Factions in the Frankfurt Assembly

The Left was at the time also called the "Wholes", and consisted of a coalition of extreme and moderate republicans. Centralmärzverein The Centralmärzverein was founded on 21 November 1848 with a stated goal to protect the "March achievements." It was formed out of the Donnersberg faction together with Deutscher Hof and Westendhall members (see below). The Centralmärzverein faction dominated the Rump Parliament during the last period of the revolution, and after the various uprisings of 1849 were suppressed, its many clubs were banned throughout Germany. Deutscher Hof Deutscher Hof was one of the original factions. Its members were left-wingers who advocated a democratic republic with universal direct suffrage and equal rights for all nationalities. Beginning in May 1849, when both liberals and conservatives were becoming disenchanted with the Frankfurt parliament and abandoning it, it dominated the Märzverein. Most of the Deutscher Hof deputies also participated in the rump parliament in Stuttgart that followed, and supported and in some cases participated in the revolutions in Baden and Saxony. Members included Theodor Reh and Wilhelm Loewe, each of whom became President of the Assembly after having left it for more moderate groups, and also Robert Blum, Johann Adam von Itzstein, Johann Jacoby, Georg Friedrich Kolb, Franz Raveaux, Friedrich Schüler, Carl Vogt, and Franz Jacob Wigard. Donnersberg Donnersberg was a radical left-wing faction that split off from the Deutscher Hof faction that split off in September 1848, led by Friedrich Karl Biedermann, Georg Friedrich Kolb, Gabriel Riesser, and Wilhelm Loewe. They objected to Robert Blum's policy of involvement in Austrian politics. Members of the faction were prominent in the campaign to implement the Frankfurt Constitution and in the rump parliament in Stuttgart. The group met in the Nürnberger Hof, which was where merchants from Nuremberg stayed while attending the Frankfurt Trade Fair and was the largest such establishment in the Old City. It consisted of several medieval buildings around a central courtyard that had originally been an alley and that were unified in 1485. All but the north and south entrances was destroyed in the 20th century. Westendhall The Westendhall faction formed in July 1848 as a more left-wing offshoot of the centrist Württemberger Hof. The members supported the Frankfurt Constitution and were thus in effect republicans, but pragmatically lent some of their support to the position of the Casino faction, supporting hereditary monarchy in the decisive vote. They were denigrated by the Left as Linke im Frack (frock-coated leftwingers). The group was led by Heinrich Simon and also included Gottlob Friedrich Federer, Wilhelm Heinrich Murschel, Franz Raveaux, Adolph Gottlieb Ferdinand Schoder, Jodocus Donatus Hubertus Temme, Friedrich Wilhelm Schulz, and Friedrich Theodor Vischer. They met at a hotel called Westendhall, which was located against the city walls between two stations, the Taunusbahnhof and the Main-Weser-Bahnhof. All these buildings have now been demolished. ==The Liberal Center==

The Centrists were also known as the "Halves" under the leadership of Carl Mittermaier and Philipp Wilhelm Wernher. Members advocated a little Germany and a hereditary constitutional monarchy, but otherwise remained substantially in agreement with the Württemberger Hof faction. The group met in the wine bar of the Augsburger Hof, an inn in Töngesgasse where merchants from Augsburg stayed during the Frankfurt Trade Fair. In addition to Mittermaier and Wernher, members included Friedrich Karl Biedermann, August Emmerling, August Friedrich Gfrörer, Robert von Mohl, Julius Ostendorff, Gabriel Riesser, Gustav von Rümelin, Gustav von Schlör, Gustav Adolf Harald Stenzel, and Adolf von Zerzog. Landsberg The Landsberg faction was a moderate, somewhat left-leaning group that split off from the Casino Members supported strong central control with parliament playing an important role, and therefore desired stronger limitation of the powers of individual states than did other factions. They voted for constitutional monarchy. Deputies belonging to the faction included Johann Friedrich Christoph Bauer, Carl Otto Dammers, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Jordan, Heinrich von Quintus-Icilius, and Maximilian Heinrich Rüder. Pariser Hof The Pariser Hof faction was a conservative offshoot of the Casino faction that was formed on 21 December 1848. Members shared most of the views of Casino, but were more strongly federalist, in particular rejecting a strong central authority and requiring the Constitution to be ratified by all the states. Deputies belonging to the faction included Carl Theodor Welcker, August Reichensperger, Johann Gustav Heckscher, and Victor Franz von Andrian-Werburg. The group met at the Pariser Hof, a hotel in the Schillerplatz square (today An der Hauptwache, after the Hauptwache building) that was recorded as Zum Schwarzen Bock in 1709 and was where Schiller stayed in 1784 during the premiere of his Intrigue and Love. In 1809 it was rebuilt in neo-classical style and renamed Hotel à la ville de Paris, later shortened to Hotel de Paris, but was generally referred to by the German translation, Pariser Hof. The building was replaced in 1898 by a neo-renaissance edifice that housed a well known café on the first floor until it was destroyed in World War II. The site is now occupied by a 1970s commercial building and the Hauptwache S-Bahn and U-Bahn station. ==The Conservative Right==

This bloc consisted of conservatives who wished to maintain the rights of the aristocracy, particularly Bavarians, and Prussian hegemonists. Steinernes Haus The conservative faction started meeting on 6 June 1848 at the Steinernes Haus (Stone Building), of monarchies that would retain their own armed forces and constitutions and not be controlled by the national government, with the role of the central government restricted to issues the constituent states were unable or unwilling to deal with. Most of the members were from Austria-Hungary, Prussia, and Bavaria; they included Albert August Wilhelm Deetz, Joseph von Radowitz, and Georg von Vincke. The Café Milani had been founded in 1848 in the Roßmarkt square by an Italian, Christian Joseph Milani; it moved to other quarters beginning in 1854 and survived until the death of Adolf Milani, the founder's son, in 1931. File:Nuernberger Hof Braubachstraße.jpg|Southern entrance to the Nürnberger Hof as preserved today as part of a later building File:Frankfurt Westendhall.jpg|Hotel Westendhall in an 1853 advertisement File:Frankfurt Württemberger Hof.jpg|The Württemberger Hof, photographed around 1900 File:Frankfurt Pariser Hof.jpg|Pre-1898 photograph showing the Pariser Hof (behind the Schiller Memorial) File:Frankfurt Am Main-Steinernes-Haus von Suedosten-20110705.jpg|The Steinernes Haus, rebuilt after World War II and now the home of the Frankfurter Kunstverein ==References==