The Plight of the Louisians

The Plight of the Louisians
Die Notlage der Louisen
La Détresse de la Louisiane

The cover of the Saxon-language first edition, showcasing a photograph of a Louisian woman and her child.

Author	Wolfgang Arnholtz
Country	United Principalities
Language	Common Tongue, Saxon, Louisian
Publisher	Weisenburger Freie Presse
Published	1736 AN

The Plight of the Louisians (Saxon: Die Notlage der Louisen, Louisian: La Détresse de la Louisiane) is a documentary novel by Weisenburger author Wolfgang Arnholtz. The novel was written to expose the extreme poverty that the nation's Louisian population lives in and the discrimination that they face.

Background

Map of the seven majority Louisian villages in the District of Neudemmin, with Saxon place names in parenthesis.

After the formation of the United Principalities in 1725 AN, seven Louisian-populated villages found themselves subsumed into the wider Duchy of Rhaetia, with all of them falling under the Bezirk of Neudemmin. Under this this regime, Louisian-speaking people were notably not granted the citizenship that was extended to both Saxon and Zandt-speaking peoples. Thus, they found themselves with the same status as refugees. However, unlike most refugees, it was near-impossible for Louisians to be granted citizenship. The Weisenburger authorities main aim was to assimilate Louisian communities by promoting Saxon language and culture at the expense of the former's identity. Educational policies put in place by the government in Weisenburg favored Saxon language instruction, and Louisian frequently either marginalized or outright banned in schools and public life. Louisian people were often barred from enrolling in universities, as many put in place Saxon or Zandt language tests that one must complete before they were allowed to register for classes.

These barriers also extended to property ownership. Louisians often barriers to property ownership as well as employment, as were not allowed to take up positions in law, academia, or government, relegating most to manual labor or agriculture. Many farmers struggled against aggressive competition from Saxon farmers who received more support from the central government. They were also often excluded from decision making processes. The United Principalities' centralized government and policies were largely dominated by ethnic Saxons, leaving almost no room for Louisians political representation.

This were the conditions that one Wolfgang Arnholtz found the Louisian community in 1734 AN. Arnholtz, a cultural anthropologist with a Doctorate from the University of Svorgas, had spent decades traveling Micras documenting the numerous societies and peoples of the planet. But when he decided to document the Louisian population, which he had been taught numbered no more than a few hundred, what saw him truly horrified him. He wrote in his diaries about the village of Saint-Étienne de Lanciers; "[The Louisians] are a broken people. The memories of their former empire are nothing but a hazy dream for them as they kill themselves working their crop fields for a wage that is insufficient to feed their families. Their village is nothing but a collection of dirty and crowded shacks, most without running water or electricity, and work as tenement farmers (as attempting to compete with the Saxons on their own is nothing but an economic death sentence for them). Most do not know how to read or write, and those who do can only do so in their native tongue. No schools in the district will admit non-Saxon or Zandt speaking students. Any sort of social welfare money does not find their way into the pockets of the Louisians..." After attempting to confer with his colleagues in Weisenburg about these conditions, he was met with a general disinterest as they saw the Louisians as just another group of poor farmers. This emboldened Arnholtz to publish his findings in a tell-all manuscript in order to expose the system of discriminatory poverty that the Louisains were faced with.

Content

The book itself contains numerous interviews with Louisian peasants, local leaders, and Saxon residents of all seven majority-Louisian villages in Neudemmin. The book also contains several photographs, maps, and other charts. Arnholtz's attempts to interview members of the district and national governments however went unreplied.

