Leopold of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel

Leopold von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel; Painter unknown

Maximilian Julius Leopold von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , Prince of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel and nominally Duke of Braunschweig and Lüneburg (born October 11, 1752 in Wolfenbüttel ; † April 27, 1785 in Frankfurt (Oder) ), was a Prussian major general and one of the few high-ranking ones Officers in the armies of the late enlightened absolutism , for whom the subordinate soldier was more than a mechanical, willless tool in the hand of the commander . Princely charity towards soldiers and citizens and the circumstances of his death made Leopold famous.

The upbringing of the prince

Leopold was the 13th child and the youngest son of Duke Charles I and his wife Philippine Charlotte of Prussia , a sister of the Prussian King Friedrich II. He received his education from Enlightenmentists such as Abbot Jerusalem , Karl Christian Gärtner and Johann Arnold Ebert , who gave him strongly shaped. They escorted him and a. to a simple religious piety that should prove itself over and over again in action-determined human love. Its foundations lay in the broad field between neology and Lutheran orthodoxy .

P. Müller, a Leopold biographer, characterizes the eighteen-year-old prince as follows: “[...] a knowledgeable, amiable, humble youth with a soft heart, always working on himself and quickly and energetically fulfilling the demands of Christian neighborly love. One thing, of course, seems clear: this [...] education and upbringing was not very suitable to form the basis for the profession of a general , especially one in the sense of Frederick the Great. ”For his teachers,“ Christians and people were above the general ” , so that the prince "had no ambition, except not to lag behind any mortal in helping charity". Philanthropy and charity were the roots that determined his life from an early age, and the helping love for people in need was more important to him.

Leopold became an active Freemason. In 1770, at the age of 18, he entered the Braunschweig Freemason Lodge Carl to the Crowned Pillar and soon became a member of the Strict Observance. This variant of Freemasonry was linked to the Knights Templar ideal. In the lodge he found in the commitment to virtue, brotherhood and charity towards everyone a concrete framework for action for the ideals which he had come to know during his earlier upbringing. In addition, various close relatives were already influential members in this lodge. Most important for Leopold were his uncle Ferdinand von Braunschweig and his brother Friedrich August .

Especially during his later time in Frankfurt, Leopold became known for doing things that were very unusual for his class and the time in general, but which fully corresponded to his special self-image. He was not afraid to stand up for needy citizens; He did not refuse to assist “even” Jews who were outside the legal system of the citizens when they turned to him for help with confidence.

In 1772 he was made Knight of St. John by Prince Ferdinand of Prussia, another uncle . He began his military training and career in his father's Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, in which he quickly advanced as the son of the ruling house. In 1776 he was promoted to colonel . At the imperial court in Vienna he applied to lead a regiment. But he had not given his father, Duke Karl I, the time to carefully prepare this application to the relatives of the Empress Maria Theresa . He had to find out that he, a nephew of the Prussian king, was being put off "later".

Because he did not want to give up hope of a command post in Austria, Leopold embarked on a trip to Italy that was just as unprepared as his approach in Vienna. Lessing , the then court librarian in Wolfenbüttel, who happened to be in Vienna, accompanied him on this trip. In Naples , Leopold received the offer of his Prussian uncle, King Friedrich II., The Diringshofen Infantry Regiment (number 24) in Frankfurt a. d. O. to take over as head of the regiment. Leopold agreed.

Life in Frankfurt (Oder)

The regimental school in Frankfurt (Oder) built by Duke Leopold (today Kleistmuseum); Master builder Friedrich Knobloch 1777.

From the beginning of 1776 he resided in Frankfurt. In 1782, relatively late in view of his aristocratic origins and his kinship with the Prussian king, he was promoted to major general.

When the city was threatened by a flood in 1780, he used his regiment for relief measures without consulting the magistrate.

His regiment was obliged to maintain a school for the soldiers' children. The regiment chief Leopold took this official task very seriously. In order to wrest the children from their neglect and to provide the teacher with better work opportunities, he built a schoolhouse almost entirely at his own expense, because neither the king nor the magistrate agreed to the new building. He had the schoolchildren taught according to a new, child-friendly method developed by the philanthropist Eberhard von Rochow .

The misfortune of 1785 - the origin of the legend of Leopold's sacrificial death

During the great flood of the Oder in 1785, Leopold, who eagerly wanted to take part in the municipal authorities' aid measures, drowned at the age of only 32.

Duke Leopold before his journey into destruction. He majestically rejects the worried warnings from citizens. Copper engraving by Daniel Chodowiecki; 1785, fourth (final) state.

