Friederike Kruger

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Friederike Kruger

Friederike Krüger , married Köhler , pseudonym August Lübeck (born October 4, 1789 in Friedland (Mecklenburg) ; † May 31, 1848 in Templin ; full name: Sophie Dorothea Friederike Krüger ) was a patriot and soldier in the Wars of Liberation .

Life

The daughter of a small farmer and former serf worked early as a maid and was supposed to learn the trade of a seamstress in Anklam in 1812 . Disguised as a man, she joined the 4th Company of the 1st  Battalion under Major von Schmidt in the Royal Prussian 9th Infantry Regiment (Kolberger Regiment) in the spring of 1813 under the name August Lübeck . She had cut her hair at the age of 23, wore self-made men's clothing and had responded to the call for mobilization . It was not discovered at first because there were no medical examinations for military fitness in the hustle and bustle of mobilization. Even later she was covered by the comrades of her company, with whom she was highly regarded for her bravery. During an attack, she betrayed herself by her high voice; because she had always done with flying colors, she received from King Friedrich Wilhelm III. Approval from Prussia to continue serving in the army under her real name. Friederike Krüger took part in the Battle of Großbeeren on August 23, 1813. During the Battle of Dennewitz on September 6, 1813, Krüger was badly wounded by shrapnel and, for her bravery, was appointed Sergeant in the Leibcompanie by Colonel von Zastrow on the battlefield . She was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for her services . After her recovery she continued to take part in the campaigns of the Prussian army against the Napoleonic troops. She came to France via Holland and entered Paris with the Allied troops in 1814 . After Napoleon's final defeat in 1815, Friederike Krüger left the Prussian army. Because of her services, she received an annual pension of 72 thalers from the Prussian king and an annual pension of 50 thalers from Mecklenburg-Strelitz's Grand Duke Karl II .

During an order festival for bearers of the Iron Cross, she met the Prussian NCO Karl Köhler. They got engaged with the consent of the king and married on March 5, 1816 in the Berlin garrison church . Friederike received a larger trousseau from the Prussian king, and her husband was appointed chief tax inspector. The King of Prussia took over the sponsorship of the couple's first-born son , and the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz for the first daughter . Friederike and her family, who had three daughters after their son, initially lived in Lychen and moved to Templin in 1841. Friederike Krüger-Köhler died here seriously ill on May 31, 1848.

Grave of Friederike Krüger in the St. Georgen cemetery in Templin

After her death, Friederike Krüger was buried with all honors in the St. Georgen cemetery in Templin , where her grave can still be seen today. She was the bearer of the Prussian Iron Cross and the Prussian war memorial as well as the Russian Order of St. George . Streets in Templin and Großbeeren were named after her.

Literary motif

The life of Friederike Krüger was the focus of literary works several times:

  • Heinrich Arminius Riemann : The NCO in the Colberg Regiment Sophia Dorothea Friederike Krüger, Knight of the Iron Cross and the Russian Order of George, from Friedland in Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Not a novella, but a picture of life drawn from documents. F. Duncker, Berlin 1865
  • Werner May: Girls in soldiers' skirts. The story of NCO Friederike Auguste Krüger. Reutlingen, (approx. 1940/41).
  • Anita Heiden-Berndt : Friederike Auguste Krüger. Historical-biographical novel. Neubrandenburg, 1994. ISBN 3-910170-16-1

Afterlife

In an article from Die Zeit with the headline Why not a Friederike Krüger barracks? In August 2018 , the CDU politician Peter Tauber advocated naming a Bundeswehr barracks after Friederike Krüger.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the literature sometimes wrongly called Auguste Krüger .
  2. ^ A b c Karl von Bagensky: History of the 9th Infantry Regiment called Colbergsches. Kolberg 1842, p. 203
  3. ^ Die Zeit, August 2, 2018, p. 7.

See also

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kruger, Friederike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lübeck, August (pseudonym); Krüger, Sophie Dorothea Friederike Krüger (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian soldier
DATE OF BIRTH October 4, 1789
PLACE OF BIRTH Friedland (Mecklenburg)
DATE OF DEATH May 31, 1848
Place of death Templin