Corvin-Wierbitzki, Otto Julius Bernhard von (pseudonym: Otto von der Weiden)

publicist

Born: 12.10.1812 in Gumbinnen (East Prussia)

Died: 01.03.1886 in Wiesbaden

Corvin-Wierbitzki came from a Polish-Prussian aristocratic family. He embarked on a military career and was accepted into the cadet corps in Potsdam at the age of twelve and then into the main cadet school in Berlin in 1827. After being promoted to lieutenant, he was assigned to an infantry regiment in the fortress of Mainz, from where he enjoyed life at the Wiesbaden spa. Under the influence of the French July Revolution of 1830 and the Hambach Festival of 1832, he became a liberal democrat.

His transfer to the small border fortress of Saarlouis, his friendship with liberal writers and not least his love for 16-year-old Helene Cardini, his future wife, prompted him to resign as an officer in 1835 and become a writer. He became editor of the first German daily hunting journal "Der Jäger" and the monthly magazine for horse breeding and equestrian sports "Der Marstall". In Leipzig, he was a co-founder of the Leipzig Literary Association.

He joined liberal-democratic and anti-clerical circles and was enthusiastic about the revolution of 1848. As a participant in the Baden Revolution, he was sentenced to death after its failure in 1849, but was pardoned and sentenced to six years in prison, which he served in Bruchsal.

He then worked as a journalist in England and America and returned to Wertheim am Main in 1874. In October 1885, he moved to Wiesbaden, where he died shortly afterwards. He found his final resting place in the North Cemetery.

Corvin-Wierbitzki's controversial and widely read main work was "Der Pfaffenspiegel - Historische Denkmale des christlichen Fanatismus" (1845), a scathing critique of Christianity and Catholicism in particular. Other works included "Der niederländische Freiheitskrieg" (2 vols. 1841/42), "Illustrierte Weltgeschichte für das Volk" (4 vols. 1844-1851), "Aus dem Zellengefängnis. Briefe aus bewegter, schwerer Zeit" (1848-1856), "Die Geißler" (1860), "Aus dem Leben eines Volkskämpfers" (1861, published in 1871 under the title "Aus meinem Leben").