Monument in the Tiefurt Castle Park

The legend that the Duke tried to save citizens trapped by the flood from danger and died in the process was born in Frankfurt right after the accident and spread in no time at all. Its originator was the pastor of the French Reformed Congregation in Frankfurt, Jacques Papin, who hastily published it in the Berlin journals and also reported it to his father-in-law, the engraver Daniel Chodowiecki , in Berlin. Out of pity for the flood victims and in honor of the heroically sunk duke, Chodowiecki created an engraving in good faith in which he incorporated the essential statements of the legend and dramatized them: a person fighting for his life in the raging Oder; the debris floating on the water; Duke Leopold am Ufer in a final dispute with citizens who wanted to keep him from a boat trip, and others. a. with the hint that he owed it to his high class not to expose himself to unnecessary danger. Chodowiecki placed a related "statement" by the Duke under the picture. This sentence also came from the pen of the son-in-law, who did not reproduce a statement by the duke, but hit a nerve of the time: “I am a person like you, and here it depends on saving people.” Report, sentence and engraving caused a stir.

As an example of the commitment of Freemasons and citizens: Draft for the monument to Duke Leopold in Braunschweig, by Joh. Dan. Fiorillo shortly after 1785; etched by Ch. G. Geyser. (It is slightly damaged in the palace gardens in Blankenburg (Harz) .)

Socially and politically aspiring citizens saw in the “report” of Leopold's speech, deed and death, their own ideal of overcoming their limits in the corporate society emerged. The "commitment of his life to save others" did not let her rest. So Chodowiecki unselfishly determined the proceeds from the sale of his copperplate engravings to help those damaged by water, and Frankfurt, Berlin, Braunschweig and other Freemasons worked intensively to spread the news of Leopold's selfless commitment to his fellow citizens and of his heroic downfall throughout the Reich to celebrate him. They expressed their enthusiasm not only in the creation of Leopold monuments. They also looked after the children of the Frankfurt regimental school through a generous foundation. In this way, the Freemasons advertised new members and the ideas of the Enlightenment simultaneously with word and image. They have been actively supported by many journals and magazines.

What really happened - the suppression of the facts

In April 1785, however, the reality was different. Although Leopold was urgently advised not to venture out onto the dangerous water without necessity, he ignored the warnings and boarded a boat, not to save people but, as he said to the skippers who accompanied him, to look after them personally I have to take care of his soldiers who live on the other bank. The boat turned over. Leopold, so much admired in Frankfurt, paid for his zeal with his life.

This factual connection was seen in the spring of 1785, but covered by the wave of sadness, then the strong sympathy for the "hero" who had sacrificed himself. Corrections were rarely made or not noticed. Chodowiecki e.g. B. retouched the man fighting for his life in the water from the copper engraving reproduced here; but no observer was inclined to enter into such subtleties. The few statements that reproduced the reality of 1785 were condemned to memory, then forgotten, and were only rediscovered in the 20th century.

The celebration of the "hero" in art and literature

Apotheosis of Prince Leopold of Braunschweig; Ink drawing by Johann Heinrich Ramberg 1787 or 1788. (From: Catalog of the Kastern Gallery, Hanover 2008.)

The heroic legend of the Duke's death found a strong echo in art (numerous event pictures, portraits, medals, monuments) and literature (boasting short biographies, poems, speeches, etc.) or through monuments such as the one in the Seifersdorfer Valley .

Leopold Monument in Frankfurt (Oder)

Leopold monument in Frankfurt (Oder) 1906

On the initiative of the Freemasons' lodge in Frankfurt “Zum Aufrichtigen Herzen” and based on a design by Bernhard Rhode, a seven-meter-high monument made of sandstone was created in 1787 . It was set up on August 11, 1787 on the Prinzenufer in the Dammvorstadt , where the Duke's body is said to have been pulled out of the water.

The monument represented several people as well as the mythological figure of the Oder god Viadrus . Three female figures allegorically portrayed the virtues of philanthropy , steadfastness and modesty . They carried the urn with Leopold's ashes on their shoulders . The love of man also brought two children with it. On the front of the monument there was a portrait of the duke and an inscription with his life data. Next to it was another woman who symbolized the city of Frankfurt, and finally the grieving river god.

