Eugène Ricklin
Encyclopedia
Biography
Eugène Ricklin was born in DannemarieDannemarie, Haut-Rhin
Dannemarie is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It is the principal town in the canton of the same name and the seat of the Communauté de communes de la Porte d'Alsace.-Geography:...
from a sundgau
Sundgau
Sundgau is a geographical territory on the eastern edge of France that was once a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. The name Sundgau derives from Alemannic German, which means "South County" ....
vian hotelier father and an Alsatian mother, Catherine Kayser. After his secondary education in a school in Belfort
Belfort
Belfort is a commune in the Territoire de Belfort department in Franche-Comté in northeastern France and is the prefecture of the department. It is located on the Savoureuse, on the strategically important natural route between the Rhine and the Rhône – the Belfort Gap or Burgundian Gate .-...
, he frequented the colleges of Altkirch
Altkirch
-See also:* Château d'Altkirch - destroyed castle in the town.* Communes of the Haut-Rhin department-References:* -External links :* * * * * * * *...
and Colmar
Colmar
Colmar is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It is the capital of the department. Colmar is also the seat of the highest jurisdiction in Alsace, the appellate court....
. He then when to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, to Ratisbonne, then Freiburg im Breisgau, München and Erlangen
Erlangen
Erlangen is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located at the confluence of the river Regnitz and its large tributary, the Untere Schwabach.Erlangen has more than 100,000 inhabitants....
where he studied medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
.
While he showed very young high interest for justice and common man's defense, he was noticed as soon as 29 years old and was offered to join the municipal council of his town. 34 years old, he succeeded to Mr Flury, deseded, and became mayor of Dannemarie in 1898.
Detested by the German authorities because of his outspokenness, following a complaint about an offense to the Kayser and as a sanction for having claimed the status of Bundesstaat (federal state) for Alsace-Lorraine
Alsace-Lorraine
The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...
, he was relieved of his mayor's duties in 1902 and replaced by the notary Centlivre, then the German's man. Nevertheless, Ricklin stayed member of the municipal council until 1908.
In 1896, as Flury's successor, he joined the Bezirkstag of Haute-Alsace
Haute-Alsace
Upper Alsace, was the name of a district in the southern part of Alsace-Lorraine when it was part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918.It comprised the subdistricts of# Altkirch within the Sundgau# Colmar...
(of which he became president during the war
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
). In 1900, the Bezirkstag sent him to the Landesausschuss (national committee) of Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, in place of the deseded Anton Cassal from Ferrette
Ferrette
Ferrette 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:...
and, in 1903, he sat in the Reichstag
Reichstag (German Empire)
The Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, having been elected deputy of the circonscription of Thann
Thann
Thann is the name of:* Arrondissement of Thann** Thann, Haut-Rhin** Bitschwiller-lès-Thann* Thann , a Katastralgemeinde in Niederösterreich, Austria* Thann , a Katastralgemeinde in Niederösterreich, Austria...
-Altkirch
Altkirch
-See also:* Château d'Altkirch - destroyed castle in the town.* Communes of the Haut-Rhin department-References:* -External links :* * * * * * * *...
.
His rise didn't stop there. His authority, his rectitude and his competences made sure, within his party Zentrum (centre), respect and consideration from everyone and so that, elected with some of his colleagues of Zentrum (which obtained a relative majority) after the first election by universal suffrage for the Landtag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
, he could become the first president of the only parliamentary institution of Alsatian history.
Yet, his relations with the Germans were not the best. Within his family, it happened to be spoken French. Himself stayed faithful to the Alsacian people of which he didn't cease to fervently defend the interests in front of the imperial administration. From this point came his nickname the Sundgau Lion (als: D’r sundgauer Leeb). Besides, he even refused the Roten Adlerorden
Order of the Red Eagle
The Order of the Red Eagle 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 service to the kingdom, or other achievements...
he was supposed to be awarded.
Before war broke out, he tirelessly worked for the peace preservation and, in 1913 and 1914, went with the abbot Haegy
Xavier Haegy
Abbé François Xavier Haegy was an Alsatian priest, journalist, and politician.Born in Hirsingue, he was the sworn enemy of the abbé Wetterlé, and was an ardent Francophobe of peasant origin who was more at ease speaking with peasants than in the salons of Strasbourg...
to the interparliamentary peace conferences of Berne
Berne
The city of Bern or Berne is the Bundesstadt of Switzerland, and, with a population of , the fourth most populous city in Switzerland. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 43 municipalities, has a population of 349,000. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000...
and Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
where he met again other active pacifists like Jean Jaurès
Jean Jaurès
Jean Léon Jaurès was a French Socialist leader. Initially an Opportunist Republican, he evolved into one of the first social democrats, becoming the leader, in 1902, of the French Socialist Party, which opposed Jules Guesde's revolutionary Socialist Party of France. Both parties merged in 1905 in...
.
