The Weilburg cadet murder
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Weilburg cadet murder |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1977 |
| length | 100 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK unknown |
| Rod | |
| Director | Eberhard Itzenplitz |
| script | Eberhard Itzenplitz , Wolfgang Lohmeyer (idea) |
| production | ZDF |
| music | unknown |
| camera | Franz Rath |
| cut | unknown |
| occupation | |
| |
The Weilburger Kadettenmord is an author's film produced for television from 1977, based on an idea by Wolfgang Lohmeyer . Directed by Eberhard Itzenplitz . The first broadcast was on February 4, 1977 , on ZDF . The film is based on a true event that took place in the town of Weilburg in Central Hesse in the early 19th century .
action
In 1827 Mathias Trapp, sergeant in the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Ducal Nassau Army , instigated several soldiers to murder the 18-year-old cadet (officer candidate) Adolph Vigelius. The plot finally includes 48 ordinary soldiers and NCOs who want to commit the crime together on December 7, 1827 outside the Weilburg barracks.
Trapp lures his comrades with the prospect of an allegedly large sum of money that the victim is supposed to carry with him. The booty, however, remains modest after the division among the numerous accomplices.
Trapp's real motive is not greed for money, but hurt pride and frustrated ambition. The sergeant, who comes from a humble background, is angry that a new ducal decree is preventing him and other proven NCOs from being promoted to officers. In order to professionalize and modernize the officer corps, it should in future be supplemented solely by the members of the "educated classes". According to this, only the sons of the nobility and the rich bourgeoisie can make a career in the military, as was the case before the Napoleonic Wars .
Trapp feels like a kind of “ modernization loser ”, Vigelius, on the other hand, is a “modernization winner” - and for Trapp a typical representative of the privileged upper class he hated. Since the dissatisfied person feels additionally humiliated by Vigelius' supposedly arrogant behavior, he plans to set an example by killing him . In its execution, however, Trapp remains inconsistent: By later disguising the crime as robbery, the act loses its previously intended character as a political beacon and sinks into a personal act of revenge.
Trapp is the first to stab the unsuspecting Vigelius. The surprised victim has no chance to defend himself against the majority of attackers. The horribly mutilated, looted corpse is found the next day. As hoped by the perpetrators, the judiciary initially suspects a simple robbery with the cadet as a chance victim.
Soon, however, the suspicion falls on Trapp and his co-conspirators. But because there is nothing to prove and no confession to be elicited from them, they are imprisoned in Diez Prison and severely mistreated. Some of the remand prisoners perish or commit suicide. The investigators can finally reconstruct the crime from a few statements.
The judgments of the court martial against the surviving 37 participants were given in the spring of 1832, five years after the crime. As ringleaders, Trapp and three other non-commissioned officers (Heuser, Lemp, Leleid), who have since been demoted, are beheaded “by the sword”. The other ex-NCOs and soldiers receive penal sentences of between two and 15 years.
Reviews
“[...] the author and director told a stirring story of confusion and violence in a very colorful way. In his hand, the yellowed files were transformed into a bloody piece of history with characters whose speeches and reactions reflected the break in time. "
literature
- Guntram Müller-Schellenberg: The Nassau military in Napoleonic times . Schellenberg'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Wiesbaden 2007, ISBN 978-3-922027-79-9 , pp. 256 ff .
Web links
- Weilburger Cadet Murder in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- krimiserien.heimat.eu - The crime thriller homepage SPECIAL: Classics of the German television game
- Record-based representation of the robbery murder committed on December 7th, 1827 of Cadet Adolph Vigelius from Wiesbaden , published by Ludwig Riedel, Wiesbaden 1832