Karl Grün

Karl Theodor Ferdinand Green ( born September 30, 1817 in Lüdenscheid, † February 18, 1887 in Vienna; pseudonym: Ernst von der Haide ) was a German journalist, philosopher and left democratic politician. Because of his radical ideas he was pursued by the Prussian government, lived from 1844 mostly abroad. In Paris he came into close relationship with the early socialists Pierre Joseph Proudhon. After the outbreak of the revolution 1848/49 Green temporarily returned back to Germany. He was elected to the Prussian National Assembly, where he joined the extreme left. He was eventually charged with " intellectual " participation in the Prüm armory assault, but acquitted after eight months in prison. It was not until 1861 he was able to return to Germany, where he lived as a journalist, professor and guest speaker. Most recently, he lived in Vienna where Green issued the estate of Ludwig Feuerbach.

Training

Green was the son of an elementary school teacher. One of his brothers was Albert Green. After elementary school in his hometown, he attended high school in Wetzlar. During this time he began to a report issued by students weekly to participate and to engage with contemporary authors. After high school studied from 1835 Green philology and Protestant theology in Bonn. There he first met Karl Marx. In 1838 he moved to Berlin and then studied philology and philosophy. There he was influenced by the Young Hegelians. Together with Marx belonged Green possibly the Hegelian discussion circles. In Berlin doctorate Green Dr. phil.

When completing his studies published Green the "book of walks Baltic Sea and the Rhine. " (Released 1839) In this he processed his travel experiences from the semester break. Already in this book several central elements of his work are clear. To this end, the study of politics and social issues as well as with philosophy and art history counts. He dedicated the book Karl Gutzkow and professed himself to belong to the liberal, national and socially oriented opposition in Germany.

Vormarz opposition

The military service has green 1838 withdrawn by fleeing to the French Alsace. The hope of an academic career in Germany he had to abandon it. In Colmar, he worked as a secondary school teacher. He was also a contributor to various newspapers in Germany. In 1842 he returned to Germany and became a member of the radical and later banned Mannheim evening newspaper. The events surrounding the ban on leaf green made ​​to a person known to the pre-March opposition movement. His attempt to habilitation in Marburg, failed because of the opposition of the university. In the year 1842 he has been classified and reported because of its critical press articles as a criminal criminals.

The move resulted in green to a radicalization of his views. He first went to Mainz and was hailed as a political hero. He wrote for numerous newspapers, among others, from Hamburg, Mannheim, Würzburg and the Rheinische Zeitung in Cologne. Later the Trierische newspaper and the Cologne newspaper were added.

Since June 1843 Green was living with his family in Cologne and had contact with the resident 's leading socialists. He stopped next to his journalistic work literary, cultural and historical lectures. In the same year he took over the editorship of the newspaper " The speaker or Rheinisch- Westphalian Gazette " from Wesel, but continued to live in Cologne. As with the Mannheim evening paper and the Triererischen newspaper led its activities to a national resonance. However, the spokesman could appear only until the ban in 1844.

At the invitation of Otto Luening undertook green in winter 1843/1944 a lecture tour in Westphalia. He kept it on, among other things several times when the industrialist and social reformer Julius Meyer. Moses Hess He also met. In 1844 founded the Green Bielefeld Bielefeld monthly magazine that has already also banned shortly thereafter.

During this time he was one of the spokesmen of the " True Socialism " in the Rhineland and Westphalia. He proceeded from Ludwig Feuerbach. He developed a theoretical program of a " science of society as a science of socialization. " The previous philosophy should be modeled as a philosophy of action.

First years of exile

As well as the ban on newspaper in Trier seemed imminent, Green went into exile. In Brussels, he came into contact with Ferdinand Freiligrath. In Paris, he was part of the radical émigrés community. Since a ban on the Trierischer newspaper forthcoming, Green wrote from Paris on the sheet. This was after the ban of the Rheinische Zeitung, one of the most radical newspapers in the area of ​​the German Confederation. In Paris he met Pierre Joseph Proudhon. He appreciated his work and translated it into German. From the Contact greens was probably most important book, "The social movements in France and Belgium " (1845 ). This was criticized by Karl Marx, because it came quite close his ideas on many points. In 1845, Green was in Paris one of the editors of "Leaves of reason. " Because of his contacts with Communist circles, he was expelled from Paris. He had to switch to Brussels, where his financial difficulties forced to work as a book printer.