Reactions

Legal Response

Almost immediately after the publishing of the book the District Governor of Neudemmin, Theodor von Ertling, filed a lawsuit against Arnholtz and Weisenburger Freie Presse, who published the book. Ertling claimed that the book contained several defamatory statements towards the Kaiser and insults towards the "...integrity of the Weisenburger realm." Ertling ordered all sales of the book made illegal via enacting the Pressezensurgesetz, a law that albeit not making ownership of the text illegal, would make it illegal to sell the book in shops and being available in libraries. In order to do this however, Ertling would had to have gotten permission from the Grand Imperial Court in Weisenburg. The Grand Court subpoenaed Arnholtz to testify before them, but he had left the country bound for Aerla to hold a seminar at the University of Noursala. Thereafter, the Court ordered that Arnholtz was to be arrested at any entry point if and when he reentered the UPC. In response to this, Arnholtz was offered refuge by authorities in Nouvelle Alexandrie, where he settled in Cárdenas.

Despite Arnholtz not being present, the Court was able to push the case onto the books publisher, Weisenburger Freie Presse (WFP). The offices of WFP had been raided by the Staatsschutzbehörde in the dead of night and copies of the books seized in accordance with a search warrant granted by the Court.

Government Response

Eventually news of the scandal reached the desk of Chancellor Konstantin Tiedemann, of which he reacted with horror. Tiedemann, himself coming from a minority family, routinely detested discrimination that his native Zandt population had faced before their eventual inclusion into the wider Weisenburger society.

This was not a common sentiment shared by Tiedemann's own party, the mostly Saxon-dominated Conservative-Nazarene Union, which mostly turned a blind eye towards Louisian discrimination. However the Farmer's Party was the first to file a petition to officially grant citizenship to Louisians back in 1729 AN, and the party continued this trend by officially denouncing Ertling and his so-called "apartheid district". Roughly a week after the novel's publication, Farmer's Party leader Heinrich Lechner again petitioned a measure to grant citizenship to all Louisians residing in the UPC citizenship. This measure however failed, with a final tally of 9 yays and 19 nays (although 3 of the yay votes came from the CNU). The main reason for the votes failure, according to both Lechner and Tiedemann, was due to spite against Arnholtz and his statements against the Kaiser, although the official stance taken by the CNU was that they were "awaiting the results of the suit against Arnholtz and Weisenburger Freie Presse."

Domestic Response

Soon after the announcement of the book's potential censorship protests erupted in universities and urban centers across the country. The mayor of Altdorf made a statement in support of the protests, saying that "...have we no decency? So what if they do not speak a Germanian language? Are they no less of a person than us? I think not." Several protesters reportedly carried signs depicting members of the Imperial Senate as cockroaches, mirroring the Senator's comment. SSB agents also were reported to have responded to at least bomb threat at the office of District Governor Ertling. Meanwhile, charitable donations both domestically and from the Louisian Relief Fund began pouring into Louisian communities.

This sentiment was not shared by everyone. The anti-Royal remarks in the book struck a nerve with the older and more conservative members of Weisenburger society. Chancellor Tiedemann, in order to stop any violence from being directed towards the Louisians themselves, ordered forces of the Weisenburger Kriegstruppen to guard the villages and prevent any violence.

Royal Response

It was reported by several news sources, including Der Tag, that the Kaiser and most of the royal family was on vacation at his hunting lodge deep in the Lanzerwald in Rhaetia to celebrate the eighteenth birthday of Crown Prince Paul. Thus, it was found by Tiedemann that he could not contact Ludwig for advice. This was not the case for Prince Hans, who was residing in East Zimia and the Wallis Islands. Upon reading a copy of the novel, it was said Hans was so upset that he spent several days isolated in bed. He would later telephone the ambassador for East Zimia, Heinrich Jürgens, and state that "I will never return to that land of bastards and bigots. I hate them all. How did I live there for 11 years and not hear one word of what was going on outside of the castles and hunting lodges?"

The day after Prince Paul's birthday a horseback courier delivered an urgent letter from Chancellor Tiedemann, with it detailing the quickly unraveling domestic and international situation in relation to what the letter called "The Louisian Crisis". Ludwig was apparently irate at the letter, exclaiming that he should have the entire Imperial Senate and Chancellery dismissed for this mismanagement of the situation. He ordered his family to board the royal train back to Weisenburg, so he could take control of the situation personally.

