Christoph Mühlenberg

Christoph Mühlenberg (born April 9, 1784 in Erxleben ; † July 20, 1809 in Braunschweig ) was a corporal participant in Major Schill's uprising against the French occupation under Napoleon and was therefore legally shot.

Christoph Mühlenberg was the eldest son of the shepherd master Johann Andreas Christoph Mühlenberg (* 1758) in Erxleben and his wife Friederica Charlotte Augusta Freyse (* 1764). He had six younger siblings, but they all died as children.

When the Prussian major Ferdinand von Schill (1776–1809) began an uprising against the French occupation under Napoleon at the end of April 1809, Christoph Mühlenberg joined the Schill troop as corporal. The uprising was put down. Schill fell on May 31, 1809 defending Stralsund . 557 militants were taken prisoner by the French. Eleven captured officers were brought to court martial in Wesel and shot there on September 16, 1809. Fourteen Westphalian subjects were drawn from non-commissioned officers and men, sentenced to death and shot on July 18, 20 and 22, 1809 on a square near St. Leonhard in Braunschweig. Corporal Christoph Mühlenberg was one of them. The rest of the prisoners came to a large extent on French galleys.

The mortal remains of those shot were dug up again in 1835 and reburied in the churchyard of St. Leonhard. With the help of donations, a memorial with the names of the dead was erected there, which was inaugurated on March 19, 1837. The monument has been preserved to this day. In 1960 a street in Erxleben was named 'Christoph-Mühlenberg-Straße'.

literature

• Rudolf Peisker: The historical experience - a chronicle. Editor: Erxleben community (no year - around 1998), pp. 53–56.
• Jörg Matuschat: Ferdinand von Schill in Stralsund . Stralsund 2009, pp. 66/67.
• Frank Bauer: Schill's train 1809 . Potsdam 2009, pp. 49/50.
• Reimar von Alvensleben : The uprising of Major Schill and the Altmark . Altmarkblätter - local supplement of the Altmark-Zeitung, 20th volume No. 42 from October 17, 2009 and No. 43 from October 24, 2009.