Die Erschießung von acht "Meuterern" an Bord des Auswandererseglers Germania 1824: Bemerkungen zur offiziellen Dokumentation

Abstract

The frigate GERMANIA set sail from Hamburg for Brazil in 1824. During the voyage, eight men were accused of mutiny and sentenced to death. Some of the passengers on the ship, which was under the command of Captain Hans Voss, were inmates of a prison in Hamburg whose voyage to Rio de Janeiro was the equivalent of a remission - only on condition, however, that they never return to the Hamburg region again. Apart from these prisoners there were emigrants on the ship, attracted by the promotional activities of the Brazilian agent Major Georg Anton Schäffer, who in 1822 had been commissioned by the Brazilian royal household to recruit people to come and settle in the country. Settlement of the country - which became independent that same year - was important to the Brazilian king Dom Pedro, son of the Portuguese king Juan VI, for several different reasons. One of his objectives was to have the immigrants chop down sections of jungle to create plantations, as well as to serve as soldiers in order to protect the royal family and fight in border conflicts. Major Georg Anton Schäffer, whose recruitment methods were notorious, had to move from Hamburg to Altona and then on to Bremen, because people feared an influx of vagabonds and paupers. German emigration to Brazil, largely caused by famines of the previous years, reached its high point of 30 percent in 1825. Those who decided to emigrate to Brazil were of differing origin: they included not only farmers, businessmen and tradesmen but also paupers and convicts. The negotiation transcript written on board the ship and other documents helping to reconstruct what took place on board the GERMANIA throw light on the events leading up to the execution of the eight accused mutineers, five of whom had boarded the vessel as convicts from Hamburg. The attempts to prevent them from arriving in Brazil began in Glückstadt, where the ship was supposed to be set on fire to this end. On the high seas, following an attempt to rebel against senior crew members, the death sentences were imposed and members of the ship's crew carried them out. The contents of the official negotiation transcript are doubtful, however, since the accused were forced to confess under torture and the main reason for the transcript was to make the plaintiffs' behaviour more officially acceptable. A letter received from a passenger who was also on board the GERMANIA, in which the brutality of the negotiators becomes clear, serves as a basis for a change of opinion with regard to the negotiation transcript.