Frankfurter Nationalversammlung im Juni 1848 von Ludwig von Elliott
The Democracy Way has been a reminder of the political awakening towards democracy in the region in 1848 (German Revolution) since 7 September 2007 as a holiday and at the same time as a cultural route in southwest Germany, modeled on other tourist routes such as the Castle Road or Upper Swabian Baroque Route. It is approx. 280 km long between Freiburg im Breisgau (South Baden) and Frankfurt am Main (Hesse). The subject of “democracy in Germany” is discussed in school lessons, but very few can look back on relatives in their own families who were involved in the efforts at that time. When visiting the places along the Democracy Way, identification opportunities are offered that show that democracy is made by people and does not fall from the sky. There are many monuments on it that remind of individual participants. However, some are more or less anonymous communal graves of the “insurgents” who were shot at the time. The word “Prussia”, on the other hand, still smacks of the intervention troops (federal troops) of that time in Baden. So far there are a total of 63 stations on this history route. Through a better museum didactic, connections should be made comprehensible. The aim is to show what democracy meant in 19th century Germany.
From Frankfurt via Mainz and Mannheim to Lörrach, the visitor can travel in the footsteps of the freedom movement – from the French Revolution to the Vormärz to the present day – in the south-west of Germany and on the basis of buildings, museums, squares and other places of remembrance, get to know places, people and the common free-democratic traditions of a region. In general, the bourgeois revolution in German history (German Confederation) often appears as a national liberation struggle against the many monarchies – but it is always linked to the democratic movements of neighboring countries such as Switzerland and Austria and, first and foremost, in France with the February Revolution. This also repeatedly reminds people that German democracy is a (difficult) part of the history of Europe and cannot be viewed in isolation as a national struggle. Conversely, today’s Europe would be inconceivable without the personal commitment of many people in the 19th century – especially with the initially failed revolution of 1848/49.
