Erhard Hirsch. Die Dessau-WÖ¶rlitzer Reformbewegung im Zeitalter der AufklÖ¤rung: Personen--Strukturen--Wirkungen. bingen: Niemeyer, 2003. xi + 621 pp. EUR 138.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-3-484-81018-1.

Reviewed by Martin Kagel (Department of Germanic & Slavic Studies, University of Georgia)
Published on H-German (October, 2005)

Dessau's Century

At a time when most scholarly publications seem dated after only a few years, it is unusual and surprising to find a dissertation re-published, whose original publication date goes back to 1968 and, assuming political datedness as well, whose place of publication was East Germany. Erhard Hirsch's study of the northern German province of Anhalt-Dessau, however, rich in detail and seemingly unsurpassed in its comprehensiveness, appears to warrant such a distinction. It is in particular Hirsch's encyclopedic knowledge and extensive use of original sources as well as his aptitude for writing cultural history that convinces the reader of the study's significance to the present day. Hirsch's inquiry into the cultural and political history of the Anhalt-Dessau Enlightenment stands at the beginning of a life-long scholarly effort on behalf of the small principality, a province often only marginally on the radar of eighteenth-century scholars, though uniquely important as one of the primary sites of the German Enlightenment.

"In Dessau," writes Friedrich Christian Laukhard about the brief stay of his regiment there in 1790, "hatte der dortige Fürst die Anstalt getroffen, daß wir alle recht gut bewirtet würden. Die Dessauer sind überhaupt artige Leute, welche sich alle Mühe gaben, uns Vergnügen zu machen; ... Hier wurde ein Deserteur von uns eingebracht, allein weil der Fürst für ihn bat, so kam er ohne weitere Strafe davon. Die Fürbitte, wozu sich der menschenfreundliche Fürst herabließ, hat ihn in meinen Augen sehr erhöht. Überhaupt verdient der Fürst von Anhalt-Dessau den Ruhm, den er durch ganz Deutschland hat. Alle seine Untertanen lieben ihn und rühmen die trefflichen Anstalten, welche er zur Verbesserung seines Landes und zum Wohl seiner Untertanen gemacht hat. Wie herrlich reiset es sich durch ein Land, dessen Fürst ein rechtschaffener Mann ist!"[1]

Laukhard's favorable assessment of the principality and its ruler is not unusual; rather, he expresses a sentiment common among his contemporaries, for the province, ruled since 1758 by Prince Leopold Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau (1740-1817), was generally considered one of the most politically advanced, socially humane, and culturally sophisticated principalities of the time. Guided by its benevolent sovereign, Anhalt-Dessau offered an alternative to the politically and socially oppressive regimes of the neighboring states, including Prussia. A prince asking for mercy on behalf of a Prussian deserter was indeed exceptional, and Anhalt-Dessau's "nimbus" (Hirsch) rested precisely on this exceptional status, its reputation as a truly enlightened province that had formed its identity in distinct opposition to Prussian militarism and political oppression (p. 272).

Considering that his grandfather, "der alte Dessauer" (1676-1747), and his father, prince Leopold II (1700-51), had both been Prussian generals and first-rank militarists, Franz von Anhalt-Dessau's support of the arts and his dedication to landscape architecture, as well as his readiness to support reforms in all areas of his small principality, were indeed striking. In individual chapters, Hirsch judiciously details the many attempts at reform that took place in Anhalt-Dessau, which ranged from improving conditions for the poor and developing a better infrastructure to implementing innovations in forestry and agriculture, promoting a new pedagogy through the Philantropin as well as initiating advances in landscape architecture.

Not all of the attempts at reform were crowned with success or in line with the principality's progressive reputation. Judicial reforms, for example, moved slowly and could not keep up with developments in other areas. "In der Praxis," writes Hirsch, "konnte auch im aufgeklärtesten Musterstaat die Rechtsprechung die Forderungen der Zeit ... nicht erfüllen .... Sächsisches und römisches Recht lieferten noch immer die Normen, die in jedem Territorialstaat durch eine Fülle von Einzelgesetzen, die niemand auch der einheimischen Rechtsgelehrten noch überschauen konnte, ergänzt und verwirrt wurden" (p. 116). Many reforms, however, proved successful, and, more importantly, fostered the kind of forward-looking attitude and free exchange of ideas Enlightenment intellectuals and artists yearned for elsewhere. Not surprisingly, the impressive scope and ambition of Franz's reform project was reflected in the praise of his contemporaries--amply documented in Hirsch's volume--who, just like Laukhard, felt suddenly elevated as human beings when entering the province, and at ease around its kindhearted ruler.

