Ernst von Pfuel

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Ernst von Pfuel

Ernst Heinrich Adolf von Pfuel (born November 3, 1779 at Gut Jahnsfelde ; † December 3, 1866 in Berlin ) was a Prussian infantry general , reformer of military sports, commander of the city of Cologne and the Prussian sector of Paris , governor of the Principality of Neuchâtel , Member of the Prussian National Assembly from 1848, Governor of Berlin , Prussian Prime Minister and Minister of War and member of the Herrenhaus .

Life

Ernst von Pfuel

origin

Ernst came from the old to Jahnsfelde in the Brandenburg Switzerland -based noble family of Pfuel . He was the son of the Prussian major general Ludwig von Pfuel (1718–1789), landlord on Jahnsfelde and former court marshal of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia and Sophie Kranz (1755–1783) and the brother of lieutenant general Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Pfuel .

Career

Pfuel was considered liberal and open to reforms. In Berlin he was one of the few officers who frequented Rahel Varnhagens' salon . Later he belonged to the lawless society in Berlin .

At the age of 13 he was sent to the Berlin cadet institute by his family . On September 12, 1797, Pfuel was employed as an ensign in the "Crown Prince" infantry regiment of the Prussian Army . There he was promoted to second lieutenant on October 8, 1799 . On June 18, 1803 Pfuel submitted his farewell, went to Dresden to his friend Heinrich von Kleist and undertook various trips with him. In April 1805 he applied for his re-employment in the army. Pfuel then joined the "von Schachtmeyer" fusilier battalion in the 2nd East Prussian Fusilier Brigade. During the 1806 campaign , he took part in the battle of Jena and Auerstedt as an adjutant to General Count von Schmettau . He was taken prisoner by the French near Lübeck, but was soon released on his word of honor. After the Prussian defeat and the Peace of Tilsit , Pfuel said goodbye again and got a job in Dresden as a teacher to Prince Bernhard .

General Ernst von Pfuel, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm , Colonel Cellar Master von der Lund

In 1809 he entered Austrian service and in the same year took part in the battles near Eger and in Saxony during the campaign against the French. From September 1810 to November 1811 Pfuel served as a captain in the "Archduke Rainar" infantry regiment and then worked in the Vienna War Archives . There he got to know Freiherr vom Stein , who found him a job in Russian services at the beginning of the campaign in 1812 . On behalf of Tsar Alexander I , Pfuel came to Marshal Kutuzov's headquarters . After his promotion to major , he was assigned to the Tettenborn patrol corps as its chief of the general staff. During the Wars of Liberation , Pfuel fought near Berlin in February 1813, moved into the city and later participated in the occupation of Hamburg. He was promoted to colonel on January 1, 1814 and was commander of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Russian-German Legion from February 2 to April 11, 1814 . Then Pfuel returned to Prussian service and was a member of the General Staff. For his achievements in the campaign in Holstein King Friedrich Wilhelm III awarded him . on December 29, 1814 the order Pour le Mérite . During the summer campaign of 1815 , Pfuel was on the General Staff of Blücher . He fought at Ligny , received the Iron Cross II class and took part in the Battle of Waterloo . After Napoleon's defeat and the occupation of the French capital, Pfuel was in command of the Prussian sector of Paris from July 26th to August 30th, 1815.

On August 31, 1815, Pfuel returned to the General Staff, was promoted to Chief of the General Staff of the VIII Army Corps in Koblenz on May 25, 1818 and promoted to Major General on September 19, 1818. From June 18, 1825 to November 30, 1828 he was commander of the 7th Landwehr Brigade in Magdeburg and then until the end of March 1830 a member of the examination committee for military science and technical subjects. This was followed by his appointment as commander of the 15th division on March 30, 1830 . At the same time, Pfuel also acted as first commandant of Cologne from September 10, 1830.

