Ernst Christoph August von der Sahla

Ernst Christoph August von der Sahla (born December 10, 1791 in Dresden , † August 28, 1815 in Paris ) was a German assassin who planned the assassination of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1811 and 1815 .

Life

Ernst Christoph August von der Sahla came from an old noble family whose seat was Schönfeld Castle from the middle of the 15th century until 1765 . The son of the manor owner Christoph August von der Sahla auf Ober- and Mittelohland and his wife Ernestine Gottlobe Philippine Sophie, née von Burgsdorff, was accepted into the educational institution of the Moravian Brethren in Niesky at the age of eight . Because of a serious illness, von der Sahla was sent to Karlovy Vary for a spa stay in 1806 , where the young person got in touch with a secret society against Napoleon Bonaparte. From 1809 von der Sahla studied law, theology, history and oriental languages at the University of Leipzig . The following year he converted from the Sahla to Catholicism and corresponded with the Dresden preacher Franz Varin, who told him about the shameful effects of the Peace of Poznan . Von der Sahla then attracted attention through threatening speeches against Napoleon Bonaparte and took target practice in January 1811. During this time he took out loans and bought firearms and stabbing weapons.

At the beginning of February 1811, von der Sahla set off from Leipzig on an educational trip to Frankfurt am Main . Instead, he pursued the goal of participating in the celebrations for the birth of Marie-Louise of Austria in Paris and shooting Napoleon Bonaparte. After it became known at the University of Leipzig that Sahlas would be traveling to Paris, the university expressed its suspicion that the Sahla was planning an assassination attempt on Napoleon Bonaparte, the Saxon authorities, who in turn informed the French Police Minister Anne Jean Marie René Savary . At the end of February 1811 she was arrested and interrogated by the Sahla in Paris. He admitted his intention to kill and stated that he was enthusiastic about Friedrich Stapß , had become a Catholic out of gratitude for the excommunication of Napoleon Bonaparte by Pope Pius VII and wanted to eliminate the French rule. Because of the political explosiveness of the assassination plans of a nobleman from the friendly kingdom of Saxony, the matter was hushed up. In addition, it turned out that von Sahla's plans were not entirely unknown in the political salons in Saxony. By order of Napoleon, von der Sahla was then declared confused and initially held in Vincennes Castle and later in Saumur Castle for almost three years as a madman. After the fall of Napoleon, Alexander I was released from the Sahla in April 1814 by the Tsar .

After Napoleon's return from exile in March 1815, von der Sahla traveled again to France to kill the emperor he hated deeply. His renewed assassination attempt escaped the French authorities. Until the beginning of June 1815 he lived undetected in Paris. While preparing for the assassination, von der Sahla was seriously injured in a bomb explosion and was arrested again. After Napoleon was deposed, the Sahla was released again in the summer of 1815. He was already a broken man by that time. In the beginning of August 1815, the seriously ill from the Sahla made an unsuccessful suicide attempt, a few weeks later he died of his poor health.

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personal data
SURNAME	Sahla, Ernst Christoph August from the
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German assassin who planned the assassination of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1811 and 1815
DATE OF BIRTH	December 10, 1791
PLACE OF BIRTH	Dresden
DATE OF DEATH	August 28, 1815
Place of death	Paris