One of the corollaries of the will to reform was that religious tolerance was practiced to an extent in Anhalt-Dessau that surpassed the standards of most other principalities (p. 129). This was not only evident with regard to the Jewish community but also in relation to the Catholic minority of the province (p. 149). As Prince Franz himself felt drawn to the "geheime Religion der Deutschen" (p. 135), pantheism, he allowed for much open discussion and education in religious matters, even demanded it, as was the case with a plan for continuing religious education the prince asked Johann Kaspar Häfeli, the court chaplain of Anhalt-Dessau, to design, and which included the implementation of obligatory reading circles for the principality's clerics (p. 140). Religious instruction and service at the Philantropin were non-confessional.

A main beneficiary of Anhalt-Dessau's politics of tolerance was its Jewish community, one thousand members strong, about 1/7 of the overall population of the city of Dessau. Prince Franz advocated the broadening of educational offerings and professional prospects for Jews, as he encouraged the founding of schools, allowed Jewish residents to buy land, and supported Jewish artists outside the system of guilds he despised (p. 149). Unlike Frederick II, who did little or nothing to improve the lives of members of Berlin's Jewish community,--the 300 Taler worth of porcelain monkeys from the Prussian manufacture that Moses Mendelssohn had to purchase in order to be granted the right to marry, say it all--Franz von Anhalt-Dessau took an active interest in the emancipation of his principality's Jews. Manifest expression of the relationship between Christians and Jews in Anhalt-Dessau as envisioned by its sovereign was a synagogue designed and built by Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Erdmannsdorff, Franz's esteemed architect. This synagogue, built in 1789-90 on the grounds of the Wörlitz landscape park, lay in immediate proximity to the church of Wörlitz, St. Peter, and both were visible from various sight-axes of the park, proclaiming the possibility of the two confessions' peaceful coexistence.

Hirsch's excursus on the Jews in Anhalt-Dessau is one of the most instructive parts of his study. Here the author not only outlines Franz's consistent efforts to improve educational opportunities and the social standing of Jews in the principality but also speaks to the complexity of the process of Jewish emancipation within the context of the Jewish community in Dessau and in relation to other states of the German empire. He finally points out that, even in Anhalt-Dessau, Jewish emancipation depended in the end on a tenuous pact grounded in the ruler's goodwill: "Bei aller Begünstigung der jüdischen Minderheit--darin zeichnet sich Franz von allen Standesgenossen in Deutschland aus--dachte doch auch er ebenso wenig wie diese an eine völlige rechtlich verbriefte Gleichstellung der Juden" (p. 171). In a way, this statement goes to the core of Hirsch's study, for a similar structure, he argues, determined the relationship between the first and the third estate in the principality.

While contemporaries viewed Anhalt-Dessau as politically progressive, particularly in its attempts to overcome or even eradicate the barriers of rank and status, Hirsch argues that the social peace of the principality was guaranteed by an unspoken moratorium on radical political change. In other words, as long as Franz served as guarantor of individual freedom and continued to initiate social progress acquiescence on the side of the rising bourgeoisie was assured in return. Because the conflict was thus alleviated but not solved, aristocratic rule was in effect prolonged rather than overcome. Says Hirsch: "Der Hof dachte jedenfalls nie daran, auch nur eines seiner ererbten feudalen Vorrechte aufzugeben, und so erscheinen aus der heutigen Sicht all die angewendeten Mittel, die Stände einander anzunähern, auch wenn sie teilweise von den Bürgerlichen selbst ausgingen nur als Versuche, der bestehenden Herrschaftsform weitere Dauer zu sichern" (p. 482). From this point of view--clearly rooted in Marx's philosophy of history--the apparent progress actually constituted a step backwards. Too central to the book to be included in the revisions for the re-publication, this argument, as valuable as it may be in parts, would need some differentiation today.

