Ostfriesland (East Frisia) is the name of the region comprising the northwest corner of Germany near the North Sea. This is the area where our Odens forebears lived and died until 1879, when some our ancestors living at the time migrated to the United States.
The first two decades of the 19th century were tumultuous times for Ostfriesland, as well as much of Europe. Napoleon’s conquests and rise to power affected the common people in many ways, especially once their region came under his rule. Napoleon took over Holland and named his brother, Louis Bonaparte, the king of that country in June of 1806. In 1807, Ostfriesland was declared to be a Dutch province, presided over by Louis as king, but actually ruled by the decrees of Napoleon. The formal ceremony marking that transition took place in Aurich on March 11, 1808.
Suddenly the people of Ostfriesland were expected to learn and use the Dutch language rather than German. The German names for the months of the year were abolished by royal decree and replaced by the Dutch names. Those annoyances were exacerbated by the imposition of heavy tax burdens on the people. Not only did they suffer from the economic burden of the taxes themselves, but even more so from the realization that their taxes were financing an oppressive, occupational government and military presence. It is no surprise this led to unrest and riots in protest.
Napoleon’s continental blockade prohibiting any trade with England also had a huge effect on the people of Ostfriesland. Because of her expansive colonial holdings and maritime capabilities, England was their primary source for coffee, tea, sugar, fabrics, cotton and metal goods. The continental blockade made those items scarce in Ostfriesland. It also birthed an active smuggling and black-market operation, which had two important results.
One result was exorbitant prices for British goods, compared to the cost of items that were plentiful in Ostfriesland. For example, the price of a pound of British coffee was the same as the cost of 21 pounds of beef! The cost of a pound of British tea was the equivalent of what was paid for 15.5 pounds of butter. A pound of candy could be purchased for the same price as 22 pounds of rye bread.
A second, related and obvious result of the blockade was an even greater sense of oppression and unrest on the part of the people. The occupation government, aware that smuggling was taking place, simply tightened restrictions, increased penalties on those who possessed forbidden goods, and conducted searches in the people’s homes and stores to see if forbidden items were to be found. If such items were discovered, they were confiscated and burned, and the owners were subjected to harsh penalties
In 1810, another major change took place in Ostfriesland. The region became a province of the Empire of France. Thousands of French soldiers occupied the area. French officials took over the administration of the territory, now called the Departement de l’Ems Oriental (Department of the East Ems). Now the people were expected to learn and speak French. Schools were conducted in the French language, even though it was not the language known by the students. The system of weights and measurements was changed. We can hardly imagine the confusion and frustration this caused among the citizens of Ostfriesland. It is little wonder that Napoleon, although he may have been feared, was not well liked in Ostfriesland!
In addition to all this was the conscription of East Frisian men into the Grand Army of Napoleon. His conquests and losses came at the cost of lives, and many of those lives were young men who fought because they were forced to fight, not because they had any sense of loyalty or love for Napoleon.
In March/April of 1811, 1,049 young men of Ostfriesland were conscripted into the French army, 228 of whom were selected by lot on April 2, and activated on April 8. There was considerable resistance to the process, including the dragging and beating of a French soldier who was there to maintain order.
A week later 600 boatmen and sailors from Ostfriesland were summoned to become part of the French navy. Their opposition to the process was great, again involving bodily harm to the officials overseeing the conscription, and even the exchange of gunfire. Twenty-one of those who resisted were court-martialed by the French on May 24, leading to death sentences for nine of them, chain punishment for seven of them (including two sentenced to chains for 16 years), one year of probation for one man, and acquittal for the remaining four. Once Napoleon himself heard about the situation, he called for the arrest of all sailors living in the area of Ostfriesland represented by the protesters (whether they protested or not), forcing them to serve on French warships and bases in Antwerp, Lille and Toulon.
A total of 1,131 East Frisian men were drafted into the French army as 1812 opened, many of whom were sent to fight Napoleon’s futile effort to conquer Russia. By the end of that year, the news had come back to Ostfriesland that the Russian invasion was a miserable failure, costing the lives of many young men to gunfire, disease and horrible weather conditions.
Sadly, Napoleon’s failure in Russia only made him more determined. However, he needed more soldiers and equipment, so he put out a call throughout his empire for the activation of 350,000 more soldiers and 40,000 more horses. Of that number, Ostfriesland yielded 622 horses, 22 fully-equipped horsemen and 632 regular soldiers.
The circumstances I have described are important to keep in mind when reading Boldewyn Oden Odens’ account of his experience in the French army. This last-mentioned activation of Ostfriesland soldiers is what led to his conscription into the army on June 22, 1813. His failure to express in his diary any excitement about being in Napoleon’s army is because he and his companions didn’t want to be in it. The lack of material indicating opposition to being in Napoleon’s army is because such an attitude would be severely punished.
With this background, may you appreciate and enjoy reading the installments of his diary, which I plan to start posting soon.
© 2019 by James A. Odens