Alfred von Rauch
Alfred Bonaventura von Rauch (born April 1, 1824 in Potsdam , † September 25, 1900 in Berlin ) was a Prussian general of the cavalry . As Adjutant General of the German Emperors , he was also President of the Prussian General Order Commission . He was one of the prominent players in German horse racing .
Life
origin
Alfred von Rauch was the son of the Prussian lieutenant general Friedrich Wilhelm von Rauch (1790–1850), adjutant general of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia and Prussian military representative at the Tsar's court in Saint Petersburg , and his wife Laurette, née Countess von Moltke . His grandfather was Major General Bonaventura von Rauch (1740–1814), his great-grandfather the General of the Cavalry Joachim Bernhard von Prittwitz and the Prussian War Minister Gustav von Rauch was his uncle.
Rauch had two brothers who also became cavalry officers: Lieutenant General Friedrich Wilhelm von Rauch , commander of the 14th Cavalry Brigade , and Colonel Egmont von Rauch , commander of the Brandenburg Hussar Regiment ("Zietensche Hussars") No. 3 . His sister Elise Countess von Fersen , née von Rauch, served as lady-in-waiting to the Russian Empress Alexandra Fjodorovna .
Military career
In his youth, Rauch visited the cadet houses in Potsdam and Berlin . On August 9, 1842, he was transferred to the Regiment of the Gardes du Corps of the Prussian Army as a second lieutenant . In 1848 he was orderly officer of Prince Albrecht of Prussia , the youngest brother of Friedrich Wilhelm IV, and then in the same position with General of the Cavalry Friedrich von Wrangel . From 1849 to 1855 he was in Berlin as an adjutant under Wrangel at the High Command in the Marches and at the General Command of III. Army Corps . By 1855 Rauch advanced to Rittmeister and in 1856 he was squadron chief in the regiment of the Gardes du Corps.
In 1858 King Friedrich Wilhelm IV appointed him to his court as adjutant wing . There Rauch rose to major in 1859 and lieutenant colonel in 1863 .
During the war against Denmark in 1864 he took part in the bombardment of Fredericia and the storming of the Düppeler Schanzen at Wrangels headquarters .
After that, Rauch was the successor of Colonel Wilhelm Herzog zu Mecklenburg, commander of the Brandenburg Cuirassier Regiment (Emperor Nicolaus I of Russia) No. 6 in Brandenburg an der Havel . He led the regiment in the war against Austria in 1866 , u. a. also in the battle of Königgrätz .
In the war against France in 1870/71, as major general , he commanded the 17th Grand Ducal Mecklenburg Cavalry Brigade stationed in Schwerin ; you were u. a. the two Mecklenburg dragoon regiments No. 17 and No. 18 from Ludwigslust and Parchim respectively . His division commander wrote of Rauch in 1870: “An elegant officer, with an engaging personality, tact, dexterity and service knowledge. He conducted this year's exercises in the brigade with 3 regiments and 1 battery with caution and calm, and he was also satisfactory in the management of the division maneuvers. Suitable for transport. ”Rauch remained in command of the Schwerin Cavalry Brigade until 1875; from 1903 to 1906 it was commanded by his son Friedrich .
In 1875 Alfred von Rauch became Lieutenant General Inspector and Head of the Department for Remontism in the Berlin War Ministry . On August 23, 1883 smoke was with the character as a cavalry general to the disposition provided.
On New Year's Day 1884, Kaiser Wilhelm I appointed Rauch as his adjutant general and, at the same time, as president of the General Order Commission in Berlin in mid-April. On June 9, 1884, he was reinstated in the active army. Also under the successors of Wilhelm I, under Friedrich III. and Wilhelm II. , Rauch worked as adjutant general to continue to head the order commission.
Rauch was released from his position on July 7, 1894 and was last put up for a pension with the award of the diamonds for the Grand Cross of the Red Eagle Order .
Horse racing
Alfred von Rauch - like his brother Egmont - was one of the most prominent players in horse racing, which continued to flourish in the second half of the 19th century.
At first Rauch successfully rode horse races and in 1848 - together with his cousin Lieutenant Fedor von Rauch - became champion of amateur racing riders. He was able to fall back on horses from the thoroughbred breeding of the Plessen stud farm Ivenack in Mecklenburg .
Under the impression of an officer steeplechase in English rugby , Alfred von Rauch was one of the co-founders of the traditional Great Prussian Army Hunting Race in Karlshorst in 1862 . The Berlin Army Steeplechase (also called the "Army") quickly won the rank as a model for the future organization of hunting and obstacle races in German horse racing and for the later construction of the Karlshorst obstacle course . At Alfred von Rauch's suggestion, the first "Army Meeting in Baden-Baden" in 1871 at the Iffezheim racecourse goes back to; it established a long tradition of obstacle races there .
As a proven horse connoisseur, Rauch was chairman of the Association of German Horse Breeding Associations and various equestrian and racing associations.
