Not much has been written in English about the nephews of Friedrich Froebel who were taught by him until 1824 in the school he opened at Keilhau. It is hard to ascertain the reasons for this neglect within Froebelian circles as the lives of the nephews shed considerable light on the political and social attitudes of the first generation of Froebelians.
Together with Arnold Ruge (1802-1880), the self appointed leader of the Young Hegelians who were critical of the great philosopher G.W. F. Hegel (1770-1831), Julius was the publisher of a journal started by Karl Marx entitled Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher (German-French Yearbook). Marx wrote a letter to Julius Froebel concerning this publication in 1843. Another letter to Froebel approving of the ideas of Max Stirner (1806-1856) was written by Ruge.
Julius participated in the Frankfurt Parliament. A list of his writings (in German) from this period and their location may be found here. Another participant was Heinrich Simon (1805-1860) an uncle of the grandfather of Brian Simon who for many years was Britain's leading historian of education
Heinrich Simon and Julius Froebel were close friends of Fanny Lewald (1811-1889), an advocate of women's education.
He is sometimes, as here, cited as the reason for the Prussian proscription of the kindergarten. Most sources, however, assert that the ban was instigated by the activities of his equally radical brother, Karl.
On 8th November 1848 Julius Froebel was sentenced to death for his participation in the revolution of that year. This page on Robert Blum (1804-1848), another participant in the revolution, who was executed, discusses his role. Julius Froebel is also mentioned in connection with 1848 here.
Like many forty-eighters Julius Froebel left for the USA after the collapse of the revolution. He sailed from Liverpool to New York in 1849 on a ship called the Noughton and here is a facsimile of his ticket . His occupation is given as a Professor of Mineralogy - he held a chair at the University of Zurich - an occupation that resonates with his uncle's interest in minerals.
Entries from two biographical dictionaries (in pdf format) outline his activities and travels in North and South America.
In the USA, Julius was linked to the German community at Sisterdale Texas that was formed by forty-eighters who had fled the aborted 1848 revolution in Europe. Also among the group was Baron von Westphal a brother of Jenny, the wife of Karl Marx. While in Texas he commented on the peonage system that kept native Americans in semi-slavery. The archive of another forty eighter who settled in America Friedrich Hecker (1811-1881) contains a letter from Julius Froebel dated March 1857, The letter was written in Belize, British Honduras, on the suitability of British Honduras for German emigration. A liberal Republican, Hecker was a supporter of Carl Schurz, whose wife opened the first kindergarten in the USA.
Hecker was opposed to slavery as was Alexander von Humboldt who encouraged Froebel to campaign against it also.
As can be seen below, Julius Froebel's publications were not in the field of education but in1860 a year after opening his school at Yasnaya Polyana, the renowned Russian novelist and anarchist thinker, Leo Nikolayevitch Tolstoy (1828-1910) met Julius Froebel during a trip to Western Europe to learn more about contemporary theories of education.
Julius Froebel became German consul in Smyrna, after which he went to Algiers. At the age of 83, he finally went back to Zurich, Switzerland, where he published a two volume work about his life.
Froebel is the usual rendering in English texts of the German name Fröbel.
SIMON, B. (1998). The monument at Murg. [Leicester], Pendene Press.