20 - “Zu Frankfurt an dem Main” (“Das Reden nimmt kein End’”)

Summary

THE SATIRICAL TEXT “Zu Frankfurt an dem Main” (In Frankfurt on the Main), also known as “Das Reden nimmt kein End’” (The Talking Never Stops), was written in 1848 by the revolutionary poet Georg Herwegh. It critically examines the on-goings in the first freely elected German parliament, which sat from May 1848 until May 1849 in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt on the Main. Not much is known about the text's reception in the nineteenth century. In the early decades of the twentieth century, it was published primarily in anthologies of political lyric. It was first set to music and performed as a song in the Liedermacher and folk scene of the 1970s.

In early summer 1848 Georg Herwegh wrote “Zu Frankfurt an dem Main” in his Paris exile. It was first published on July 7, 1848, in the Deutsche Londoner Zeitung. In the months prior to this, Herwegh had been directly involved in the revolutionary events of 1848. Inspired by the February Revolution in France, he had founded the German Democratic Legion in Paris and led it in an abortive campaign to support the uprising of the radical democrat Friedrich Hecker in Baden. Arriving too late to be of any help, Herwegh's disorganized troops were overcome and chased from the scene by Württemberg soldiers on April 27, 1848, a week after the defeat of Hecker's volunteer force. The poet fled with his wife, Emma, first to Switzerland, from where they journeyed back to Paris. On May 18, 1848, the National Assembly was inaugurated in the Frankfurt Paulskirche.

As reflected in the text, the exiled poet regarded the new parliament with extreme skepticism. In “Zu Frankfurt an dem Main,” he comments on the initial phase of the newly constituted National Assembly, as it quickly became evident that even the demand to set up a provisional executive led to prolonged debates. These ended with the National Assembly president Heinrich von Gagern's appeal for the parliament to use its absolute power to elect a provisional Central Executive for Germany. When the corresponding law was passed the following day, on June 28, Archduke Johann of Austria was duly elected Imperial Administrator.