The acquisition of this unassuming print in 1993 held great symbolic significance for the Deutsches Historisches Museum’s programme, as it could be interpreted as an affirmation of Germany’s commitment to the values of Western democracies.

The separation of the thirteen North American colonies from the British motherland was strongly influenced by the ideas of natural law proposed by the European Enlightenment, according to which all people are by nature free, equal, and endowed with the same inalienable rights. From the very beginning, these included the universal right to migration. Immigrants from Germany and Switzerland played a decisive role in the dissemination of Enlightenment literature. Numerous religious refugees from Germany settled in what is now the state of Pennsylvania, which was regarded as particularly liberal. A German-language printing and publishing industry developed there early on, which became increasingly politicised as the conflicts between the colonies and Great Britain intensified. In Philadelphia, the printing shop of Henrich Miller, as well as those of Melchior Steiner and Carl Cist, maintained close contacts with the delegates of the Continental Congress, including Thomas Jefferson. In early 1776, Steiner & Cist published the German translation of Thomas Paine’s revolutionary pamphlet Common Sense under the title Gesunde Vernunft, followed in July by the single-sheet German print of the Declaration of Independence, intended for the German-speaking settlers in Pennsylvania. Only two copies of this print have survived: one is held at the Deutsches Historisches Museum, the other at the Musselman Library at Gettysburg College, Gettysburg (PA).

If you hurry, you can still admire the original in the current exhibition: it will be on display until the beginning of August.