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Gottfried Kinkel
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{{short description|German poet (1815–1882)}} {{use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox writer | name = Johann Gottfried Kinkel | image = ETH-BIB-Kinkel, Gottfried (1815-1882)-Portrait-Portr 00159.tif (cropped).jpg | alt = | caption = Gottfried Kinkel, 1880 | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1815|8|11|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Oberkassel (Bonn)|Obercassel]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1882|11|13|1815|8|11|df=y}} | death_place = [[Zürich]] | occupation = professor, journalist | nationality = German | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = [[University of Bonn]], [[University of Berlin]] | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | notableworks = Otto der Schütz (Otto the marksman), Der Grobschmied von Antwerpen (The Blacksmith of Antwerp), Geschichte der bildenden Künste bei den christichen Völkern (History of art among the Christians) | spouse = | partner = | children = | relatives = | awards = | signature = Gottfried Kinkel signature.png | website = | portaldisp = }} '''Johann Gottfried Kinkel''' (11 August 1815 – 13 November 1882) was a German poet also noted for his revolutionary activities and his escape from a Prussian prison in [[Spandau]] with the help of his friend [[Carl Schurz]]. ==Early life== He was born at [[Oberkassel (Bonn)|Oberkassel]] (now part of [[Bonn]]). Having studied theology at Bonn and Berlin, he established himself at Bonn in 1836 as a ''[[Privatdozent]]'', or theology tutor, became master at the [[gymnasium (Germany)|secondary school]] there, and was for a short time assistant preacher in [[Cologne]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Changing his religious opinions, he abandoned theology and delivered lectures on the history of art, in which he had become interested on a journey to Italy in 1837. In 1843, he married [[Johanna Kinkel|Johanna Mockel]] (1810–1858), a writer, composer and musician who assisted her husband in his literary work and revolutionary activities. They had four children. In 1846 he was appointed extraordinary professor of the history of art at the [[University of Bonn]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} ==Revolutionary== In 1848, with his wife and [[Carl Schurz]], he started a newspaper, the ''Bonner Zeitung'', mostly devoted to following revolutionary activities, but also providing the traditional material such as musical and theatrical reviews that people expected then from a full-service newspaper. [[File:Gottfried Kinkel Escape.jpg|thumb|Drawing recreating Kinkel's escape from Spandau]] Kinkel joined the armed rebellion in the [[Palatinate (region)|Palatinate]] in 1849, believing himself to be acting legally in obedience to the directives of the [[Frankfurt Parliament]]. In a battle he was wounded and arrested and later sentenced to life imprisonment.<ref name="bionote">Biographical note contained in the ''Collected works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 11'' (International Publishers: New York, 1979) p. 708.</ref> Although the authorities originally sentenced him to be incarcerated in a fortress where he would have been able to pursue some semblance of his professional activities, [[Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia]] found this sentence to be illegal since he was not sentenced to death and "graciously" commuted it to lifetime imprisonment in a reformatory where his head was shaved, and he had to wear prisoner's garb and spend his time spinning wool. He was eventually transferred to [[Spandau Prison]] in Berlin, where his friend and former student Carl Schurz helped him escape the prison at Spandau and reach London, England in November 1850.<ref name="bionote" /> ==Exile== ===London=== In London, he joined the [[Communist League]]. Later he became involved with the [[August Willich]]-[[Karl Schapper]] group within the League and came out against [[Karl Marx]] and [[Frederick Engels]] in the split within the Communist League.