Wilhelm Kohlreuter

Many emigrants who had raised their hopes too high were terribly disappointed during the crossing or right after their arrival. Additionally not just a few suffered from homesickness. Up to now the high number of reemigration has seldom been taken into consideration. Reemigration caused considerable problems: People who had emigrated for political reasons and who had been sentenced for high treason after the failed revolution, had to serve their sentence before they could live legally in their home country again. Emigrants who had left their home country out of economic reasons had to experience that after coming back they were not accepted anymore in their hometown society - they became homeless in their homeland.

Home of the apothecary Wilhelm Kohlreuter in Malsch near Ettlingen. After the family had fled, their house occasionally served Prince William of Prussia as headquarters during the siege of Rastatt.

Petition for mercy (1856) of Waldburga Kohlreuter for her husband Wilhelm, who had been sentenced because of being the leader of the Volksverein Malsch and had avoided arrest by the flight to America (extract):

"We left for North America in August with our litte daughters who where only one and three years of age by then. We lost the youngest during the crossing already. It was a heavy loss for us which was worsened by the death of some of our closest family members. During our absense I lost my beloved father and my husband his unforgotten mother and his sister. We were able to stay in Cincinatti no longer than four years as not only my husband Kohlreuter was fighting with diseases but also me, the signing female petitioner, was suffering from heavy chest pains. I had no peace of mind and tormented by homesickness I couldn't rest in that distant part of the world."

(GLA 234/1807)