Theodor Fontane describes the monument in the 15th chapter of his 1878 novel Before the Storm :

“[…] Three female figures carried an urn with a star wreath, but on the base of the whole there were the following words:“ Philanthropy, steadfastness, modesty - three heavenly siblings - carry your ash jar, eternal Leopold, and complain to the goddess of the city, whose citizens you are to rushed to rescue, and complain to the Oder god, in whose waves you drowned, that the earth has lost its treasure. "..."

- Theodor Fontane: Before the storm

The monument is no longer at the place of installation. At the end of the Second World War it was dismantled and transported to an unknown location.

The burial place

Leopold found his final resting place in the crypt of the Brunswick Cathedral .

literature

to the earlier view

Web links

Commons : Leopold von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Literature by and about Leopold von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel in the catalog of the German National Library

Notes and evidence

↑ The baptismal register of the castle church in Wolfenbüttel clearly shows October 11th as the birthday of the prince; see. the church book in the Wolfenbüttel State Archives, Section 1 No. 1334 (Vol. 2 T.2). On the process of incorrect dating and, moreover, on how the Leopold biographers deal with the sources, cf. Pump. Heroic sacrificial death. 2008. p. 210, note I, 212; then also p. 205, note I, 71.
↑ See Hausen : Biography. 1785. S. XLV.
↑ The following quotations from P. Müller: Herzog Leopold. 1908. p. 21.
↑ See Hausen: Biography. 1785. pp. VIII - XI (excerpts from the young prince's transcript from his lessons near Jerusalem). See also the Creed of His Highness the Prince Leopold of Braunschweig published by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Jerusalem . 1. Aufl. Braunschweig 1769. See also in Hausen the selfless, personal extinguishing aid for fellow citizens, p. XLVI; the intense, loving care for his soldiers, p. XLVIII; charity towards “poor, abandoned, but worthy people”, S. LIX.

↑ On multiple help for protected Jews in Frankfurt cf. Pump: heroic sacrificial death. 2008. p. 156f., On this p. 222f., Note IV, 28.

↑ See the information from Walter Deeters: “Des Prinzen Leopold von Braunschweig Italy trip. A contribution to Lessing's biography. ”In: Braunschweigisches Jahrbuch. Of the whole series, Vol. 52, 1971, pp. 140-162, here p. 144. Pump shows one example: Heldenhafter Vpfertod. 2008. p. 227 from the Wolfenbüttel State Archives (a letter from Duke Charles I to his Legation Councilor in Vienna on May 19, 1775, after the failure of the application: the trip had been "too much precipitated".)

↑ See Hausen: Biography. 1785. S. XXXVIIIf. Another hint at the pump: Heroic sacrificial death. 2008. p. 227, note V, 54.

↑ On the identification of this pastor, his position in Frankfurt and his relationship to his father-in-law Chodowiecki cf. Pump: heroic sacrificial death. 2008. pp. 80 - 86, especially 81 and 84ff .; the evidence of the locations for the documents on p. 212f.

↑ ^a ^b Various newspapers were significantly involved in the creation of the legend in 1785. In Berlin: Royal privileged Berlinische Zeitung of state and scholar things ; Berlinische Nachrichten von Staats- und Schehrten things ; further newspapers in Hamburg, Frankfurt / Main and Braunschweig: Staats- und Gelehre Zeitung of the Hamburg impartial correspondent ; Emperorly privileged Hamburgische neue Zeitung ; Frankfurter Kaiserliche Reichsoberpostamtszeitung ; New Brunswick news from state and scholarly incidents . The decisive reports and their respective changes are printed today at Pump: Heroic Sacrificial Death. 2008. pp. 243 - 257 easily accessible.

↑ Information on the engraving in connection with the Leopold accident and the flood near Geismeier, Willi: Daniel Chodowiecki. Leipzig undated (1993). P. 188; near Oettingen, Wolfgang by: Daniel Chodowiecki. An artist's life in Berlin in the 18th century. Berlin 1895. p. 214; Compiled at Pump: Heroic Sacrificial Death. 2008. pp. 27 and 29; Pp. 82 - 84.

↑ This is the statement made by the fishermen who took part in the voyage of death but saved in an official report that the deputy head of the regiment had to draw up for the king and from which he reported to Friedrich August, Leopold's brother. The letter in the Thuringian main state archive in Weimar. Proof at the pump: heroic sacrificial death. 2008. p. 228, note V, 71.

↑ Corresponding critical statements proven in the case of Pump: Heroic sacrificial death. 2008. p. 202, note I, 2; P. 210, note I, 215.

