Friedrich Stapß

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French illustration from 1866: Napoleon interviewed Stapß (left) in the presence of his personal physician Jean-Nicolas Corvisart (center).

Friedrich Staps (also Staps * 14. March 1792 in Naumburg (Saale) , † 16th October 1809 , possibly in Fünfhaus in Vienna ) was his attempt to assassinate Napoleon I known.

Stapß was the son of Magister Friedrich Gottlob Stapß, the pastor of the Lutheran Naumburg Othmarskirche , and learned the trade of a merchant. He got jobs in Erfurt and Leipzig . The strictly religiously educated young man saw the occupation of Napoleon as the sole reason for the need in Germany and became his bitter opponent. So he came up with the plan to kill the emperor.

In a message he left for his parents in Naumburg, he wrote: “I have to go, in order to save thousands from their destruction, from death, and then to die myself. What and how I want to do it, I am not allowed to discover yourself. ” Then he traveled to Vienna with borrowed money and from there on October 8, 1809 to Schönbrunn , where Napoleon was on October 12, shortly before the signing of the Peace of Schönbrunn , held a troop parade . General Rapp became aware of the young man who was trying to force his way through to the Kaiser and had him arrested. A large kitchen knife was found with him. The 17-year-old said that he had once been an admirer of Napoleon and fearlessly admitted his current intention of doing his fatherland and Europe a service by killing the emperor. When asked by the emperor “If I pardon you, how will you thank me?” Stapß replied with the words that exclude all mercy: “I will not kill you any less.” After a court martial he was sentenced on October 16 fusiled by a firing squad of the Württemberg infantry . At the place of execution he is said to have shouted: “Long live freedom! Long live Germany! Death to his tyrants! ” Napoleon, who did not want to believe in a single perpetrator, but initially suspected a conspiracy of the Illuminati , then “ activities in Berlin and Weimar ” , instructed his police minister Joseph Fouché to keep the matter secret. It was not until 1831 that the assassin's father received official confirmation of his son's death.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bourrienne, p. 146
  2. ↑ Bourrienne, pp. 141, 144

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Stapß, Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Staps, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German assassin
DATE OF BIRTH March 14, 1792
PLACE OF BIRTH Naumburg (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH October 16, 1809
Place of death unsure: Vienna