Oberbexbach women

After the German March Revolution of 1848, tempers were also running high in south-west Germany. At the time, large parts of the Saar Palatinate district belonged to the Bavarian Rhine Palatinate. Here, King Maximilian did not recognise the constitution that had been adopted by the first democratic all-German parliament in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt.

This led to the Palatinate Uprising: in Kaiserslautern, a stormy popular assembly declared secession from Bavaria and set up a provisional government. Assemblies were held in towns and larger villages; speakers travelled through the countryside to spread the revolutionary ideas. Freicorps were formed everywhere.

Even the otherwise quiet village of Oberbexbach was not spared from these events. A commissioner was sent from Waldmohr - the bailiff of the time, popularly known as the "glowing Haspel". His name was Veit Zöller and after a career in administration, he became one of the leading figures in the freedom movement.

In the name of the new government, he organised pillaging, requisitioned carriages and called on men fit to bear arms to join the Free Guards. Violators were threatened with severe penalties.

However, most of the citizens behaved cautiously and observed the events with prudence. They found little sympathy for the revolutionary movement. They brought their draught animals, especially their horses, to safety in the forest ravines of the "Klingenschlag" behind the "Stone Man" to protect them from being harnessed. Young men also kept themselves hidden to avoid the military exercises, because even here a Freicorps had formed.

On 13 June 1849, Prussian troops marched in to put down the uprising and the poet's words were soon proven true in the local march of the Free Guard:

"When everything was still a long way off,
you had determination and courage,
but as the danger draws near,
you begin to laugh."

And when the first helmet tips of the Prussian troops finally became visible on the Wellesweiler Höhe, the swarm of insurgents quickly dispersed. The rifles disappeared into hiding places and the reapers sought refuge behind the warm ovens. There was no sign of the fighting spirit they had previously displayed. The leader of the Freischar escaped to France, but was extradited in 1870.

Veit Zöller, the "ardent Haspel", also took flight as a result. But he seems to have jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Some courageous women, including Barbara Hennes, Maria Anna Gallo and Anna Maria Ruffing, picked up the fugitive and gave him a good beating with beanstalks. It was probably about ruthless decisions in his position as a bailiff. The women took advantage of his predicament to take brutal revenge. He suffered a number of injuries, which were later examined by a doctor in Zweibrücken prison.

He would have been lynched if the citizens Jakob Gerhardt and Nikolaus Breit had not brought him to the latter's flat. Wilhelm Kluding took the unpopular man out of the chamber window and afterwards he was taken to Mittelbexbach and handed over to the government commissioner.

It is not always possible to trace the life stories of women by their names, but some information about the rebellious women has survived the test of time.

Maria Anna Gallo was born in 1819 as the 4th child of Wendel Müller and Katharina Brill in Marpingen in the district of St. Wendel. Her parents are named as tagner and miller people. Her older sister Elisabeth Catharina married the miner Anton Ruffing from Oberbexbach in 1840. This is presumably why Maria Anna also came to Oberbexbach.

She worked as a maid in the village and probably met her future husband, the day labourer, rag picker and miner Peter Gallo from Reiskirchen. Either Peter's parents owned a house or Maria and Peter bought a small house in rural Oberbexbach. This house remained in the family until 1997, when a great-granddaughter moved in. Peter and Maria had 4 children together, one of whom died at the age of one.

Barbara Hennes, the sister of Balthasar Hennes (Balzer), was born into a Catholic family in Oberbexbach in 1827. Her parents were farmers and had 10 children together. Barbara later married Andreas Karl Schindler from Reiskirchen, where they moved to live. They had 11 children.

It is unclear whether Barbara Hennes and Maria Anna Gallo may have known each other through their husbands' common ancestry.

The circumstances of Anna Maria Ruffing's life are not known. It is possible that she was related to the husband of Elisabeth Catharina, the sister of Maria Anna Gallo.