1848/49 revolution

At the beginning of the 1848 revolution turned green back to Germany. He lived in Trier. Between 1848 and 1849 he was editor of the magazine " amphitheater for entertainment, art and criticism. " His hope of a chair in a planned Free University in Frankfurt failed, when the project was abandoned. In Trier Green held political talks and was active in the Democratic Club. Green was elected in a by-election for the County of Wittlich in the Prussian National Assembly. He belonged to the extreme left. In 1849 he was also a member of the second chamber of the Prussian Landtag. There he became one of the leading figures of the left.

When the chamber was dissolved, Green has spoken at a large public meeting of Marienburg in May 1849, called for countermeasures. The Assembly then decided to storm the armory in Prüm. Green was arrested after the failure of the Prüm armory storm and the end of the revolution. He was accused of the intellectual participation in the Prüm events. For eight months he was detained before he was acquitted.

Second exile and return

After Green 1850-1861 lived in Brussels. There he worked as a private tutor and planned the opening of a boarding school. He also gave lectures at the University in 1859. In his writings, he turned now, especially against the regime of Napoleon III ..

With the start of a new era in 1861 he was able to return to Prussia. He later traveled to Belgium, Paris to Turin. There he took part in the opening of the first national representative Jung Italy. Many other Italian cities visited Green. Through various stations, he returned to Brussels. In November 1861 he made ​​an extensive political lecture tour of Westphalia and the Rhineland.

Since 1862 Green lived in Frankfurt am Main, where he wrote for the Neue Frankfurter Zeitung. At the University of Trade and Industry, he became Professor of Literary History in particular. In addition, he continued to hold everywhere in Germany lectures. In 1865 he moved to Heidelberg. Prior to the War of 1866, Green engaged in the anti-Prussian Democratic People's Party. He took in 1867 in Geneva at the International Congress of the League of Peace and Freedom. Since 1868, he was co-editor of the "Democratic correspondence. "

Vienna

In 1868, Green moved on to Vienna. There he became editor of the letters and of the estate of Ludwig Feuerbach. This resulted in a philosophical- biographical work in two volumes, " Ludwig Feuerbach ". In 1876 he published the magazine " The philosophy in the present. " In this he studied with the " History of Materialism " by Friedrich Albert Lange. On the basis of its literary and art historical studies emerged as products of the materialistic- positivist conception of history, the "Cultural History of the 16th Century" and the " cultural history of the 17th century. "

Works (selection)

• Gutenberg songs. The town of Strasburg dedicated by Charles Green. Schmidt & Grucker, Strasbourg 1840
• My deportation from Baden and my justification to the German people. Publishing the Literary Comptoirs, Zurich and Winterthur 1843
• The Jewish question. Against Bruno Bauer. Carl Wilhelm Leske, Darmstadt 1843 digitized
• Friedrich Schiller as a man, historians, philosophers and poets .. FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1844 New edition. FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1849 digitized
• The social movement in France and Belgium, letters and studies. Carl Wilhelm Leske, Darmstadt 1845
• About Goethe from the human aspect. Carl Wilhelm Leske, Darmstadt 1846 digitized
• Pierre -Joseph Proudhon: philosophy of political economy or necessity of misery. German edited by Charles Green. Carl Wilhelm Leske, Darmstadt 1847
• Western European boundaries. By an official of civilization. Lintz, Trier 1853
• The Eastern European risk. From the author of the Western European boundaries. Lintz, Trier 1854
• Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the Sphinx on the French throne. Otto Meissner, Hamburg 1859 digitized
• France before the judgment seat of Europe or the issue of boundaries. 1860 pamphlet
• Italy in the spring of 1861. EA Fleischmann 's Bookstore, Munich 1861 digitized
• Fragments from Italy. Nature and art. EA Fleischmann 's Bookstore, Munich 1862 digitized
• Speech spoken bn of Freiligrath celebration on July 1, 1867 Heidelberg. Mannheim 1867
• Cultural history of the 16th century. C. F. Winter, Leipzig / Heidelberg 1872
• Ludwig Feuerbach in his correspondence and estate. 2 vols C. F. Winter, Leipzig / Heidelberg 1874
• The philosophy in the present. Realism and idealism. Critical shown and gemeinfaßlich. Otto Wigand, Leipzig 1876
• Cultural history of the 17th century .. 2 vols JA Barth, Leipzig 1880
• Manuela Koeppe (ed.): Charles Green. Selected writings in two volumes. Akademie Verlag 2005 ISBN 3-0500-4146-3