The return of General Ernst von Pfuel. Entry into La Chaux-de-Fonds , December 24, 1831

Pfuel was sent to Neuchâtel in May 1831 to put down the uprising that had just broken out there. For this he was awarded the oak leaves to the order Pour le Mérite on December 31, 1831 and he was also promoted to lieutenant general. From January 19, 1832, Pfuel was also governor of Neuchâtel. At the end of March 1838, Pfuel became the commanding general of the VII Army Corps . In recognition of his services, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV appointed him chief of the 13th Infantry Regiment on September 12, 1842 . In addition, on October 23, 1842, he awarded Pfuel the diamonds for the Order of the Red Eagle, 1st class, and on January 18, 1844, he was made Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle . On March 30, 1844, he was promoted to general of the infantry and the Swedish king made Pfuel knight of the Order of the Seraphine on the occasion of an official visit to Stockholm .

The year 1848 and the March Revolution

Ernst von Pfuel

Pfuel was governor of Berlin from March 11th to 18th, 1848 for only a short time . On March 15, 1848, he stood in front of the troops who had already aimed at the rebels and thus prevented a bloodbath - which subsequently cost him his position.

Appointed Prime Minister and Minister of War on September 21, 1848, the ministry was more formed for him than formed. In his government program on September 22nd, Pfuel assured the Prussian National Assembly that although he wanted to defend the rights and dignity of the king, he was “firmly determined to persevere on the constitutional path that he has trodden, to preserve the freedoms he has acquired, all reactionary endeavors to reject the observance of constitutional principles in all branches of public service, to keep the rights and freedoms of the people sacred ”. His army decree of September 1848, which declared all anti-constitutional efforts to be incompatible with the position of Prussian officer, aroused bad blood in officer circles. The king resented him for not having given the necessary opposition to the deliberations and resolutions of the National Assembly in October to abolish the nobility, orders and the designation “by the grace of God” in the king's title. On November 1, 1848, Pfuel took his leave. In 1858 he was appointed to the Prussian mansion and on June 18, 1864 received the crown of the order Pour le Mérite. After his death he was buried on his Jahnsfelde estate.

Founding of the swimming school in Berlin in July 1817

Founder of military swimming

Pfuel was best known for his reforms in military sports. He was the first to introduce swimming lessons for soldiers and in 1810 founded the world's first military swimming school in Prague. In Berlin, in 1817, at Köpenicker Strasse 12 near Oberbaum, he founded a river bathing facility in the Spree, the first military teaching and swimming pool facility in Berlin, which then existed until 1925 or 1933 and which from the beginning also included civilians - especially school children. Had access. The Pfuelsche Badeanstalt was a type-building for Berlin river baths. It was founded on stakes and had a water basin enclosed on all sides. This was due to the morality of the time, which did not tolerate outside looks at the "bathing".

The celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Pfuel'schen swimming facility, 1867 in Berlin

Swimming meant the same for Pfuel as gymnastics did for Ludwig Jahn . Those boys (rarely men, never girls or women) who swam back and forth across the Spree without “drowning” were presented with a “diploma in swimming skills”. From time to time Pfuel organized floating festivals at the Oberbaum Bridge. Pfuel is considered the official inventor of the breaststroke . Almost 70,000 military personnel and civilians learned to swim here over the next 50 years. Pfuel considered the breaststroke to be the most effective method of movement in the water.

"The frog is an excellent swimmer, and our teacher has been found, for the structure of his body is very similar to that of man in the parts which are mainly necessary for swimming."

Pfuel made the fishing technique popular, whereby the beginner hangs in a harness and performs the various swimming movements on command, first on a stool at the edge of the pool and then in the water. However, it was not easy to get his recruits to jump into the cool water:

"Many resorted to surrender in order to gain slow admission and to save their heads from submerging; others looked down gloomily as into the grave, and grew pale and paler as the master increased his encouragement; still others had the heart pounding so that the belt moved, and one even crossed himself to end up Christian. "

The Pfuelstrasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg , which is close to the former bathing establishment, is still a reminder today.