↑ Theodor Fontane: Before the storm , 15th chapter The reconnaissance trip

↑ Bernhard Klemm: Frankfurt Monument History - told based on the fate of individual monuments. , In: Mitteilungen des Historische Verein zu Frankfurt (Oder) eV , 1997, Issue 1, p. 9

personal data
SURNAME	Leopold of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Maximilian Julius Leopold of Braunschweig-Lüneburg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Prussian major general
DATE OF BIRTH	October 11, 1752
PLACE OF BIRTH	Wolfenbüttel
DATE OF DEATH	April 27, 1785
Place of death	Frankfurt (Oder)

[1] The baptismal register of the castle church in Wolfenbüttel clearly shows October 11th as the birthday of the prince; see. the church book in the Wolfenbüttel State Archives, Section 1 No. 1334 (Vol. 2 T.2). On the process of incorrect dating and, moreover, on how the Leopold biographers deal with the sources, cf. Pump. Heroic sacrificial death. 2008. p. 210, note I, 212; then also p. 205, note I, 71.

[2] See Hausen : Biography. 1785. S. XLV.

[3] The following quotations from P. Müller: Herzog Leopold. 1908. p. 21.

[4] See Hausen: Biography. 1785. pp. VIII - XI (excerpts from the young prince's transcript from his lessons near Jerusalem). See also the Creed of His Highness the Prince Leopold of Braunschweig published by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Jerusalem . 1. Aufl. Braunschweig 1769. See also in Hausen the selfless, personal extinguishing aid for fellow citizens, p. XLVI; the intense, loving care for his soldiers, p. XLVIII; charity towards “poor, abandoned, but worthy people”, S. LIX.

[5] On multiple help for protected Jews in Frankfurt cf. Pump: heroic sacrificial death. 2008. p. 156f., On this p. 222f., Note IV, 28.

[6] See the information from Walter Deeters: “Des Prinzen Leopold von Braunschweig Italy trip. A contribution to Lessing's biography. ”In: Braunschweigisches Jahrbuch. Of the whole series, Vol. 52, 1971, pp. 140-162, here p. 144. Pump shows one example: Heldenhafter Vpfertod. 2008. p. 227 from the Wolfenbüttel State Archives (a letter from Duke Charles I to his Legation Councilor in Vienna on May 19, 1775, after the failure of the application: the trip had been "too much precipitated".)

[7] See Hausen: Biography. 1785. S. XXXVIIIf. Another hint at the pump: Heroic sacrificial death. 2008. p. 227, note V, 54.

[8] On the identification of this pastor, his position in Frankfurt and his relationship to his father-in-law Chodowiecki cf. Pump: heroic sacrificial death. 2008. pp. 80 - 86, especially 81 and 84ff .; the evidence of the locations for the documents on p. 212f.

[Zeitungen-9] Various newspapers were significantly involved in the creation of the legend in 1785. In Berlin: Royal privileged Berlinische Zeitung of state and scholar things ; Berlinische Nachrichten von Staats- und Schehrten things ; further newspapers in Hamburg, Frankfurt / Main and Braunschweig: Staats- und Gelehre Zeitung of the Hamburg impartial correspondent ; Emperorly privileged Hamburgische neue Zeitung ; Frankfurter Kaiserliche Reichsoberpostamtszeitung ; New Brunswick news from state and scholarly incidents . The decisive reports and their respective changes are printed today at Pump: Heroic Sacrificial Death. 2008. pp. 243 - 257 easily accessible.

[10] Information on the engraving in connection with the Leopold accident and the flood near Geismeier, Willi: Daniel Chodowiecki. Leipzig undated (1993). P. 188; near Oettingen, Wolfgang by: Daniel Chodowiecki. An artist's life in Berlin in the 18th century. Berlin 1895. p. 214; Compiled at Pump: Heroic Sacrificial Death. 2008. pp. 27 and 29; Pp. 82 - 84.

[11] This is the statement made by the fishermen who took part in the voyage of death but saved in an official report that the deputy head of the regiment had to draw up for the king and from which he reported to Friedrich August, Leopold's brother. The letter in the Thuringian main state archive in Weimar. Proof at the pump: heroic sacrificial death. 2008. p. 228, note V, 71.

[12] Corresponding critical statements proven in the case of Pump: Heroic sacrificial death. 2008. p. 202, note I, 2; P. 210, note I, 215.

[13] Theodor Fontane: Before the storm , 15th chapter The reconnaissance trip

[14] Bernhard Klemm: Frankfurt Monument History - told based on the fate of individual monuments. , In: Mitteilungen des Historische Verein zu Frankfurt (Oder) eV , 1997, Issue 1, p. 9