During the war, he was sanctioned and transferred to northern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
because he strenuously defended his friend Médard Brogly accused of being francophile
Francophile
Is a person with a positive predisposition or interest toward the government, culture, history, or people of France. This could include France itself and its history, the French language, French cuisine, literature, etc...
by a German military court.
Then, the war finishing, while he saw that the full autonomy granted by the Germans was coming too late (1918), he launched the idea of the Nationalrat (National Council) to try to save the Alsatian political assets by means of a negotiation with the French. He took the initiative of its convening for 12 November 1918. Elected president of the Nationalrat, he proposed to submit to the French authorities' acceptance a text where would be guaranteed the Alsatian rights he knew threatened by the French jacobinism. But the wind had turned and, with it, many coats within the veterans of the Landtag. He was put in minority, a major part of the Zentrum parliamentarians, with the socialists, didn't want to irritate France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and preferred to rely on the generals' promises. The end of the Nationalrat, changed into National Council before its scuttling, is known. For the rest of his life, Ricklin reproached the other Nationalrat members for having "missed the bus".
With the French arrival, the Doctor Ricklin knew his hardest moments. For sure, they considered him as the man to be most feared in Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
. So, they tried by all means to eliminate him from the political scene to keep free moves in the launch of the francization
Francization
Francization or Gallicization is a process of cultural assimilation that gives a French character to a word, an ethnicity or a person.-French Colonial Empire:-Francization in the World:...
policy, ripely prepared in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
for years. They also had to prevent him taking part to the reconstruction of the Zentrum Elsass Lothringen for which debates began in February 1919. So he was dragged in front of the Commissions de Triage (people sorting commissions) and, during march, the latter president of the Landtag of Alsace-Lorraine
Alsace-Lorraine
The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...
was sent into forced residence in the occupied zone near Kehl
Kehl
Kehl is a town in southwestern Germany in the Ortenaukreis, Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the river Rhine, directly opposite the French city of Strasbourg.-History:...
(during some time, he was even put in jail). In spite of the protest of every mayors and priests of Dannemarie and the French-speaking communes which he always defended during the German time, he was only allowed to come back in November 1919, after the parliamentary elections from which he had to be hold away. When he came back from exil in 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 fight for that. Disgusted, like many, in December 1925 by the behavior of the French, he came back 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
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
and corse
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
autonomists and developed the strategy of the Einheitsfront (unity front).
The parliamentary elections of May 1928 approaching, Poincaré
Raymond Poincaré
Raymond Poincaré was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920. Poincaré was a conservative leader primarily committed to political and social stability...
tried to prevent the autonomists to participate in them. Six autonomists newspapers were then forbidden and the leaders arrested: among them, Joseph Rossé, Hauss
Hauss
Hauss is a surname and may refer to the following persons:* Alberto Hauss, a German composer and producer* David Hauss, a French triathlete* Len Hauss, a former American football center* Marcel Hauss, a World War I flying ace...
and Ricklin. On 16 March 1928, Ricklin, 66 years old, was led handcuffed through Mulhouse
Mulhouse
Mulhouse |mill]] hamlet) is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after...
to be imprisoned.
But Rossé and Ricklin didn't let them be intimidated and, staying in jail, applied as candidates for the Union populaire républicaine (republican popular union). Their popularity hasn't been denied; even in jail, they were elected.
After a trial parody, they were sentenced and then, due to the general outcry, released on 14 July by a presidential pardon. Ricklin was triumphantly welcome back in his whole nativeSundgau
Sundgau
Sundgau is a geographical territory on the eastern edge of France that was once a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. The name Sundgau derives from Alemannic German, which means "South County" ....
where the people joined forces behind him, to the point of electing him again in the conseil général
General councils (France)
The General councils are assemblies of the French departments. They are elected by universal suffrage.-List of the Presidents of the General councils:-External links:*...
in October 1928.
The French government tried then to block them, working for the invalidation of the mandate of the deputies Rossé and Ricklin, on the pretext that the presidential pardon didn't give them their whole civic rights. The French deputies agreed with the government and voted the invalidation with 195 voices pro, 29 against and 416 abstentions. The government made the same for their departmental mandate which the Conseil d’État (State Council) invalidated on 22 March 1929. But Ricklin and Rossé stroke 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 may pronounce a new invalidation. On constant public pressure, Ricklin was then promised an amnesty.
During the election of the president of the Republic by the Parliament in May 1931, six Alsatian autonomist deputies voted for "Doctor Eugène Ricklin, latter president of the Parliament of Alsace-Lorraine" as a protestation and to make Ricklin endly amnestied and wholly rehabilitated.
In facts, while he continued with enjoying an enormous popularity, Ricklin never recovered from not to be officially rehabilitated during these years.
He died Wednesday 4 September 1935 at 20:20 after a long stay in the hospital of his native town, Dannemarie
Dannemarie, Haut-Rhin
Dannemarie is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It is the principal town in the canton of the same name and the seat of the Communauté de communes de la Porte d'Alsace.-Geography:...
.