Böhning, Georg

Watchmaker, hotelier, freedom fighter

born: 07.01.1788 in Wiesbaden

died: 17.08.1849 in Rastatt

The watchmaker took an active part in the siege of Mainz in 1814 and later in the Greek struggle for freedom, before returning to Wiesbaden in 1827 and running the "Aachener Hof" in Wilhelmstraße.

At the same time, Böhning was active as a democratic agitator and was present at numerous conspiratorial meetings; he became a member of the "Bund der Deutschen", was involved in the Frankfurt guard attack and took part in the Hambach Festival. Perhaps he also ran a small secret printing press. In Wiesbaden, he was later one of the co-founders of the Republican Society and the Workers' Association.

Böhning was observed by the authorities and arrested several times.

In the course of the popular armament permitted in Wiesbaden in March 1848, he was appointed the first commander of the newly established citizens' militia; he played a decisive role in protecting the city palace and the monarchy as a whole. He resigned from this post on March 9th.

After the July riots of 1848, when part of the Wiesbaden population attempted to free imprisoned artillery soldiers and the city was subsequently occupied by federal troops, Böhning fled into exile. Shortly afterwards, he took part in the Baden uprising as commander of the Swiss Workers' Legion, the so-called Refugee Legion.

After the defeat of the freedom fighters trapped in the fortress of Rastatt, he was sentenced to death by a military court and executed in 1849.

Since 1999, a small memorial plaque in Wilhelmstraße, on the site of his former hotel, commemorates Böhning.