Wilhelm Zimmermann (2 January 1807 in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

– 22 September 1878 in

Mergentheim Bad Mergentheim (; Mergentheim until 1926; East Franconian: ''Märchedol'') is a town in the Main-Tauber-Kreis district in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It has a population of around 23,000. An officially recognized spa town since 1926, ...

) was a German

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and historian.Balthasar Friedrich Wilhelm Zimmermann
de.Wikisource Zimmermann has been described as a "founding father of German vegetarianism".

Biography

He studied at the

Tübinger Stift The Tübinger Stift () is a hall of residence and teaching; it is owned and supported by the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg, and located in the university city of Tübingen, in South West Germany. The Stift was founded as an Augu ...

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

, and from 1840 to 1847 served as an assistant pastor in Dettingen an der Erms and as a pastor in Hülben. From 1847 to 1850, Zimmermann taught history at the ''Oberrealschule'' in

. He was a democrat in philosophy and belief. Accordingly, he took part in the revolutionary uprising in Germany in 1848 through 1849. In 1848, he was elected as a deputy to the

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

. At assembly, he caucused with the "Left wing" deputies. In 1850, Zimmermann was dismissed from his position as a teacher at the ''Oberrealschule'' because of his participation in the revolution of 1848-1849 and because of his caucusing with the Left wing in the Frankfurt Assembly. Zimmermann died in 1878.Biographical note contained in the ''Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels'' (International Publishers: New York, 1978) p. 739. From 1841 to 1843, he published the 3-volume ''Allgemeine Geschichte des großen Bauernkrieges'' (General History of the Great Peasant War).

Vegetarianism

Zimmermann became a

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

in 1839 and lived at Alcott House, a vegetarian and utopian socialist community in 1840.Treitel, Corinna. (2017). ''Eating Nature in Modern Germany: Food, Agriculture and Environment, c.1870 to 2000''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 41-42. In 1843, he authored the book ''Der Weg zum Paradies'' ("The Way to Paradise"). The book argued that Europe had fallen in moral and physical decline because people had broken the "laws of nature" by consuming meat, overdressing and treating disease with poisons. To reverse the process, Zimmermann recommended people to "return to nature" by eating natural plant foods. The book introduced German readers to ancient and modern vegetarian literature. It sold well and went through four editions by the end of the century.

Selected publications

*''Allgemeine Geschichte des großen Bauernkrieges'' (1841–1843) *''Der Weg zum Paradies'' (1843, 1846) *''Die englische Revolution'' (1851)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmermann, Wilhelm 1807 births 1878 deaths 19th-century German historians 19th-century German male writers 19th-century German theologians German male non-fiction writers German revolutionaries German socialists German vegetarianism activists Writers from Stuttgart