The ‘Frankfurter Wachensturm’ of 1833

“People and people, arm in arm and heart to heart”
 

The French July Revolution of 1830 affected large parts of Europe; Belgium became independent, there were uprisings in several German states and finally, in the so-called November Uprising, independence was fought for in the Kingdom of Poland, which had been ruled by the Russian Emperor Nicholas I since 1815. Although the uprising was crushed the following year, in liberal German circles the Polish insurgents were elevated to the status of heroes in the struggle for independence and were celebrated frenetically in many places when they travelled to France (cf. Poland songs, German ‘Polenbegeisterung’). When bourgeois and liberal circles gathered at Hambach Castle in late May 1832 to stand up for unity, freedom and democracy, the flags of Germany and Poland flew side by side and Polish representatives gave speeches.

“The Poles carried the sacred fire to the west of Europe, and the flame of enthusiasm has been burning brightly on German soil ever since.”[1]

The mood in liberal and bourgeois circles continued to intensify after the Hambach Festival – fuelled by the heroic deeds by the Poles, who were sung about and given a lot of support: 

“The effect that the passage of the Poles has had on German hearts is tremendous and will certainly not disappear so quickly. We have until the end of June to maintain and strengthen it, but then something decisive must happen in any case.”[2] 

However, little happened until June 1832 – apart from Hambach – and it was not until 3 April 1833 that tensions erupted with the storming and attack on the police stations in Frankfurt. This Wachensturm became one of the most sensational events of the Vormärz, the period preceding the 1848 March Revolution.

 

Storming the Frankfurt police stations
 

The endeavour was planned and led by the physician Gustav Bunsen, who had already travelled to Poland in 1831 to treat the Polish insurgents of the November Revolution.[3] Polish officers such as Jan Paweł Lelewel, brother of the well-known historian Joachim Lelewel, and Ludwik Oborski were also involved in the preparations.

Among the approximately 100 people involved, consisting mainly of opposition members, academics, and students, some dressed in Polish uniforms, were other Poles besides Lelewel and Oborski. According to Friedrich Moritz von Wagemann, a total of seven Poles, including Polish students at German universities and Poles passing through who took up arms, participated in the uprising. While Bunsen and a group of students were able to take the main police station almost without resistance or violence, a second group led by the barely identifiable Polish major [Felix] Michalowski set off for the Konstablerwache, a few hundred meters away, which also fell into the hands of the insurgents after a short but bloody battle.

The Polish student Alexander Lubański is confirmed to have participated in the storming of the Konstablerwache. The naturalist Carl Vogt later recalled in his memoirs how Lubański, who lived in his house, failed to return: 

“[…] a nice Pole, Lubanski, who later died as a doctor in Nice and had knocked down the sentry at the Konstablerwache, was expected in vain all day at Uncle Paul’s [Follenius] – he had promised to ride as a courier with Rothschild’s horses to Gießen in case of success.”[4]

He did not return to Giessen, because despite the two successes, the undertaking failed. The hoped-for support of Frankfurt’s citizens and farmers from the surrounding area failed to materialise, while the Frankfurt garrison was able to quickly assemble and put an end to the uprising. Those who were not arrested fled the city. Michalowski was reportedly later arrested near Marburg; Lubański, meanwhile, is said to have been smuggled out of the city in a wooden barrel and to have fled on foot to France.

 

Consequences
 

However, the revolution was not only planned in Frankfurt; uprisings were to break out simultaneously in various other places in Germany, some with active support from Poles. For example, a group of Polish officers from Besançon and other Polish units were supposed to cross the French-German border and support the German insurgents in Baden and Württemberg, but this ultimately did not happen.[5]

Although historians categorised the “foolish Frankfurt coup” (Michael Doeberl) more as an amateurishly planned and thoroughly naïve student caper (Hans-Ulrich Wehler) which was quashed after around two hours, at the time it was taken very seriously as a revolutionary political coup attempt. In response to the Wachensturm, the reactionary forces struck back; a wave of “demagogue persecution” followed, which claimed the lives of many German friends of Poland, such as the publicist Friedrich Ludwig Weidig, spiritus rector of the Polish aid scholarships at the University of Giessen and co-author of the “Hessischer Landbote” together with Georg Büchner.

For the Poles in Germany, the uprising had fundamentally negative consequences. Lubański had to flee to France and became a doctor in Nice. Lelewel and Oborski, in turn, sought refuge in Switzerland. However, the repercussions of the failed uprising extended beyond those directly involved. Poles throughout Germany, even those who had not participated, faced heightened suspicion and discrimination. Access to German universities became increasingly difficult for Polish students, as they were now viewed with distrust and prejudice.

 

Filip Emanuel Schuffert, April 2024

 

Further reading:

• Hofmann, Andreas C.: Deutsche Universitätspolitik im Vormärz (1815–1848). Ein Beitrag zur Neubewertung des Deutschen Bundes, Berlin 2019.
• Weitershaus, Friedrich Wilhelm: Verfolgte, Verurteilte und Verdächtige der Vormärzzeit in Oberhessen. Studenten, Bürger, Bauern gegen Reaktion und Restauration, in: Mitteilungen des Oberhessischen Geschichtsvereins 62 (1977), p. 171–220.
• Molik, Witold: Polscy studenci na uniwersytetach niemieckich od końca XVIII do początku XX wieku, Poznań 2016.
• Hackmann, Jörg / Marta Kopij-Weiß: Nationen in Kontakt und Konflikt. Deutsch-polnische Beziehungen und Verflechtungen 1806–1918, Darmstadt 2014.