Wilhelm Zimmermann (2 January 1807 in Stuttgart – 22 September 1878 in Mergentheim) was a German

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

and historian.Balthasar Friedrich Wilhelm Zimmermann
de.Wikisource Zimmermann has been described as a "founding father of German vegetarianism".

Biography

He studied at the

Tübinger Stift The Tübinger Stift () is a hall of residence and teaching; it is owned and supported by the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg, and located in the university city of Tübingen, in South West Germany. The Stift was founded as an Augus ...

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

, and from 1840 to 1847 served as an assistant pastor in Dettingen an der Erms and as a pastor in

Hülben Hülben is a municipality in the district of Reutlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is located next to the area of the Celtic Heidengraben. Geography Hülben is a municipality on the northern edge of the Swabian Jura, above the spa ...

. From 1847 to 1850, Zimmermann taught history at the ''Oberrealschule'' in Stuttgart. He was a democrat in philosophy and belief. Accordingly, he took part in the revolutionary uprising in Germany in 1848 through 1849. In 1848, he was elected as a deputy to the

Frankfurt National Assembly The Frankfurt Parliament (german: Frankfurter Nationalversammlung, literally ''Frankfurt National Assembly'') was the first freely elected parliament for all German states, including the German-populated areas of Austria-Hungary, elected on 1 Ma ...

. At assembly, he caucused with the "Left wing" deputies. In 1850, Zimmermann was dismissed from his position as a teacher at the ''Oberrealschule'' because of his participation in the revolution of 1848-1849 and because of his caucusing with the Left wing in the

Frankfurt Assembly The Frankfurt Parliament (german: Frankfurter Nationalversammlung, literally ''Frankfurt National Assembly'') was the first freely elected parliament for all German states, including the German-populated areas of Austria-Hungary, elected on 1 Ma ...

. Zimmermann died in 1878.Biographical note contained in the ''Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels'' (International Publishers: New York, 1978) p. 739. From 1841 to 1843, he published the 3-volume ''Allgemeine Geschichte des großen Bauernkrieges'' (General History of the Great Peasant War).

Vegetarianism

Zimmermann became a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

in 1839 and lived at Alcott House, a vegetarian and utopian socialist community in 1840.Treitel, Corinna. (2017). ''Eating Nature in Modern Germany: Food, Agriculture and Environment, c.1870 to 2000''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 41-42. In 1843, he authored the book ''Der Weg zum Paradies'' (The Way to Paradise). The book argued that Europe had fallen in moral and physical decline because people had broken the "laws of nature" by consuming meat, overdressing and treating disease with poisons. To reverse the process, Zimmermann recommended people to "return to nature" by eating natural plant foods. The book introduced German readers to ancient and modern vegetarian literature. It sold well and went through four editions by the end of the century.

Selected publications

*''Allgemeine Geschichte des großen Bauernkrieges'' (1841–1843) *''Der Weg zum Paradies'' (1843, 1846) *''Die englische Revolution'' (1851)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmermann, Wilhelm 1807 births 1878 deaths 19th-century German historians 19th-century German male writers 19th-century German theologians German male non-fiction writers German revolutionaries German socialists German vegetarianism activists Writers from Stuttgart