Prodosh Aich - Truths

Adelheid’sfather Ludwig Basedow(1774 – 1835) studied law at Frankfurt University. He returned to Anhalt-Dessau and joined 1807 the Anhalt-Dessau-Administration. In 1814, he then joined the Law Administration of Prussia. Anhalt-Dessau and Prussia were then having Tax disputes. Ludwig Basedowfound a mutually accepted solution. Thereafter he got the job of the Head of the Administration of the small Duchy Anhalt-Dessau, still having a population of about maximum 60,000. He was later raised to the title of the lowest ranking heritable noble as Ludwig von Basedowin 1833,only two years before he expired in 1835.

Adelheidcould not enjoy the social privileges of eventually being Adelheid von Basedowunlike her two elder brothers. As we recall, she had married Wilhelm Müllerin 1821, long before her father was raised to the nobles in 1833. None the less, she belonged to a well to do bourgeois family in Anhalt-Dessau, already a bourgeois in the third generation. She was socially marginalized when she married Wilhelm Müller, who was just on the threshold of climbing the ladder to the class of the bourgeois, and that against the approval of her family.

Being a librarianof the Duchy Wilhelm Müllerbecame a “Hofrat”, a title at the bottom line of a higher carrier-scale of Anhalt-Dessau administration. But he was challenged to excel. Adelheidwas proud and ambitious. She pushed him. We know nothing about the education of Adelheid. She encouraged Wilhelm Müllerto establish himself as a poet and as a writer and did everything she could to help her husband. Wilhelm Müllerstarted impressively. He undertook many cultural trips together with Adelheidwhenever he found a chance in his leisure times being a librarian. This was absolutely necessary to getting known in cultural circles outside Anhalt-Dessau.

Wilhelm Müllerprospered. But this exercise was strenuous and exhausting as well. He would have probably become a part of the “society” in Anhalt-Dessau as a poet and as a writer. As ill luck would have it, Wilhelm Müllerexpired while he was just on the verge of becoming a celebrated personality as a poet and as a writer.

In July, 1827 Wilhelm Müllerfell ill. Five days later, after he fell ill, he died of an attack in his sleep, just before his thirty-thirdbirthday. Adelheid Müllerwas then 27 years old, Auguste5 and Friedrich Maximilian3 and a half. His untimely death was surrounded by rumours of suicide or murder that persisted over the years which were not favourable for the mental balance and growth of the half-orphan Augusteand Friedrich Maximilian. More over the family was being left behind in poverty without any material resources.

These are the hard facts in regard to the family and social background of Friedrich Maximilianwhen he is three and half years old. A lot of myths have been written and printed on and about Friedrich Maximilian Müllerby Max Müller, by his British wife Georgina Max Müller, and by his son W. G. Max Müller. We take liberty of a break to look a little ahead. We reproduce here an exemplary paragraph on the family background of Friedrich Maximilian Müllerwhich has remained undisputed as yet:

“Max Müller's mother was Adelheid, elder daughter of President von Basedow, Prime Minister of the Duchy of Dessau. She was very small, but very beautiful, clever and lively, and had a fine contralto voice; and it was from her that Max Müller inherited his intense love of music. Frau Hofrathin Müller was a highly cultivated woman, understanding English, French, and Italian perfectly. She was a woman of an eager, even passionate temperament, and her children evidently suffered early from this, as Wilhelm Müller's letters are full of warnings to her not to punish too severely, and not to expect too much from her children (babies of four and five when their father died). Her father, President von Basedow, was himself the son of a man famous in Germany in his day, the pedagogue Basedow, the forerunner of Pestalozzi and Frobel.“

This we read in: THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE FRIEDRICH MAX MÜLLER, EDITED BY HIS WIFE, in two volumes, here in volume I, Longmans, Green, and Co., 39 Parternoster Row, London, New York and Bombay 1902 by Georgina Max Müller. She is Georgina Adelaide Grenfell, born 1835, marries Friedrich Maximilian Müllerin 1859 and becomes Georgina Max Müller.

We have quoted the second paragraph of the very first chapter written by Georgina Max Müller. We have taken a note that the same publisher that brought out the volumes “ Auld Lang Syne ” as well as “ My Autobiography ” by Max Müller has printed these volumes by Georgina Max Müller.

“My Autobiography” by Max Mülleris another primary source and those two volumes by Georgina Max Müllerare our second graded primary source. In our judgement, whatever Georgina Max Müllercould write about the life of Friedrich Maximilian Müllercame from Max Mülleror from her own wishful phantasm. In her volumes, she has included complementary documents to Auld Lang Syneand to My Autobiographyby Max Müller. We shall have to judge the quality of these documents in due course.

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We get back to the childhood and early school days of Friedrich Maximilianat Dessau. Adelheidhas to vacate their common home after the sudden death of Wilhelm Müller. She is unable to pay the rent. She first takes refuge in the house of her parents. But very soon she shifts to a ground floor flat in a tiny house as Wilhelm Müllerdid not leave behind any cash amount or property for his widow and for the two little kids. She has to manage with a meagre pension granted by the Duke of Anhalt-Dessau. It is the yearly sum of 100 thalers, as long as she remains a widow and until her sonhas completed his twenty-first year. And thereafter she was to be entitled to draw the sum of fifty thalers for the rest of her life. Here we get an indication of the minimum sum needed for a single person to survive at that period, 50 thalers per annum.

In the archives we are unable find any hints why Adelheid Müllerand her two helpless kids do not continue to stay with her affluent parents. We are unable to judge what happens in those days and months. We assume that Adelheidwas sidelined or even ostracized by her parental family due to her love-marriage with Wilhelm Müller. She might have been too proud to ask for material support either from her parents, or from the affluent stepmother of Wilhelm Müller. There are no indications that these two affluent families ever communicated with each other.

It is handed-down that Adelheidhad earned a reputation of being a good singer with a sweet voice. But she can neither earn additional funds for the family by singing, nor can she spare time to seek an occupation. She is solely dedicated to her two children. She is proud and brave. She does not move in the so-called society.