Johann Gottfried Kinkel (11 August 1815 – 13 November 1882) was a German poet also noted for his revolutionary activities and his escape from a Prussian prison in

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs of Berlin, boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence (geography), confluence of the Havel and Spree (river), Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smalle ...

with the help of his friend

Carl Schurz Carl Christian Schurz (; March 2, 1829 – May 14, 1906) was a German-American revolutionary and an American statesman, journalist, and reformer. He migrated to the United States after the German revolutions of 1848–1849 and became a prominent ...

Early life

He was born at Oberkassel (now part of

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

). Having studied theology at Bonn and Berlin, he established himself at Bonn in 1836 as a ''

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualifi ...

'', or theology tutor, became master at the

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

there, and was for a short time assistant preacher in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. Changing his religious opinions, he abandoned theology and delivered lectures on the history of art, in which he had become interested on a journey to Italy in 1837. In 1843, he married Johanna Mockel (1810–1858), a writer, composer and musician who assisted her husband in his literary work and revolutionary activities. They had four children. In 1846 he was appointed extraordinary professor of the history of art at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

Revolutionary

In 1848, with his wife and

, he started a newspaper, the ''Bonner Zeitung'', mostly devoted to following revolutionary activities, but also providing the traditional material such as musical and theatrical reviews that people expected then from a full-service newspaper. Gottfried Kinkel Escape

Kinkel joined the armed rebellion in the Palatinate in 1849, believing himself to be acting legally in obedience to the directives of the

Frankfurt Parliament The Frankfurt National Assembly () was the first freely elected parliament for all German Confederation, German states, including the German-populated areas of the Austrian Empire, elected on 1 May 1848 (see German federal election, 1848). The ...

. In a battle he was wounded and arrested and later sentenced to life imprisonment.Biographical note contained in the ''Collected works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 11'' (International Publishers: New York, 1979) p. 708. Although the authorities originally sentenced him to be incarcerated in a fortress where he would have been able to pursue some semblance of his professional activities, Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia found this sentence to be illegal since he was not sentenced to death and "graciously" commuted it to lifetime imprisonment in a reformatory where his head was shaved, and he had to wear prisoner's garb and spend his time spinning wool. He was eventually transferred to

Spandau Prison Spandau Prison was a former military prison located in the Spandau borough of West Berlin (present-day Berlin, Germany). Built in 1876, it became a proto-concentration camp under Nazi Germany. After the Second World War, it held seven top Nazi l ...

in Berlin, where his friend and former student Carl Schurz helped him escape the prison at Spandau and reach London, England in November 1850.

Exile

London

In London, he joined the Communist League. Later he became involved with the

August Willich August Willich (November 19, 1810 – January 22, 1878), born Johann August Ernst von Willich, was a military officer in the Prussian Army, later enlisting and receiving a commission in the United States Army. Born into Prussian nobility, he form ...

Karl Schapper Karl Friedrich Schapper (30December 181228April 1870) was a German socialist and labour leader. He was one of the pioneers of the labour movement in Germany and an early associate of Wilhelm Weitling and Karl Marx. Young Germany and Mazzini Schap ...

group within the League and came out against

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

and

Frederick Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''

Kinkel visited the United States to raise funds for a "German National Loan" that was to fund revolutionary activities in Germany. Although he was enthusiastically received, and met with President

Millard Fillmore Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800 – March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853. He was the last president to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House, and the last to be neither a De ...

, he raised very little money. Returning to London in 1853, he taught German and public speaking for women, and lectured on

German literature German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy ...

, art, and the history of culture. In 1858, he founded the German paper, ''Hermann''. Johanna Kinkel lost her life in late 1858 when she fell or threw herself out of a window. In 1860, Kinkel married Minna Emilia Ida Werner, a

Königsberg Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...

er who was living in London. In 1863, he was appointed examiner at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

and other schools in England.

Switzerland

In 1866 he accepted a professorship of archaeology and the history of art at the Polytechnikum in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, where he died 16 years later. He was never able to return to Germany. The 1920 ''

Encyclopedia Americana ''Encyclopedia Americana'' is a general encyclopedia written in American English. It was the first general encyclopedia of any magnitude to be published in North America. With '' Collier's Encyclopedia'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclo ...

'' speculates that it was probably his love of his native country that brought him to Zürich.

Writings

In the estimation of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition (1911), Kinkel's popularity was out of proportion to his talent. ''Britannica'' characterized his poetry as of the sweetly sentimental type in vogue in Germany in the mid-19th century. Kinkel's ''Gedichte'' first appeared in 1843, and went through several editions. His best works were the verse romances, ''Otto der Schütz, eine rheinische Geschichte in zwölf Abenteuern'' (1846), which by 1920 had gone through over 100 editions, and ''Der Grobschmied von Antwerpen'' (1868). Among his other works were the

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

''Nimrod'' (1857), and ''Geschichte der bildenden Künste bei den christichen Völkern'' (A history of visual arts among Christians, 1845), ''Die

Ahr Ahr () is a river in Germany, a left tributary of the Rhine. Its source is at an elevation of approximately above sea level in Blankenheim in the Eifel, in the cellar of a timber-frame house near the castle of Blankenheim. After it crosses f ...

: Landschaft, Geschichte und Volksleben'' (Landscape, history and life of the people along the Ahr, 1845), and ''Mosaik zur Kunstgeschichte'' (1876).

Media

Kinkel's escape from Spandau is briefly dramatized in the third part ("Little Germanies") of Engstfeld Film's four-part series ''Germans in America'' (2006).

Notes

References

* * This work in turn cites: ** A. Strodtmann, ''Gottfried Kinkel'' (2 vols., Hamburg, 1851). ** Otto Henne am Rhyn, ''G. Kinkel, ein Lebensbild'' (Zürich, 1883). * *

, (3 vols., New York: McClure Publ. Co., 1907). Volume One has a detailed description of Kinkel's revolutionary activities in Bonn and his subsequent trial, imprisonment and escape from the Prussian authorities. His life in exile is also discussed in some detail up to 1852 when Schurz left Kinkel and England to emigrate to the United States.

External links

* * ''Epicorum graecorum fragmenta'', Godofredus Kinkel (ed.)
vol. 1
Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1877. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinkel, Gottfried 1815 births 1882 deaths Writers from Bonn People from the Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine German people of the Revolutions of 1848 Academic staff of the University of Bonn German escapees German revolutionaries German male poets German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment 19th-century German poets 19th-century German male writers Academic staff of ETH Zurich Politicians from Bonn Members of the Prussian National Assembly Escapees from German detention Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Germany Civilians who were court-martialed