Early life and the Revolutions of 1848 , of which Raster was Chief Stenographer during its brief existence Raster was born in
Zerbst, in the
Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau on May 6, 1827, to a family from the
German nobility. He was the son of statesman
Wilhelm Christian Raster, a friend of
Leopold IV, Duke of Anhalt who served as the chief Collector of Customs and Excise for the Duchy and was a noted translator from the
English language. His father insisted he learn English from a young age and had a tutor brought from England to instruct him. A naturally talented linguist, Raster was fluent in seven languages by the time he completed his education. He graduated from the
University of Leipzig in 1846 and then the
University of Berlin in 1848, studying
philology,
linguistics, and history at his father's behest. Despite his father's wishes for him to pursue a career in philology, Hermann Raster was more interested in journalism and politics than in academia. In 1849 he took a position as the stenographer of the Anhalt Legislature and shortly thereafter was named Secretary of the State Assembly of Dessau. Spurred by an encounter with the writer
Bettina von Arnim, Raster became an important leader of the
1848 Revolution in Dessau, and passionately wrote pamphlets criticizing both the
Caesaropapism of the
Lutheran Church and the
autocracy of the state. Despite his youth, he was made Chief Stenographer of the both short-lived and revolutionary
Erfurt Parliament in March 1850. In 1851, during the aftermath of the failed revolutions, Raster was given the choice to emigrate permanently from the
German States like other
Forty-Eighters or to face criminal prosecution for his actions.
New York Raster arrived in
New York City in July, 1851 and first found employment as a wood-chopper at a farm near
Tioga, Pennsylvania. During the
American Civil War, he was the primary American correspondent for the newspapers in Berlin, Bremen, Vienna, and other Central European cities, and was regarded as more effective in campaigning for the American cause in Germany than any politicians at the time. He returned to Germany briefly during the war to drum up support for the Union and find investors for Union bonds. Up until 1867 he was also the Wagonmaster of the
United States Custom House in New York City.
Chicago and later life In 1867, Raster accepted
A.C. Hesing's offer for the position as editor for the
Illinois Staats-Zeitung in
Chicago, a position he kept until his death. Raster was a delegate to the
1868 Republican National Convention, where he was chairman of the platform committee. In 1869, he was appointed the Collector of Internal Revenue for the District of Chicago. During the
Great Chicago Fire of 1871, Raster lost his home, and the newspaper building and all of its archives and contents were destroyed. Regardless of the extreme loss, the Staats-Zeitung (under Raster's administration) was the first newspaper in Chicago to print the news of the fire, having gathered enough supplies to resume printing less than 48 hours after the catastrophe. In Later the same year, he was re-appointed the position as Collector of Internal Revenue by President
Ulysses S. Grant. In 1872, Raster resigned from the position as Collector of Internal Revenue to save more time for the paper and help campaign for Grant in the upcoming election. That same year at the National Republican Convention in
Philadelphia inserted the "Raster Resolution" in its platform which greatly opposed the
Temperance movement. Raster held so much influence over the German community he once threatened to leave the party if Prohibition was not made an issue and the resolution not passed and with him the entire German vote, which was a substantial base of power for the Republican Party in the West. During the
Haymarket Affair, Raster was trying to delegate the rioters before he left the scene when he realized any hope for containing the situation was lost. Once the perpetrators were caught he wrote a letter to the Governor,
John Peter Altgeld demanding that the prisoners be put to death. caricaturing
Grover Cleveland's entry into Washington following his
1885 inauguration in which Raster is featured in the foreground clutching a copy of the
Staats-Zeitung alongside other Republican leaders He blamed the recent German "immigrant radicals" for the issues at hand and suggested immigration reforms be made, stating, "Unfortunately it is from the German Reich that these bloody scoundrels, these socialists, communists, and anarchists have come." Despite his own history as a revolutionary, Raster drafted an "Anarchist Expulsion Bill" in 1887 for Congressional Debate. Raster was an active member of the Chicago
Intelligentsia of the late 19th century, and was on the first 9-member board of the
Chicago Public Library in the 1870s. He was also on the
Chicago Board of Education for many years, and was on the board of trustees for the
Field Museum of Natural History.
Death and legacy Raster died on July 24, 1891, in
Kudowa-Zdrój,
Silesia, where he had traveled in June 1890 because of his poor health. His body was brought back to the United States on board the
SS Eider of the
Norddeutscher Lloyd. On August 12, his funeral services were conducted at the German Press Club in Chicago, and speakers from as far away as New York and New Jersey attended. The hall was decorated with hanging crepes and his casket, made of walnut and "heavily" mounted with silver, was "literally covered in floral emblems sent by various German-American press organizations." The German American Press Club of Philadelphia sent a large anchor, and the German Club of
Hoboken, New Jersey, gave a laurel wreath wrapped in the colors of the 1848 revolution, which Raster was a part of, that said, "To the German Hero from the German Club." His wife Margarethe refused to leave his casket and "sobbed violently" until the group convinced her to go to her carriage. Honorary pallbearers at his funeral included Mayor
Hempstead Washburne and Senator
Charles B. Farwell. On his death, the
Chicago Tribune produced an article which said, "His writings during and after the Civil War did more to create understanding and appreciation of the American situation in Germany and to float U.S. bonds in Europe than the combined efforts of all the U.S. ministers and consuls." Raster was interred at
Graceland Cemetery on August 13, 1891, where his grave remains today. The novel was accredited to Raster, though the introduction and biographer remain unknown. The essays chronicle the life travels and experiences of Raster. Over 3,900 of his papers, correspondence, notes, and manuscripts were donated to the
Newberry Library in 1893. ==Selected bibliography==