Document of democracy

Great hopes were pinned on the document adopted by the National Assembly in March 1849: This constitution was intended to overcome the small states, bring democracy and guarantee fundamental rights. The parliamentarians in Frankfurt's Paulskirche struggled over the text for a long time until they finally solemnly signed it. If the democrats had subsequently prevailed against the princes, history would have taken a different course. As we know, they did not; however, an original of the constitution in the treasury of the Landes- und Murhardsche Bibliothek at the University of Kassel testifies to the historical moment when this seemed possible. Brigitte Pfeil, Head of Special Collections, calls the fact that this original is stored in Kassel a "historical coincidence". The National Assembly, elected after the uprisings of the previous year, agreed on the 197 articles of the constitution in the spring of 1849 after ten months of tough negotiations. Parliamentary President Eduard Simson had not just one, but three copies of the constitution made and dated March 28: The most valuable, made of parchment, is laid out for signature and is signed by 405 members of the National Assembly, a large majority. Two further copies are printed on
paper.

One of the paper copies is taken by the delegation that offers the imperial crown to Prussian King Frederick William IV in Berlin. The monarch refuses, the movement collapses and the copy never reappears. After the failure of the National Assembly, the administrator of the parliamentary estate, Friedrich Jucho, takes the parchment with the 405 signatures to safety in England. An odyssey followed, which led to the Reichstag Library in Berlin; the document was later stolen, seized after an international manhunt, stored in a mine during the Second World War, recovered by the Americans and confiscated by the Soviets. The trail was lost until a 17-year-old found the badly damaged piece on a pile of rubble in Potsdam in 1951. Today it is part of the collection of the German Historical Museum. Finally, the third original was taken by Dr. Karl Christian Sigismund Bernhardi, a member of parliament for the constituency of Eschwege in Kurhessen, as the failure of the revolution became apparent. In the royal seat of Kassel, he worked as a librarian at the state library and was already politically active before the 48 Revolution. He was one of those who wrested a constitution for Electoral Hesse from the conservative princely house in Kassel in 1831. He later became a member of parliament in Prussia. The city of Kassel made him an honorary citizen for his services to the promotion of poor children. The small street between Fridericianum and Dock 4 has been named after Bernhardi since 2005.

This third original is only signed by 212 members of parliament and probably subsequently, including - under number 205 - by Bernhardi himself. It is unclear why. It is also not known whether this copy was intended to serve as a kind of backup copy of the other two versions. It is documented that Bernhardi added it to the holdings of the State Library, which today belongs to the University Library, on June 4, 1849; he noted the date in his own hand on a preliminary page. The almost fifty pages in folio format are bound in red leather, with the double-headed imperial eagle - the colors of the revolution - emblazoned in black and gold on the front. The Kassel copy survived the Restoration, the turmoil of republic and dictatorship and the air raids of the Second World War with little attention. In the fall of 1989, this only intact original of the Paulskirche Constitution once again received public attention when it was exhibited in the vault of the library together with the parchment Berlin copy. The exhibition ends the day before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since then, the Kassel original has gone quiet. Due to the ongoing construction work, the document is currently stored in an external depot. "You can see how important the constitution is to us by the fact that we have put it in the same storage facility as the most valuable manuscripts in our collection," emphasizes Brigitte Pfeil. Wouldn't it be nice to present the constitution on the 175th anniversary and thus remind us of the enthusiasm for democracy and civil rights at the time and the joint struggle for compromise? There is a lack of space, regrets the head of the collection. The construction work on the Murhard Library will continue for some time yet. Only when the new reading room has been inaugurated and all the other wings of the building have been renovated will it be possible to present the collection in a worthy and safe manner.

This article appeared in the university magazine publik 2024/1. Text: Sebastian Mense