Doctor Eugène Ricklin (1862 – 4 September 1935) was a popular
Alsatian politician known for his fiery opposition both to German and French assimilationist policies in Alsace.
Biography
Eugène Ricklin was born in
Dannemarie(German: ''Dammerkirch'') from a
sundgau
Sundgau ( or ; ) is a geographical territory in the southern Alsace region (Haut Rhin and Belfort), on the eastern edge of France. The name is derived from Alemannic German ''Sunt- gowe'' ("South shire"), denoting an Alemannic county in the Old Hi ...
vian hotelier father and an Alsatian mother, Catherine Kayser. After his secondary education in
Belfort, he attended the gymnasia of
Altkirch and
Colmar
Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is ...
. He then went to
Germany east of the Rhine, to
Regensburg
Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...
,
Freiburg im Breisgau
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...
,
Munich and
Erlangen where he studied
medicine.
From a young age, he showed a great interest in justice and defence of the common man, and was already noticed at 29 years old when it was suggested to him he might join the municipal council of his home town. At the age of 34, he succeeded Flury, and became mayor of Dannemarie in 1898.
He was relieved of his duties as mayor in 1902 following a complaint about an insult to the Kaiser and as a sanction for having claimed the status of ''Bundesstaat'' (''federal state'') for
Alsace-Lorraine. He was disliked by the German authorities and was replaced by the notary ''Centlivre'', a supporter of the Germans. Nevertheless, Ricklin remained a member of the municipal council until 1908.
In 1896, as Flury's successor, he joined the ''Bezirkstag'' of
Upper Alsace of which he became president during
World War I. In 1900, the ''Bezirkstag'' delegated him to the ''Landesausschuss'' - Alsace-Lorraine's quasi-parliament - in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
, in place of deselected
Anton Cassal of
Ferrette
Ferrette (; german: Pfirt ; gsw-FR, Pfìrt) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.
It is situated close to the Swiss border. Its main attraction is the Château de Ferrette.
County of Ferrette
The County o ...
. In 1903, he was elected to the
Reichstag in
Berlin, having been elected deputy for the constituency of
Thann-
Altkirch.
His rise continued. His authority, rectitude and competence earned him respect and acknowledgement within his party, the Catholic
Zentrum
Zentrum is German for centre. Zentrum is also a brand name for the amino acid Arginine 1200 mg.
Zentrum may also refer to:
* BMW Zentrum, a BMW museum in Spartanburg, South Carolina
* Center (group theory), the centre of a group, denoted Z(G ...
(Centre Party), so that he was elected with some of his colleagues of the ''Zentrum'' (which obtained a relative majority) in the first election by universal suffrage for the
Landtag in 1911. He subsequently became its first president. The Landtag of Alsace-Lorraine has been the only parliamentary institution in Alsatian history, elected by universal suffrage and representing the region as a whole, and succeeded the only indirectly-elected, partly appointed ''Landesausschuss''.
However, his relations with the Germans were problematic. Within his own family he spoke French. He stayed faithful to his fellow Alsatians for whom he did not cease to defend energetically their interests against the imperial administration . At this time he earned the nickname ''the Sundgau Lion'' (als: ''D’r sundgauer Leeb''). He even refused the ''
Roter Adlerorden
The Order of the Red Eagle (german: Roter Adlerorden) was an order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was awarded to both military personnel and civilians, to recognize valor in combat, excellence in military leadership, long and faithful se ...
'' from the imperial government.
Before war broke out, he tirelessly worked for the preservation of peace and, in 1913 and 1914, went with Abbot
Haegy to the interparliamentary peace conferences of
Berne and
Basel where he met again other active pacifists like
Jean Jaurès.
During the war, he was charged and transferred to northern
France because he strenuously defended his friend ''Médard Brogly'' who had been accused of being
francophile by a German military court.
At the end of the war, he saw that the full autonomy granted by the Germans in 1918 had arrived too late and, on the abdication of the Kaiser, formed the ''Nationalrat'' (''National Council'') to try to save Alsatian political gains by means of negotiation with the French. He took the initiative and convened the council on 12 November 1918. Elected president of the ''Nationalrat'', he proposed to the French authorities that they accept an agreement guaranteeing those Alsatian rights he knew were threatened by French
Jacobinism. But the winds had changed and, with it, many coats within the veterans of the ''Landtag''. He found himself in a minority, and a major part of the ''Zentrum'' parliamentarians, with the Social Democrats, didn't want to provoke
France and opted to rely on the promises of the French generals such as
Joffre
Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre (12 January 1852 – 3 January 1931) was a French general who served as Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the Western Front from the start of World War I until the end of 1916. He is best known for regroupi ...
. The ''Nationalrat'' became the National Council for Alsace-Lorraine shortly before its abolition. For the rest of his life, Ricklin reproached the other ''Nationalrat'' members for having acted too late to preserve Alsatian autonomy.
