Editing Georg Forster (section)

== Life as a revolutionary ==

=== Foundation of the Mainz Republic ===
[[File:Freiheitsbaum.jpg|thumb|right|A [[liberty pole]], a symbol of revolutionary France as used in the [[Republic of Mainz]]. Watercolor by [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]]]
The French revolutionary army under [[General Custine]] gained control over [[Mainz]] on 21 October 1792. Two days later, Forster joined others in establishing a [[Jacobin Club]] called "Freunde der Freiheit und Gleichheit" ("Friends of Freedom and Equality") in the [[Electoral Palace Mainz|Electoral Palace]]. From early 1793 he was actively involved in organizing the [[Mainz Republic]]. This first republic located on German soil was constituted on the principles of democracy, and encompassed areas on the left bank of the [[Rhine]] between [[Landau]] and [[Bingen am Rhein|Bingen]]. Forster became vice-president of the republic's temporary administration and a candidate in the elections to the local parliament, the {{lang|de|Rheinisch-Deutscher Nationalkonvent}} (''Rhenish-German National Convention''). From January to March 1793, he was an editor of {{lang|de|Die neue Mainzer Zeitung oder Der Volksfreund}} (''The new Mainz newspaper or The People's Friend''), a name chosen in reference to [[Jean-Paul Marat|Marat]]'s {{lang|fr|L'Ami du peuple}}.<ref>Harpprecht, ''Das Abenteuer der Freiheit'', p. 33</ref> In his first article he wrote:

{{blockquote|''Die Pressefreiheit herrscht endlich innerhalb dieser Mauern, wo die Buchdruckerpresse erfunden ward.''<ref name="SZ">{{cite journal|last=Lepenies|first=Wolf|title=Freiheit, das Riesenkind|trans-title=Freedom, the giant child|journal=[[Süddeutsche Zeitung]]|date=May 17, 2010|url=http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/aufmacher-xv-freiheit-das-riesenkind-1.423586|language=de|access-date=February 20, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708135125/http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/aufmacher-xv-freiheit-das-riesenkind-1.423586|archive-date=July 8, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>}}
{{blockquote|The [[freedom of the press]] finally reigns within these walls where the [[printing press]] was invented.}}

This freedom did not last long, though. The Mainz Republic existed only until the retreat of the French troops in July 1793 after the [[Siege of Mainz (1793)|siege of Mainz]].

Forster was not present in Mainz during the siege. As representatives of the Mainz National Convention, he and [[Adam Lux]] had been sent to Paris to apply for Mainz – which was unable to exist as an independent state – to become a part of the [[French First Republic|French Republic]]. The application was accepted, but had no effect, since Mainz was conquered by Prussian and Austrian troops, and the old order was restored.<ref name="WHKMLA">{{cite web|url=http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/germany/mainzrep.html|title=The Mainz Republic|publisher=World History at KMLA (WHKLMA)|access-date=22 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202218/http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/germany/mainzrep.html|archive-date=3 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Forster lost his library and collections and decided to remain in Paris.<ref name="nie">{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Forster, Georg|year=1906}}</ref>

=== Death in revolutionary Paris ===
[[File:James Gillray Pinnacle of Liberty.jpeg|thumb|"The Pinnacle of Liberty", a satire by [[James Gillray]]]]

Based on a decree by Emperor [[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|Francis II]] inflicting punishments on German subjects who collaborated with the French revolutionary government, Forster was declared an outlaw and placed under the [[Imperial ban]]; a prize of 100 ducats was set on his head and he could not return to Germany.{{sfn|Saine|1972|p=154}} Devoid of all means of making a living and without his wife, who had stayed in Mainz with their children and her later husband [[Ludwig Ferdinand Huber]], he remained in Paris. At this point the revolution in Paris had entered the [[Reign of Terror]] introduced by the [[Committee of Public Safety]] under the rule of [[Maximilien Robespierre]]. Forster had the opportunity to experience the difference between the promises of the revolution of happiness for all and its cruel practice. In contrast to many other German supporters of the revolution, like for instance [[Friedrich Schiller]], Forster did not turn back from his revolutionary ideals under the pressure of the terror. He viewed the events in France as a force of nature that could not be slowed and that had to release its own energies to avoid being even more destructive.{{sfn|Saine|1972|p=152}}

Before the reign of terror reached its climax, Forster died after a rheumatic illness{{sfn|Reintjes|1953|p=136}} in his small attic apartment at Rue des Moulins<ref name="hr">{{cite AV media|url=http://www.hr-online.de/servlet/de.blueorange.xred.util.GetFile/04-165.rtf?db=hrmysql&tbl=int_xredfile&key=id&keyval=11787328&imgcol=xred_file|medium=radio script (RTF)|last=Schell|first=Christa|title=Die Revolution ist ein Orkan|trans-title=The Revolution is a Hurricane|date=26 November 2004|access-date=12 April 2012|language=de|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001051325/http://www.hr-online.de/servlet/de.blueorange.xred.util.GetFile/04-165.rtf?db=hrmysql&tbl=int_xredfile&key=id&keyval=11787328&imgcol=xred_file|archive-date=1 October 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> in Paris on 10 January 1794,{{sfn|Saine|1972|p=154}} at the age of thirty-nine. At the time, he was making plans to visit India.<ref name=nie />