VOL. 10, NO. 10 — OCTOBER 2017 tion. The reformers experienced some success, but the Meeting house of the Freie FOR THE RECORDS movement fell apart when they couldn’t decide on a Gemeinde von constitution. Nord St. Louis St. Louis Freie Gemeinde and the European background St. Louis Schulverein, The winds of change were blowing through Europe by A related anti-religion movement also began around 20th & Dodier Streets as it the mid-1800s. Crops failed from Ireland to Russia. this time. Both Protestant and Catholic Churches wit- appeared in Industrial expansion in urban areas had slowed, leading nessed increasing resistance to the traditions of the 1910. Photo: Max Kade Insti- to unemployment. Anti-authority reformers sought church, just as there was an increasing resistance to tute <http:// change. Liberal, socialist and nationalistic ideas rose secular authorities. A belief in the rights of man, or bit.ly/2xGq3D1> among the middle class in many European countries, humanism, was growing. This movement held up the . leading to the revolution in 1848. Uprisings in Ger- importance of humans over the divine. Humanist many were relatively mild compared to what was seen “freethinkers” who left their churches believed that in other countries, but violent rioting occurred in Berlin truth should be formed on the basis of logic and rea- on March 15th, 1848. German reformers pushed for son, rather than authority and dogma. unification and human rights guarantees. They wanted a national assembly that represented all of Germany After the failed Revolution of 1848, there was an in- instead of the loosely connected German Confedera- flux of German freethinker CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 NEWS AND TIPS | HISTORY AND GENEALOGY AT ST. LOUIS COUNTY LIBRARY [ OPEN OCT. 14–15 ] OCTOBER 2017 | PAGE 3 Louis organization was education. Members wanted a school that was free from religious instruction. A small house was built at North 14th and Hebert Streets in 1851. This first building contained three classrooms and an annex that was used as a residence for the teacher of the congregation, who was also called the “lecturer” or “speaker.” The teacher in- structed students five days a week and lectured to the congregation on Sunday mornings. School tuition was one dollar per year. By the late 1860s, the student population was out- growing the house, and a larger, red-brick building was constructed at 20th and Dodier Streets in 1867. The building featured a carved stone with the phrase “Wahrheit macht frei” (“The truth will set you free”). Now part of the St. Louis Place neighborhood, the area was a popular residential area for Germans in the Mitgliederliste immigrants (often called “Forty-Eighters”) to the latter half of the nineteenth century. Around 1870, (membership list) United States. They wanted to live free from the con- public schooling in St. Louis changed. Instruction in of the Freie trol of both government and church authorities. Some German was added to and religion removed from the Gemeinde von Nord St. Louis, were forced to leave as a consequence of their partici- curriculum, a move favored by the Freie Gemeinde. 1862. Image from pation in the revolution in Germany. These freethink- The school was dissolved and most of the classrooms microfilm in the History & ers brought their ideas with them, with many settling in the building were leased to the St. Louis Public Genealogy in German immigrant communities in Missouri, Min- Schools. Schools housed in the building over the Department. nesota, Wisconsin, Indiana and Texas. They formed years included the Dodier School and Blair Branch. organizations called Freie Gemeinden, or "free con- An addition was constructed in the 1880s. When Ger- gregations." man was later removed from the curriculum, the Freie Gemeinde offered a German Saturday school. Three Freethinkers in St. Louis hundred students enrolled in 1900. Rooms in the Die Freie Gemeinde von St. Louis (The Free Congre- building were also rented out to other groups to create gation of St. Louis), the first German freethinker soci- steady income. A look at the organization’s records ety of its kind in the United States, was officially es- shows meticulous financial recordkeeping. tablished on Nov. 6, 1850. The organization was also known as the German School Society and Free Con- Activities gregation of North St. Louis and Bremen. Its first In addition to the school, the Freie Gemeinde also president, F. A. Gottschalk, oversaw an organization provided other traditional functions of a church. Some of 65 founding members. Bylaws were drafted, and religious customs could be observed, but no doctrinal members paid quarterly dues according to their teaching was permitted. Instead, the speaker gave lec- means. The organization’s leaders tended to be well- tures on science, philosophy, history, and literature. educated and politically inclined, but the rank and file No creed or mention of God