With the arrival of the French on November 22, 1918, Ricklin knew he would face challenges. It was certain that they considered him as the man to be most feared in
Alsace. So, they tried by all means to eliminate him from the political scene so as to give themselves a free hand in their policy of
francization, which had already been prepared in
Paris during the war years. They also tried to prevent him playing a role in the reconstruction of the ''Zentrumspartei Elsass-Lothringen'' for which debates began in February 1919. As a result, he was dragged in front of the ''Commissions de Triage'' (''people sorting commissions''
[These commissions had to sort people following their ancestry from class A : "pure" French or Alsatian to class D : "pure" German.]) and, during March, this latter president of the ''Landtag'' of
Alsace-Lorraine was sent into forced residence in the occupied zone near
Kehl
Kehl (; gsw, label= Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic, Kaal) is a town in southwestern Germany in the Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg. It is on the river Rhine, directly opposite the French city of Strasbourg, with which it shares some munic ...
(at some point, he was even put in prison). In spite of the protest of every mayor and priest of ''Dannemarie'' and the French-speaking communes which he always defended during the German period, he was only permitted to return in November 1919, after the parliamentary elections in which he was prevented from standing. When he returned from exile to his native town, ruined, he had moreover to face a plot meant to bring him down professionally.
But Ricklin was a fighter and didn't give up the political struggle. Disappointed, like many, in December 1925 by the behaviour of the French towards Alsace, he returned to public life, first by joining the editorial committee of the ''Zukunft'', then by joining the team that initiated the manifest of the ''Heimatbund'' on 7 June 1926. Under his management, the committee of the ''Heimatbund'' went into relations with the
Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
** Breton people
** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Ga ...
and
Corse autonomists and developed the strategy of the ''Einheitsfront'' (''unity front'').
With parliamentary elections of May 1928 approaching,
Poincaré
Poincaré is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Henri Poincaré (1854–1912), French physicist, mathematician and philosopher of science
* Henriette Poincaré (1858-1943), wife of Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré
* Luci ...
tried to prevent the autonomists participating. Six autonomists newspapers were then banned and the leaders arrested: among them,
Joseph Rossé,
Karl Hauss and Ricklin. On 16 March 1928, Ricklin, 66 years old, was led handcuffed through
Mulhouse to be imprisoned.
But Rossé and Ricklin fought back and whilst in prison applied as candidates for the ''Union populaire républicaine'' (''Republican Popular Union''). Their popularity had not declined; they were duly elected.
After a show trial, they were sentenced, but owing to public outcry, released on 14 July on receiving a presidential pardon. Ricklin was triumphantly welcomed back to the whole of his native
Sundgau
Sundgau ( or ; ) is a geographical territory in the southern Alsace region (Haut Rhin and Belfort), on the eastern edge of France. The name is derived from Alemannic German ''Sunt- gowe'' ("South shire"), denoting an Alemannic county in the Old Hi ...
where the people joined forces behind him, to the point of electing him again to the
conseil général in October 1928.
The French government tried again to block them, working for the invalidation of the mandate of the deputies Rossé and Ricklin, on the pretext that the presidential pardon had not granted their complete civic rights. The French deputies agreed with the government and voted for the invalidation with 195 votes for and 29 against with 416 abstentions. The government did the same for their departmental mandate which the ''Conseil d’État'' (''State Council'') invalidated on 22 March 1929. But Ricklin and Rossé struck back. They applied again as candidates and, one more time, were comfortably re-elected on 2 June 1930. The ''Conseil d’État'' had then to revive an organic decree dated 2 February 1852 to be able to pronounce a new invalidation. However, under constant public pressure, Ricklin was then promised an amnesty.
During the
election of the president of the Republic of May 1931, six Alsatian autonomist deputies voted for "Doctor Eugène Ricklin, last president of the Parliament of Alsace-Lorraine" as a protestation to effect a final pardon and rehabilitation for Ricklin.
However, while he continued to enjoy enormous popularity, Ricklin never recovered from not being granted a full official pardon.
Ricklin died on Wednesday 4 September 1935 at 20:20 after a long stay in the hospital of his native town,
Dannemarie.
See also
*
List of presidents of the Second Chamber of the Landtag of Alsace-Lorraine
Footnotes
Sources
This article is a translation of
the similar article in the French Wikipedia.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricklin, Eugene
1862 births
1935 deaths
People from Haut-Rhin
Politicians from Grand Est
Centre Party (Germany) politicians
Members of the 11th Reichstag of the German Empire
Members of the 12th Reichstag of the German Empire
Members of the 13th Reichstag of the German Empire
Members of the 14th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic
Members of the Second Chamber of the Parliament of the Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine
Alsace independence movement
Political history of France