Pfuel and Kleist

Pfuel's friendship with Heinrich von Kleist dates back to their time together with the Potsdamer Infantry Regiment No. 18. Together with Kleist, Pfuel had set out on a trip to Switzerland in 1803, from where he went on to Italy and France. From the time after this trip comes a letter from Kleist to Pfuel in which Kleist writes:

“I have often looked at your beautiful body with truly girlish feelings when you stepped into the lake in Thun before my eyes. It could really serve as an artist's study. Your little puckered head, put on a fat neck, two broad shoulders, an annoying body, the whole thing an exemplary image of strength, as if you were modeled on the most beautiful young bull that ever bled Zeus. "

And the letter ends:

"I never get married, be the wife of me, the children and the grandchildren!"

The letter - of which only a photo now exists - was found in Pfuel's estate, where it remained in the manor archives of the von Pfuel family in Jahnsfelde until 1945, together with all of his scripts and records of his role as Prime Minister. The friendship between Kleist and Pfuel, which originated in the military, as well as the enthusiasm for swimming had, at least from Kleist's point of view, unmistakably homoerotic traits, which Kleist then addressed in his dramolet The Horror in the Bath in a way that was not directly decipherable.

family

General Ernst von Pfuel. Engraving by August Neumann

Pfuel's first marriage was on March 17, 1808 at Gut Lenzke Karoline von Byern (born November 1, 1786 in Potsdam , † October 22, 1843 in Berlin), the daughter of the landowner and general Karl Wilhelm von Byern , landlord on Lenzke, and the Friederike Zinnow. The following children were born from the marriage:

  • Wolf Kurt Ernst Adalbert (1809–1866), Prussian major general ⚭ Marie von Lamprecht (* July 29, 1823, † October 13, 1860); they were the parents of General Curt von Pfuel
  • Bernhard (7 September 1811 - 20 February 1812)
  • Max Paul August (born March 18, 1814 in Berlin; † May 1, 1826 there), cadet
  • Elisabeth Klara Emilie Friederike (born November 13, 1816 in Berlin; † May 31, 1835)
  • Ernst Gebhard Nicolaus Lebrecht (born October 28, 1817 in Berlin; January 14, 1903 in Weimar ), retired Prussian second lieutenant . D.
    ⚭ June 30, 1853 Antonie Kusig (* 1832; † August 20, 1855), daughter of the chief forester Wilhelm Kusig († September 30, 1838) and Adelheid von Alvensleben (* January 6, 1795; † February 10, 1862) , Daughter of Gebhard Johann Achaz von Alvensleben
    ⚭ 1866 Marie Natalie Pabst (born October 17, 1829 in Weimar); they were the parents of Lieutenant General  Maximilian von Pfuel
  • Hans Emil Reinhold (born July 25, 1819 in Koblenz; † November 1866), Prussian second lieutenant a. D. and Chamberlain ⚭ 1843 Countess Anna von Berlemont (* 1823)

In 1830, the couple separated after 22 years of marriage after his wife learned of an affair. Two years later married Pfuel on September 11, 1832 Good Randau his former mistress Emilie (Amalie) Wahlert, born of Alvensleben (born September 18, 1792 in Rathenow , † October 28, 1854 at Gut Randau), the daughter of the landowner Gebhard von Alvensleben , landlord on Randau, and Karoline von Radecke. At the time of their love affair, Emilie was still married to the Prussian Privy Councilor Georg Wahlert († December 11, 1847) and had also only had to divorce in 1830.

Honors

In 1895, in Berlin's Luisenstadt , Pfuelstrasse was named after him. At Köpenicker Straße 11-14 there was a memorial plaque in honor of Pfuel, which disappeared due to the building being demolished in 1928.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Pfuelstrasse. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near  Kaupert )
  2. ^ Letter # 086 by Kleist to von Pfuel, January 7, 1805 ( Memento June 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ Arnd Krüger : The Homosexual and Homoerotic in Sport . In: James Riordan , Arnd Krüger (Ed.): The International Politics of Sport in the 20th Century. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-419-21160-8 , pp. 191-216. basijcssc.ir ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ; PDF)
  4. ↑ Ernst von Pfuel . Memorial plaques in Berlin.
personal data
SURNAME Pfuel, Ernst von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pfuel, Ernst Heinrich Adolf von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian Prime Minister and Minister of War
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1779
PLACE OF BIRTH Good Jahnsfelde
DATE OF DEATH December 3, 1866
Place of death Berlin