Lazarus Gatzert

1. From the Frankfurter Oberpostamts-Zeitung, 17 May 1850:

Darmstadt, 17 May. Yesterday and today were the hearings of the case against Lazarus Gatzert of Hofheim, a young Israelite, and his two comrades, also both living in this village near Worms. They were accused of High Treason: the overthrow of the Constitution of the Grand Duchy and the installation of a Republic; but only of the attempt by collecting funds for the purchase of weapons and ammunition, making propaganda, choosing a leader etc. The ominous May 1849 also played a part in this. The accused denied all guilt. a large number of witnesses were heard, but this did not lead to a clear result: on the contrary, contradictions arose, so that it became doubtful whether the preparations had actually got as far as an attempt. After a satisfactory résumé by the President of the court, the jury brought in a verdict of Not Guilty by seven votes to five.

2. From the Rhein-Hessische Volksblatt, 22 May 1850

Darmstadt, 17 May. Yesterday the accused Gatzert, Schrader and Zinkel, all of Hofheim, were acquitted by the jury of High Treason. The principal accused, Carra, the founder and president of the Democratic Union of Hofheim, had fled, and so only the above named stood trial. The charge was that, on the 8th May last year and the days following, the accused had made the vain attempt to recruit a body of volunteers, to send them into the Palatinate, apparently on an instigation from Worms. The accused insisted that they had acted only to protect the Constitution of Reich, and several witnesses confirmed this. The accused have been in prison as traitors for the last ten months. The Deputy State Prosecutor, Dr Breidenbach, tried from these facts to prove that this was an attempt to overthrow by force the constitution of Hesse, but did this so unsuccessfully that defending counsel Zimmermann found it easy to show the shortcoming of the case for the prosecution and to show clearly and convincingly the impermissibility of the long imprisonment. One of the accused, Gatzert, spoke himself with considerable skill.

3. From the Mainzer Tageblatt, 18 May 1850

Darmstadt, 16 May. Trial for High Treason. This morning towards noon the case of High Treason against Jakob Carra, Johann Schmidt, Lazarus Gatzert, Martin Zindel and Simon Schader (sic), all of Hofheim near Lorsch, ended with the acquittal of the latter three. The first two had fled and did not stand trial, so against these two a case of contumacy will now be initiated.

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Sep 15 2022, 1:10:05 UTC