Anhalt-Dessau's most distinctive features were its landscape parks and gardens. Stretched over an area of approximately 100 square kilometers the "Gartenreich," developed roughly between 1760 and 1800, was comprised of open fields, forests, cultivated agricultural land, and landscape gardens in English style. Many an eighteenth-century writer is quoted in Hirsch's study, comparing this extraordinary achievement to a worldly Arcadia. Goethe, himself enchanted with the parks' beauty, called the landscaped nature "unendlich schön," a dream which "die Götter dem Fürsten erlaubt haben um sich herum zu schaffen."[2] In 1782, he organized a large-scale excursion of the Weimar court to Dessau (p. 422). Visitors from all over Europe were similarly taken by the extraordinary sophistication of the interplay between architecture and nature in Dessau.

The mixed use of land and the integration of strictly designed areas with open and seemingly natural landscapes was a realization of eighteenth-century garden philosophy and expressed not only a change in attitude toward nature itself but in the relationship of man to man. Hirsch points to the political message sent by the landscape gardens whose design became a "Mittel der Volksbildung" and "Menschenbesserung" (p. 418). Not only did the parks and gardens demonstrate to everybody--as Carl Julius Weber exclaimed at the time--"was ein Fürst zu tun vermag, wenn er Willen hat," but the humane form of landscaping was an "Ausdruck sehr realer politischer Forderungen" (p. 422). It suggested that the social landscape could also be formed, if reason were to reign. Hence, accessibility of the parks, which from the very beginning were meant to be open to the general public, mirrored the open form of government in Anhalt-Dessau. According to Hirsch, contemporaries lauded Franz, "daß er jederzeit für jeden 'accessibel', für jeden seiner Untertanen (und auswärtigen Besucher) direkt zu erreichen gewesen wäre" (p. 271). Finally, as all of the reforms were somehow interconnected, the landscape gardens' design reflected their intention--however tenuous the reality may have been--to allow every citizen of Anhalt-Dessau to partake in its vision of equality and shared community.

Hirsch's study provides an excellent overview of culture, politics, and society in Dessau throughout the Enlightenment. Supplemented by an extensive bibliography that could itself be considered an archive (Jörn Garber in the foreword, p. viii), an exceptionally useful biographical index of writers and administrators mentioned in the book, as well as a timetable and an index of persons, the study is so rich in sources, assembled and assimilated by the author, that it remains interesting even were it may seem tedious or overburdened. One should also emphasize that Hirsch, while stressing the principality's significance and, to a degree, serving as its advocate, treats his subject matter critically throughout.

On the weaker side, one has to remark that the faint attempts to update the book do not serve it well. References to the present lurk awkwardly out of a text that is otherwise coherent, if dated. The book's origin forty years ago is most noticeable with regard to its methodology, occasionally also conceptually. Aside from its indebtedness to Marxist historiography of the 1960s, the study does not bring up the methodological and conceptual questions that would be raised in a similar work published today. However, the historical patina also constitutes some of its appeal, for it informs the reader not only about the Anhalt-Dessau Enlightenment but also about the way Anhalt-Dessau's Enlightenment was viewed in 1960s East Germany--albeit not entirely in accordance with the official line at the time. Finally, the book would have been much enhanced by the addition of images and maps, particularly in those sections concerned with Anhalt-Dessau's landscape gardens, which place too great a demand on the readers' imagination.

Notes

[1]. Friedrich Christian Laukhard, Leben und Schicksale von ihm selbst beschrieben, ed. Karl Wolfgang Becker (Leipzig: Koehler & Amelang, 1989), p. 124.

[2]. Karl Robert Mandelow, ed., Goethes Briefe. Briefe der 1764-1786 (Hamburg: Christian Wegner, 1968), p. 249 (Brief vom 14. Mai 1778).

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Citation: Martin Kagel. Review of Hirsch, Erhard, Die Dessau-WÖ¶rlitzer Reformbewegung im Zeitalter der AufklÖ¤rung: Personen--Strukturen--Wirkungen. H-German, H-Net Reviews. October, 2005.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=11201

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