from Hoede, p. 50
Hansemann then searched for a suitable venue and finally settled on Heppenheim in Hesse. Rural Heppenheim had the advantage of being far from the centers of potential revolutionaries such as Mannheim. At the same time, the newly opened railroad line from Frankfurt am Main to Heidelberg made it easily accessible from the north via Frankfurt am Main and from the south via Mannheim, and it also had a nationally known inn, Halben Mond, near the station.
The invitations to the desired participants were sent out by letters from Hansemann, Bassermann, and Mathys to selected members of parliament on September 20, 1847, who were asked to invite other trustworthy members of parliament. While Hansemann invited primarily members of the Rhineland and electoral Hesse, including Hermann von Beckerath, Ludolf Camphausen, August von der Heydt, Gustav Mevissen, Georg von Vincke, and Karl Wilhelm Wippermann. Mathy and Bassermann wrote primarily to southern German parliamentarians, including Theodor Reh and Heinrich von Gagern, who was always advertised in these letters because of his prominence as a participant, but also to more radical democratic politicians such as Franz Peter Buhl and Christian Kapp. Although the initiators' letters repeatedly mention invitations to members of parliament in Saxony, these letters do not appear to have been sent.
Participants Those invited worked to coordinate their travel arrangements. Mevissen had the misfortune to get the date wrong and arrived one day after the event. The initiators received refusals from several invitees, including all of the Kurhessian, Bavarian, and almost all of the Prussian delegates who had been contacted. Some of those who refused, such as Theodor Reh and August Emmerling, also cited the fear of state reprisals and the unwillingness of their constituencies to support them, if their participation in a meeting that could be considered radical, became known.
In the end, only 18 members of the Chamber attended the meeting, most of whom were members of the Second Chamber in Baden or the Second Chamber in Württemberg. Most of the participants were well-known liberals beyond their state, and most of them were later represented in the Pre-Parliament and the Frankfurt National Assembly.
Participants from Baden Nine of the 18 participants in the Heppenheim conference were members of the Baden Second Chamber:
Friedrich Daniel Bassermann (1811–1855) was a merchant from Mannheim. From 1841 he was one of the most prominent opposition politicians in the Second Chamber of Baden. He was co-founder and editor of the Deutsche Zeitung. In 1848, he became chairman of the constitutional committee in the Frankfurt National Assembly. Franz Peter Buhl (1809–1862), a winegrower from Deidesheim, was a representative for Waldshut-Tiengen in the Second Chamber of Baden from 1844. August Dennig (1805–1883), a businessman from Pforzheim, had been a member of the Baden Second Chamber since 1845. Adam von Itzstein (1775–1855) had been a member of the Second Chamber since 1822 and resigned from the Baden civil service in 1823 for political reasons. His estate in Hallgarten served as a meeting place for the liberal opposition. Christian Kapp (1798–1874) was a professor at the University of Heidelberg and a member of the Baden Court Council until 1844 when he resigned for political reasons. He represented Offenburg in the Second Chamber in 1846. In 1848 he became a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly.
Karl Mathy (1807–1868) worked as a journalist in Karlsruhe and Mannheim after returning from Switzerland, where he had been forced to emigrate in 1835 for political reasons, and was co-editor of the Deutsche Zeitung. From 1842 he was a member of the Baden Second Chamber of Parliament for Konstanz. In 1866, Mathy became Baden's minister of state. Alexander von Soiron (1806–1855) was a lawyer in Mannheim. He was a member of parliament for Lahr in the Second Chamber from 1845. In 1848 he became a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly. Carl Theodor Welcker (1790–1869) was a professor at the University of Freiburg and was suspended and retired several times for political reasons. Together with Karl von Rotteck, Welcker was editor of the Staatslexikon. Since 1831 he was a member of the Second Chamber of Baden. Ludwig Weller (1800–1863), like Soiron, was a lawyer in Mannheim. He was a member of the Second Chamber from 1835 to 1852.
Participants from Hesse-Darmstadt Two participants were members of the Second Chamber of the Grand Duchy of Hesse:
Heinrich von Gagern (1799–1880) was a Hessian civil servant until his forced retirement in 1832. Gagern was one of the best-known opposition politicians in the German Confederation and was the most prominent advocate of a constitutional monarchy for Germany. In 1847, he was a parliament member for Lorsch in the Hessian Second Chamber. In 1848, he became President of the National Assembly, Prime Minister of the Reich and Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Philipp Wilhelm Wernher (1802–1887) lived as a winegrower in Nierstein. He had been a member of the Second Chamber of Hesse-Darmstadt since 1844. In 1848, he became a member of the National Assembly.
Participants from Nassau
August Hergenhahn (1804–1874) was the only member of parliament from Nassau's Second Chamber in Heppenheim. He was a judicial officer from Wiesbaden, which he had represented as a parliament member since 1846. In 1848, he became Prime Minister of the March Government of the Duchy.
Participants from Prussia
David Hansemann (1790–1864) was a successful industrialist and banker from Aachen. He was a member of the Rhenish provincial parliament from 1845. In 1848, Hansemann became finance minister in the Prussian March government. In 1851, he founded the Disconto-Gesellschaft.
Participants from Württemberg Five deputies from Württemberg's Second Chamber took part in the meeting in Heppenheim:
Friedrich Federer (1799–1883) was co-owner of a bank in Stuttgart. From 1845 to 1849, he was a member of the Württemberg Second Chamber. In 1848 he became a member of the National Assembly and in 1849, like Gagern and Soiron, was a delegate in the Imperial Deputation. Karl August Fetzer (1809–1885) lived as a lawyer and judge in Stuttgart and was a member of the Second Chamber. In 1848 he became secretary of the Frankfurt National Assembly. Adolf Goppelt (1800–1875) ran a trading business in Heilbronn. From 1839, he was a member of parliament for Heilbronn in the Second Chamber of Württemberg. In 1848, he was appointed Minister of Finance in the Württemberg March Government. Friedrich Römer (1794–1864) was a lawyer in Stuttgart and the nationally known leader of the liberal opposition in Württemberg's Second Chamber. In 1848, he became Minister of Justice in the Württemberg March Government. In 1849, he summoned the disintegrating National Assembly to Stuttgart as a rump parliament and shortly afterward used military force to ensure the final dissolution of the National Assembly. Wilhelm Murschel (1795–1869) also worked as a lawyer in Stuttgart. He was a deputy for Rottweil in the Second Chamber and became a member of the Frankfurt National Assembly in 1848.
Outcome of the meeting The negotiations and results of the discussions at the Heppenheim meeting were mainly made public through a report by Mathys in the Deutsche Zeitung on October 15, 1847. Other newspapers took over this information and thus ensured that the results of the Heppenheim conference were widely disseminated. The creation of this publicity was a special feature, as previous meetings had always been kept private for fear of state persecution. Bassermann saw this publication in particular as "the big difference between this meeting and the earlier ones at Hallgarten, in Saxony, etc."Bassermann, Memorabilia, p. 16.
According to this newspaper report wasMathy in Deutsche Zeitung No. 107 of October 15, 1847. Text of the article on germanhistorydocs
However, the meeting went far beyond this topic, as it already paved the way for the Heidelberg Assembly of the 51 and the Pre-Parliament through the desire for annual meetings.