Klein, Karl Fröschweiler Chronik. Kriegs- und Friedensbilder aus dem Jahr 1870

On 6 August 1870, one of the great battles of the Franco-Prussian War took place around the small Alsatian town of Wörth an der sauer. The village of Fröschweiler was also the scene of the slaughter. Karl Klein, the village's Protestant pastor at the time, gives a vivid account of the horrors of the war and the suffering of the civilian population in his "Fröschweiler Chronik", first published in 1876. This account by a civilian became one of the most widely read war books of its time.

On 6 August 1870, one of the great battles of the Franco-Prussian War took place around the small Alsatian town of Wörth an der Sauer. 140,000 men face each other in an extremely bloody battle that lasts for hours. The village of Fröschweiler is also the scene of the slaughter. While the battle rages, the inhabitants sit terrified in the cellars of their houses. Even weeks after the battle, when the victorious fighters have long since moved on, the inhabitants are still struggling with the consequences: Some of the houses are destroyed, the church burnt down, thousands of wounded people with only makeshift accommodation have to be cared for, decaying human corpses and horse carcasses have to be removed from the fields and fields. Karl Klein, a Protestant pastor from Fröschweiler, reports in his Fröschweiler Chronicle, first published in 1876, about the horrors of the war and the suffering of the civilian population in vivid and pictorial language. This account by a civilian became one of the most widely read war books of the time. Even though it is certainly not a purely pacifist book in today's understanding and the author partly shows attitudes that are indebted to his time, the chronicle is nevertheless a moving indictment of war. This new edition, extensively annotated and supplemented by historical and biographical essays, is intended to make an unjustly forgotten chapter of Franco-German history known again.