Wilhelm Eduard Baltzer (24 October 1814 – 24 June 1887) was the founder of the first German

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

society, the German Natural Living Society (german: Deutscher Verein für natürliche Lebensweise), a supporter of the

Revolution of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europe ...

in Germany and an early popularizer of science.

Biography

Born in the village of Hohenleine in the

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Saxo ...

, Baltzer was the son of an

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

clergyman. He was educated at the Universities of

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and Halle where he chiefly studied theology. He became a tutor, and was chaplain of the hospital of Delitzsch from 1841 until the beginning of 1847, when he founded at Nordhausen a free religious community (german: link=no, Freireligiöse Gemeinde), after having failed to have his nomination to various dioceses confirmed by the authorities. In 1848 Baltzer was elected to the Frankfurt preliminary parliament (german: link=no, Vorparlament), and afterward to the

Prussian National Assembly The Prussian National Assembly (German: ''Preußische Nationalversammlung''), came into being after the revolution of 1848 and was tasked with drawing up a constitution for Prussia. It first met in the building of the '' Sing-Akademie zu Berlin ...

. In 1868 he founded a society and a journal for the promotion of vegetarianism. He continued to be a representative leader until 1881. He lived in retirement at Grotzingen for the last few years of his life, partly occupied in the promotion of vegetarianism.

Writings

* ''Das sogenannte Apostolische Glaubensbekenntniss'' (“The so-called apostolic confession of faith,” Leipsig, 1847) * ''Allgemeine Religionsgeschichte'' (“History of Religion,” Nordhausen, 1854) * ''Alte und neue Weltanschauung'' (“Old and new ways of looking at the world,” 1852-9) * ''Das Leben Jesu'' (“The life of Jesus,” 2d ed., 1861) * ''Von der Arbeit'' (“On work,” 1864) * ''Das preussische Verfassungsbuchlein'' (“A booklet on the Prussian constitution,” 4th ed., 1864) * ''Gott, Welt und Mensch'' (“God, the world, and humanity,” 1869) * ''Religionslehrbuch für Schule und Haus freier Gemeinden'' (“Religious text book for schools and homes of free religious communities,” 1st part, containing ''Lehrbuch für den ersten Unterricht'', “Textbook for first instruction,” 2d ed., 1870) * ''Die sittliche Seite der naturgemässen Lebensweise'' (“The ethical aspects of living in accordance with Nature,” 1870) * ''Vegetarisches Kochbuch'' (“Vegetarian cookbook,” 14th ed., 1900)

Notes

References

* Andreas W. Daum, ''Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848–1914''. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1998, , including a short biography. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baltzer, Eduard 1814 births 1887 deaths 19th-century German male writers 19th-century German writers 19th-century German politicians 19th-century German theologians German vegetarianism activists Leipzig University alumni People from Nordsachsen Organization founders People from the Kingdom of Saxony University of Halle alumni Vegetarian cookbook writers Writers from Saxony Member of the Prussian National Assembly