Fidelis Sohm

Fidelis Sohm , called one-eyed Fidelis , (* 1787 in Witzigmänn near Bösenreutin ; † after 1824 in Hohenasperg ) was a robber .

Life

Black Veri with Fidelis Sohm

Fidelis Sohm was born as one of five children to a family of day laborers . From the age of six he was sent to herd cattle in the summer and attended school in the winter. He learned the mason trade and also worked as a carpenter . In the famine year of 1815 , Sohm lost his job and went blind in one eye, for which he was nicknamed one-eyed Fidelis .

In 1818 Sohm joined the robber's son Joseph Lang - called the Junge Bregenzer Seppl - from Nenzing . Together they begged and stole in markets in Swabia and Tyrol . At Christmas 1818 the duo joined the band of robbers of the old Bregenz Seppl near Bad Wurzach . The band broke up a few weeks later and Sohm joined in Ostrach the robbers Black Veri to Xaver Hohenleiter and his brother Urle on. After the attack on the Argenhardt farm near Tettnang , the gang members decided to break in and leave for France . Since Veri and Friedrich Klump were arrested shortly afterwards, the gang broke up.

In May 1819 Sohm joined the Schleiferstone (also: Schleifer Tone) gang around the scissors grinder Anton Rosenberger, which was active in Upper Swabia . On May 29, 1819, Fidelis Sohm and a large part of the gang were arrested at the Storchenhaus in the Mochenwangen forest . In 1824 Sohm was sentenced to life imprisonment in Biberach . He was imprisoned in Hohenasperg Detention Center, where he eventually became completely blind.

literature

• Karl Schweizer: When three bands of robbers raided the area . In: Der Westallgäuer, November 5, 2018.