<ref name="bionote" /> Kinkel visited the United States to raise funds for a "German National Loan" that was to fund revolutionary activities in Germany. Although he was enthusiastically received, and met with President [[Millard Fillmore]], he raised very little money. Returning to London in 1853, he taught German and public speaking for women, and lectured on [[German literature]], art, and the history of culture. In 1858, he founded the German paper, ''Hermann''. Johanna Kinkel lost her life in late 1858 when she fell or threw herself out of a window.<ref>{{Cite AmCyc|wstitle=Kinkel, Johann Gottfried}}</ref> In 1860, Kinkel married Minna Emilia Ida Werner, a [[Königsberg]]er who was living in London. In 1863, he was appointed examiner at the [[University of London]] and other schools in England. ===Switzerland=== In 1866 he accepted a professorship of archaeology and the history of art at the Polytechnikum in [[Zürich]], where he died 16 years later.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He was never able to return to Germany. The 1920 ''[[Encyclopedia Americana]]'' speculates that it was probably his love of his native country that brought him to Zürich. ==Writings== [[File:Kinkel-Denkmal Oberkassel.jpg|thumb|Memorial in [[Bonn|Bonn-Oberkassel]] (1906)]] In the estimation of the [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition]] (1911), Kinkel's popularity was out of proportion to his talent. ''Britannica'' characterized his poetry as of the sweetly sentimental type in vogue in Germany in the mid-19th century. Kinkel's ''Gedichte'' first appeared in 1843, and went through several editions. His best works were the verse romances, ''Otto der Schütz, eine rheinische Geschichte in zwölf Abenteuern'' (1846), which by 1920 had gone through over 100 editions, and ''Der Grobschmied von Antwerpen'' (1868).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Among his other works were the [[tragedy]] ''Nimrod'' (1857), and ''Geschichte der bildenden Künste bei den christichen Völkern'' (A history of visual arts among Christians, 1845), ''Die [[Ahr]]: Landschaft, Geschichte und Volksleben'' (Landscape, history and life of the people along the Ahr, 1845), and ''Mosaik zur Kunstgeschichte'' (1876). ==Media== Kinkel's escape from Spandau is briefly dramatized in the third part ("Little Germanies") of Engstfeld Film's four-part series ''Germans in America'' (2006). ==Notes== {{More footnotes|date=May 2010}} {{Reflist}} ==References== *{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Kinkel, Gottfried}} *{{EB1911|wstitle=Kinkel, Johann Gottfried|volume=15|page=823}} This work in turn cites: **[[Adolf Strodtmann|A. Strodtmann]], ''Gottfried Kinkel'' (2 vols., Hamburg, 1851). {{in lang|de}} **[[Otto Henne am Rhyn]], ''G. Kinkel, ein Lebensbild'' (Zürich, 1883). {{in lang|de}} *{{Cite ADB|55|515|528|Kinkel, Gottfried und Johanna|Otto Maußer|ADB:Kinkel, Gottfried}} *[[Carl Schurz]], {{ws|''[[s:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz|Reminiscences]]''}} (3 vols., New York: McClure Publ. Co., 1907). Volume One has a detailed description of Kinkel's revolutionary activities in Bonn and his subsequent trial, imprisonment and escape from the Prussian authorities. His life in exile is also discussed in some detail up to 1852 when Schurz left Kinkel and England to emigrate to the United States. ==External links== {{Commons cat}} *{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Kinkel, Gottfried|year=1905 |short=x}} * ''Epicorum graecorum fragmenta'', Godofredus Kinkel (ed.), [https://archive.org/details/epicorumgraecoru00kinkuoft vol. 1], Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1877. {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinkel, Gottfried}} [[Category:1815 births]] [[Category:1882 deaths]] [[Category:Writers from Bonn]] [[Category:People from the Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine]] [[Category:German people of the Revolutions of 1848]] [[Category:Academic staff of the University of Bonn]] [[Category:German escapees]] [[Category:German revolutionaries]] [[Category:German male poets]] [[Category:German prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment]] [[Category:19th-century German poets]] [[Category:19th-century German male writers]] [[Category:Academic staff of ETH Zurich]] [[Category:Politicians from Bonn]] [[Category:Members of the Prussian National Assembly]] [[Category:Escapees from German detention]] [[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Germany]] [[Category:Civilians who were court-martialed]]
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