Tracking the Separatists in Germany: Last Stop: Prison, Penitentiary, and Punishment

Continuing the saga of the German Separatists, our small group of Americans traveled deeper into the German countryside to explore the darker side of the Separatists’ experiences. And their bravery.

As Wuerrttemberg historian Dr. Eberhard Fritz explains, the Separatists ignored increasing threats from authorities to return to church or suffer the consequences. On Christmas Day 1803, eleven Separatist men were arrested. One frail young man was left behind but his father promised to thrash him for his disobedience. The men were sentenced to prison.

Prison

Somberly, we climbed the hill to the prison, called Hofenasperg Fortress that sits high above the town of Asperg. Inside, we found a small museum with a guide who explained the exhibit about the Separatists’ imprisonment. Future Zoar settler, Stephan Huber, was imprisoned and interrogated (try not to imagine such interrogation) there for six months in 1805.

Hofenasperg Fortress

Later, he inspired Joseph Bimeler to become a Separatist, setting the stage for their emigration to America in 1817. Huber’s descendant, Deborah Deal, was a member of our group and had known little about her brave ancestor. Perhaps fortutiously, we couldn’t see the actual cells because the building is still used as a prison, albeit a prison hospital. We were kept well away from the inhabitants–inmates and guards alike.

Penitentiary

Women were incarcerated in the Ludwigsburg Penitentiary and, although we didn’t visit it (now a justice administration and archive building), we do know a few details about the Separatist women incarcerated there. Their crimes: Insulting the authorities or refusing to send their children to the state (religious) schools. Sentences at both the prison and the penitentiary varied from a few weeks to years. In 1817 both men at the prison and women at the penitentiary were offered release if they agreed to emigrate. Three men and two women refused; the rest were released. 

Punishment

Beatings, lashings, canings, and the pillory (Stephan Huber experienced all those) were common punishments in addition to confinement to windowless cells and scant sustenance. Although such punishments were common for criminals, the Separatists’ only sins were refusing to follow the state religion and refusing military service in the interest of the state. Believing that all men and women were created equal, they saw no reason to value state authorities, including kings, above anyone else. For such beliefs, they suffered.

But a unique punishment awaited the Separatists. Because the Duke of Wurrttemberg desired a lake in front of his castle, he ordered prisoners to dig it. The royals, however, didn’t want to see the mess such digging would create, so he ordered the digging be done at night! This sounds cruel but not as ruthless as we discovered when we saw the lake and, for myself, a long walk around it.

Lake dug by the Separatist…at night!

Finally, records show that two Separatists died as a result of their beatings.

Conclusion

What can we conclude about our famous forebearers? That they were courageous beyond our imaginations; their integrity, shown by standing for their beliefs despite loss of freedom, fortune, or life, exceeds anything we could envision.

This concludes my reports of our momemtous trip to our ancestors’ homeland. Special thanks to Marilyn Gordon for her meticulous notetaking and to our two historians, Dr. Eberhard Fritz and Dr. Hermann Ehmer, for detailed information and for freely answering our many questions.

But don’t worry. I’ll be back with another report on these unique people. Look for “Sex and the Separatists” next time!