Grave in the Berlin Invalidenfriedhof
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In 1900 Rauch was buried next to his parents in his family's grave in the Invalidenfriedhof in Berlin-Mitte. His wife Elisabeth, his son Friedrich and his daughter-in-law Amélie also found their final resting place there.
Rauch's hereditary burial goes back to a design by the Prussian court architect Friedrich August Stüler , commissioned by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV . All graves are preserved.
The family grave complex, only a few meters away from the former Berlin Wall , was restored after German reunification in the 1990s by the garden monument maintenance department of the Berlin State Monuments Office . The restoration was funded by the federal government, the Foundation Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin and the Invalidenfriedhof eV association
family
Rauch had married Elisabeth Countess von Brühl (born October 19, 1827 in Berlin, † September 5, 1901 in Berlin), lady-in-waiting of Queen Elisabeth Ludovika of Prussia , on September 20, 1851 in Potsdam . She was the daughter of the general manager of the royal theater and museums in Berlin, Karl Graf von Brühl (1772–1837), owner of the Seifersdorf palace and estate near Dresden, and his wife Jenny, née von Pourtalès (1795–1884).
The marriage had four children:
- Elisabeth (1852-1853)
- Friedrich (Fritz) (1855–1935), general of the cavalry
- I ∞ Anna von Behr (1865–1896), daughter of the member of the German Reichstag , President of the German Fisheries Association and owner of the Schmoldow and Vargatz estates , Friedrich von Behr , and his wife Marie, née Homeyer ; Anna later became the owner of Schmoldow
- II ∞ Amélie von Bülow from the Gudow family (1868–1950), lady-in-waiting to Grand Duchess Marie von Mecklenburg-Schwerin , daughter of the Lauenburg hereditary marshal and owner of Gudow, Friedrich Gottlieb von Bülow , and his wife Amalie, née von Oertzen
- Gabriele (Ella) (1857-1914)
- Anna (Anni) (1863–1962), lady-in-waiting of the Duchess Charlotte von Sachsen-Meiningen , secretary of the Lyceum Club Berlin
Portrayal and visual documentation
Alfred von Rauch has been portrayed many times between childhood and the last years of his life.
- Franz Krüger drew him for example in 1835 as an 11-year-old Potsdam cadet.
- An early photograph from 1858 shows Rauch as a royal adjutant (part of a portrait gallery of Friedrich Wilhelm IV's court officials).
- The equestrian portrait of the Schwerin court painter Theodor Schloepke from 1869 portrays Rauch as colonel and commander of the Cuirassier Regiment No. 6. It is part of the permanent exhibition of the Schwerin State Museum in Schwerin Castle .
- On the monumental painting Theodor Schloepke of "Entry of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz 'II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin at the head of the Schwerin contingent on June 14, 1871", completed by Carl Suhrlandt in 1883, is u. a. Rauch also depicted as commander of the Schwerin 17th Cavalry Brigade. This painting is also in the permanent exhibition of the State Museum Schwerin.
- In the left side relief of the equestrian statue of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin , Rauch is also recorded as the commander of the 17th Cavalry Brigade stationed in Schwerin. The equestrian statue in the Schwerin palace garden was created by Ludwig Brunow .
literature
- Gothaisches aristocratic paperback. B1928 (older genealogy) and 1939.
- Genealogical manual of the nobility. Noble houses B Volumes VII (1965), p. 339 and XXI (1995), p. 436f.
- The gazebo . 2. Supplement to issue 12/1900.
- Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldier leadership . Volume 8, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1941], DNB 367632837 , pp. 16-17, no. 2457.
- For the fiftieth anniversary of the service of the General of the Cavalry and Adjutant General Weiland, His Majesty the Emperor and King Wilhelm I, President of the General Order Commission of Rauch I. In: Military weekly paper . No. 45, May 24, 1893, pp. 1229-1232.
- The family v. Rauch in the Prussian Army. In: Military weekly paper. No. 79 of September 6, 1893, pp. 1979-1985.
- René Wiese (ed.): Vormärz and Revolution. The diaries of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. 2014, especially pp. 225-227.
- Harry Graf Kessler: The Diary: 1880 to 1937 , ed. by Roland S. Kamzelak and Ulrich Ott . Klett-Cotta Verlag , Stuttgart 2004. Volume 2, p. 203.
- Hildegard Freifrau von Spitzemberg : The diary. Records from the court society of the Hohenzollern Empire . Selected and edited by Rudolf Vierhaus . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Göttingen. 5th edition, 1989. pp. 320, 534.
- Association of German Amateur Rennreiter eV (Ed.): 150 years of amateur racing. 1977, p. 150.
- Karl Reinbothe: Baden-Baden. 150 years of the Iffezheim racecourse. Baden-Baden 2008. p. 48.
- Gerd von Ende: Berlin racing fever - gallop and trot on 150 years of Hoppegartener Turf. Tredition Verlag, Hamburg 2018. pp. 159–161.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rauch, Alfred von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Rauch, Alfred Bonaventura by (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Prussian general of the cavalry |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 1, 1824 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Potsdam |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 25, 1900 |
| Place of death | Berlin |