Rottenacker is a village in the district of

Alb-Donau Alb-Donau-Kreis is a (district) in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is bounded by (from the south and clockwise) the districts of Biberach, Reutlingen, Göppingen and Heidenheim, the two Bavarian districts Günzburg and Neu-Ulm, and the city o ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

History

The Separatists

During the late 18th century the Radical Pietist movement throughout the

Duchy of Württemberg The Duchy of Württemberg () was a duchy located in the south-western part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a Imperial Estate, state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1495 to 1803. The dukedom's long survival for over three centuries was mainly du ...

increased again after having diminished over the previous decades. Many Pietists separated from church for religious reasons. In Württemberg, where Rottenacker belonged to, those religious dissenters were generally known as 'separatists'. Since 1785 the linen weaver

George Rapp John George Rapp (; November 1, 1757 – August 7, 1847) was the founder of the religious sect called the Harmony Society and a number of associated communes. Born in Iptingen, Germany, Rapp became inspired by the philosophies of Jakob Böhme, ...

from

Iptingen Wiernsheim is a municipality in the Enz district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Wiernsheim became a possession of Maulbronn Monastery in 1259 and was governed by the monastery's district office until 1806. When Maulbronn became a posse ...

became the most important leader of the Separatists in Württemberg, directing about 2,000 followers. When Rapp emigrated to the United States in 1803, a Separatist group from Rottenacker took over the leading role within the movement. It had been initiated in 1800 by a farmgirl named Barbara Grubenmann from Teufen in the Swiss canton Appenzell-Ausserrhoden south of Lake Constance who had come to Rottenacker. About 70 inhabitants of the village separated from church. From the beginning political ideas played an important role when the separatists insulted the ruler of Württemberg, the Elector Friedrich (1797-1803 Duke Friedrich II, 1806-1816 King of Württemberg) and his officials. In May 1804, the Elector sent military to the villages of Rottenacker, Dettingen unter Teck, Horrheim and Boll. The most prominent Separatists were arrested and led to the Fortrass of Asperg near Ludwigsburg in central Württemberg where many of them remained prisoners for a long time. When some parents refused to send their children to school the pupils were taken away to the orphanage at Stuttgart, the capital of Württemberg. In 1811, some Separatists from Rottenacker bought the local 'Vogthaus' (today the Protestant ministry) near the church where they lived in a

community of goods Common ownership refers to holding the assets of an organization, Business, enterprise, or community indivisibly rather than in the names of the individual members or groups of members as common property. Forms of common ownership exist in ever ...

. Six years later, together with Separatists from other villages, they acquired an estate named Brandenburg near the border to Bavaria where they intended to found a community based on their religious principles. However, King Friedrich of Württemberg refused permission. Therefore, a group of Separatists from Württemberg led by Joseph Michael Bimeler from Ulm and Stephan Huber from Rottenacker emigrated to the United States in 1817 and went to Ohio where they founded a

communal society An intentional community is a voluntary residential community designed to foster a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork. Such communities typically promote shared values or beliefs, or pursue a common vision, which may be political ...

at Zoar. There, they lived in a community of goods where all private property was abolished. After Joseph Bimeler died in 1853, a younger generation was no more willing to share their property with others, and therefore the Zoar Society was dissolved in 1898. Today, Zoar Village is a museum where many of the buildings from the Separatist era can still be visited.

Persons

* Johannes Breimaier (born January 24, 1776, at Rottenacker, died August 15, 1834, at Zoar, Ohio, separatist. He initiated the community of goods in Zoar in 1819. A newspaper report in English about Zoar and other religious communities in the United States made a strong impression on

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.Bohnacker Systeme

References

{{Authority control Alb-Donau-Kreis