was included. The or- members came from all economic levels. ganization held “Sunday School,” but it was called so only because it was held on Sunday. Morals were One of the main purposes of this newly created St. taught to the children without the use of Bible stories. NEWS AND TIPS | HISTORY AND GENEALOGY AT ST. LOUIS COUNTY LIBRARY OCTOBER 2017 | PAGE 4 The speaker performed simple funeral services in ported the Socialist Party, and members ran for local which the deceased was honored for goodness and offices under the Socialist banner. Many members charity, as worth was measured by what had been were also involved with Camp Solidarity, a done for his or her fellow man. The speaker also per- “collective” neighborhood and recreational area in formed marriages in the early years of the group’s Pacific, Missouri. Camp Solidarity was co-founded by existence, and 17 were recorded between 1850 and Edward Petrikovitsch, one of the last remaining mem- 1870. Subsequent marriages for members were per- bers of the Frei Gemeinde. formed by a Justice of the Peace. Institutional decline Other Freie Gemeinde activities included committee “Freethought” was influential in American history meetings, dances, festivals, and debates. The group from approximately 1875 to 1914, and the St. Louis supported a ladies’ choir, or Damenchor. The congre- organization’s numbers bear this out. The organization gation sent representatives to national and interna- claimed 250 members in 1900. Anti-German senti- tional conferences. It created an insurance pool and ment during the World Wars, the rise and subsequent sold cemetery plots to its members. Members fre- threat of Communism, changing social and political quently took up collections to help groups such as attitudes, and its own internal organizational strife flood and yellow fever victims. The Freie Gemeinde caused a steady membership decrease throughout the kept a library of over three thousand books. Many 1900s. Decline led the group to sell its large building members were active in other German organizations at 20th and Dodier in 1943 and move to a smaller such as the Turnvereine (turning societies). building on St. Louis Avenue. After selling that build- ing in 1961, members met in homes until the group Politics and influence officially disbanded. Seven remaining members met The Freie Gemeinde influenced local politics and held for the last time on June 25th, 1972 to settle tax mat- ideas that aligned closely with the abolitionist move- ters and distribute the assets. The organization’s re- One of 17 ment. It supported Lincoln in the 1860 election, and maining funds, almost $28,000, was donated to the marriage records some German freethinkers went on to fight in the Ethical Society of St. Louis, an organization consid- found in Freie Gemeinde re- Civil War. These immigrants had a high degree of ered most closely to resemble the ideals of the Freie cords. Image patriotism for their new country and did not want to Gemeinde (the Rationalist Society of St. Louis had from microfilm in the History & see the kind of division they had experienced in Ger- similar beliefs but received no assets). The organiza- Genealogy many. The Freie Gemeinde opposed a movement in tion’s records were given to the State Historical Soci- Department 1872 to add references to God to the Constitution. The organization also promoted women’s suffrage and permitted female members. The membership list of 1875 included a woman, Frau Henrietta Kurtzeborn. German freethinkers were not shy about sharing their views. Among the St. Louis Freie Gemeinde mem- bers was the influential German newspaper editor, Emil Preetorius of the Westliche Post. Heinrich Boernstein, editor of the Anzeiger das Westens, was also a supporter. These newspapers often espoused freethinking views, whether by criticizing religion or slavery, or promoting racial and social equality. Later on in its history, the Freie Gemeinde heavily sup- NEWS AND TIPS | HISTORY AND GENEALOGY AT ST. LOUIS COUNTY LIBRARY OCTOBER 2017 | PAGE 5 ety of Missouri (see online finding aid <http:// American Studies, 2004. R 973.0431 G373 shsmo.org/manuscripts/stlouis/s0037.pdf>), and its Hempel, Max. “Free Thinkers’ Community of North library was donated to the University of Southern Illi- St. Louis.” St. Louis Post Dispatch, 2 Sept. 1900, nois-Edwardsville. The only remaining Freie Ge- Sunday Magazine , p. 7. Microfilm. meinde in the United States today is in Sauk City, Hempel, Max. Historical Information about the Ger- Wisconsin. man School Association and Free Congregation of St. Louis at the Occasion of the 50th Anniver- Freie Gemeinde records sary of the Association and Written at Their Re- The History & Genealogy department has a copy of quest. 1900. Translated by I. Goessl, June 1976. the Freie Gemeinde von St. Louis records on four mi- Microfilm. crofilm rolls. They include marriage records, member Kargau, Ernst D., et al. The German Element in St.