Johann Philipp Palm was born in Schorndorf on 18 December 1766. He acquired citizenship of the city of Nuremberg and ran the Stein bookshop there. On 26 August 1806, he was sentenced to death and shot for distributing the Napoleon-critical pamphlet “Germany in its deep humiliation”. His adherence to the fundamental right to freedom of speech and his belief in the principles of the rule of law make Johann Philipp Palm a historical role model.
Prominent representative of the city of Schorndorf
Johann Philipp Palm was born on 18 December 1766 as the son of the surgeon Johann Leonhard Palm and the baker's daughter Christina Elisabeth, née Mürdter, in the Palm family’s pharmacy in Schorndorf, Germany. He attended the Latin school there and left for Erlangen at the age of 14 to complete an apprenticeship in the book trade with his uncle Johann Jakob Palm. This was followed by stays in Göttingen and Frankfurt am Main, among other places.
Citizen, bookseller and publisher in Nuremberg
In 1796, Johann Philipp Palm acquired citizenship in Nuremberg and married Anna Katharina Barbara, the daughter of the Nuremberg bookseller Stein. After the death of his father-in-law, Johann Philipp Palm took over J. A. Stein's bookstore.
In 1806, Johann Philipp Palm published and distributed the anonymous pamphlet “Germany in its deep humiliation”. The pamphlet criticised Napoleon's imperial policy under the guise of freedom and the collaboration of the German princes with the military dictatorship for their own acquisition of power. The author called for resistance against the occupiers.
Writings of this kind proliferated at the time and aroused Napoleon's fierce anger. He ordered it to be made clear once and for all that he would not tolerate any criticism of his person or his style of government: since the author is unknown, the booksellers and suppliers of the pamphlet were punished with death.
Execution in Braunau am Inn
On 19 August 1806, Johann Philipp Palm was captured in his home and taken to the garrison town of Braunau am Inn, Austria. Without legal assistance, to which he was entitled and which he hoped for until the end, Palm tried to defend himself. He knew the name of the author but did not reveal it. To this day, the question of the author remains unanswered.
On 26 August 1806 amid peace, Johann Philipp Palm, a citizen of the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg, was sentenced to death by a French military court on Austrian soil in a mock trial. He was shot only three hours after the verdict was announced.
Aftermath
The text of the court judgement is publicly displayed in 6,000 copies in German and French. However, instead of having the desired deterrent effect, the arbitrary act caused horror among large sections of the population. Increasingly, anti-Napoleonic resentment gained the upper hand, which ultimately led to the fall of the emperor.
Since then, Palm research has gone through various phases and patterns of interpretation. Johann Philipp Palm has been and continues to be labelled a ‘German hero of freedom’. The Palm-Foundation expressly distances itself from any one-sided, nationalistic and therefore historically incorrect interpretation of the figure of Johann Philipp Palm. This applies in particular to the numerous publications of the early 20th century. The actual source material is less clear. Palm's own political opinion can only be inferred indirectly. He left no personal testimony on current events.
Role model function
The bookselling industry in the early 19th century was characterised by war damage, occupation, censorship and general economic decline. Despite these adverse conditions, Johann Philipp Palm practised his profession with great reliability, prudence and conviction. The available sources allow conclusions to be drawn about Palm's personality: There are records of multiple instances prior to 1806, wherein Palm disagreed with clerical or state regulatory authorities because of crucial material in his product line, and he took a very firm stance on the matter. He was also deeply rooted in the bourgeois pietistic tradition of the old Wuerttemberg Palm family. In a business letter from June 1806, shortly before his arrest, he wrote the following: ‘I can't be intrusive and sluggish, I don't think the honest man needs that’.
The last entries in his notebook from August 1806 include not only the costs he had incurred for his transfer to Braunau, Austria, which he hoped to be reimbursed for. Palm also noted down the paragraphs of the imperial constitution that would have enabled him to be acquitted as the distributor (not the author) of the fateful pamphlet. His adherence to the right to freedom of speech and his belief in the principles of the rule of law make him a historical role model. They characterise the work of the Palm-Foundation to this day.