Upon his arrival back in Weisenburg, Ludwig summoned Tiedemann and his cabinet to his residence at the Bergschloss. It was there he chastised everyone in attendance for their "gross and unacceptable incompetence" handling of the situation. Many of the words said by Ludwig were said to be so vulgar that the secretary dared not record them in the official minutes of the meeting. Ludwig was reported to have stated "We are quickly becoming a pariah in our own continent! All of our hard work over the past decade is all but a waste now because you simply cannot do your jobs!" After the meetings conclusion, Ludwig had officially decided to push Tiedemann and the Imperial Senate aside and take charge of the situation.

International Response

Soon after Ambassador to Nouvelle Alexandrie, Bernhard Graf von Weichenheim, was called to the floor of the Imperial Senate after had been summoned by the the ladder's own ambassador over the treatment of the Louisians and the potential for political and economic sanctions against the country. Weichenheim stressed the need for relief to be given to the Louisians, as he said "The Louisians are the kin of the Nouvelle Alexandrie, they will not let this go easy. We must rectify the situation for the betterment of our position in the international community." Upon the mention of a "Louisian Relief Fund" and a special immigration program for Louisians wishing to relocate to Nouvelle Alexandrie, the chamber was reported to filled of the laughter of CNU Senators, with one of them shouting "Then let them rid us of these cockroaches!" Tiedemann, who was present in the chamber, ordered the ejection of the offending senator and later condemned the remark, stating "These disgusting comments only go to show how embeded this kind of discrimination is in our society." Tiedemann would later call the Secretary of State of Nouvelle Alexandrie, Morissa Baumann, and shared his concern over the situations of the Louisians but also shared that there was little he could do at this time as he was at odds with his own party over this issue. Baumann, while appreciting Tiedemann's comments, stood firm on her nation's calls for Louisian rights.

The Confoederatio Aemilia, a nation with a significant Louisian population and a princess of Louisian heritage condemned the treatment of the Louisian population and the reaction of the government of the United Principalities. It consulted with the government of Nouvelle Alexandrie in order to coordinate the response and Princess Emilia Antoinette herself made a significant contribution to the Louisian Relief Fund.

The Louisian Decree

Still frame of an amateur clandestine recording of von Ertling's arrest, after his declaration against the Decree.

In the early hours of a winter morning in 1737.3 AN, Ludwig I announced the implementation of the so-called Louisian Decree, a royal decree that finally granted citizenship and language rights to Louisians throughout the UPC. The decree condemned the legal discrimination and the lack of action imposed by the Imperial Senate in regards to the Louisians. It also further declared that any action taken against the implementation of its provisions to be not only sedition against the state, but against the Kaiser himself. However, the decree did not dismiss the charges and court precedings brought against Arnholtz due to the defamatory statements against the royal family contained in the book.

Implementation of the decree, while not popular among members of the Imperial Senate, would nonetheless be hastily implemented. Ludwig also made it clear that any criticisms of the edict should be kept private unless the offending members be outed as disobeying royal orders. This would not stop the aforementioned District Governor Theodor von Ertling from lambasting the decree and stating his refusal for its implementation in his district.

At roughly 07:20 local time in 1736.6 AN, as von Ertling left his house for his usual morning walk, he was surrounded by SSB agents that had been camped out in a box lorry down the road. The arrest was filmed by a teenager who lived two houses over from von Ertling from inside of his parent's car, with his recording being leaked to the media some days later. In the video, von Ertling became hysteric very quickly, shrieking "You fools have no clue who you're arresting!" and "At your command I will call of the Heimwehr!" These pleads went unresponded too by the arresting officers, however they were seen smirking at eachother while they were cuffing the governor. Von Ertling would be sent to the Gödelitz Men's Prison to await his trial on the charges of Sedition. The District of Neudemmin was placed under the temporary governace of Crown Prince Paul, but this was seen by the general public as Ludwig taking direct control over the District to ensure the Decree's implementation there.

Von Ertling's arrest also saw the dismissal of all charges against Arnholtz, as the suit against him was declared a mistrial after the former's arrest.