Heinrich Gottlob von Warkotsch

Heinrich Gottlob von Warkotsch (* 1706 ; † 1764 in Raab in Hungary) was a Silesian nobleman. His name became known through the attempt to betray Frederick the Great to the Austrians during the Seven Years' War .

Heinrich Gottlob Freiherr von Warkotsch came from an old Silesian noble family from Warkocz near Strehlen in Lower Silesia. He first served in the Austrian army. When his brother, the Prussian chamberlain Karl Ferdinand von Warkotsch, died, he asked for his farewell and took over his father's property in and around Schönbrunn (today in Polish: Strużyna). Although he had sworn the vassal oath of the Prussian king, he remained Austrian-minded.

The Prussian king visited Warkotsch twice in 1761, but took his headquarters in the village of Woiselwitz bordering the city. Warkotsch was friends with the adjutant general von Krusemark and visited him in Woiselwitz, where he noticed the poor security of the Prussian headquarters.

Warkotsch contacted the Austrian General Draskovich through the Catholic clergyman Franz Schmidt from the village of Siebenhufen , who informed Laudon . Warkotsch's hunter Mathias Cappel was entrusted with the necessary correspondence, and his wife finally became suspicious. The couple finally opened one of the letters and forwarded a copy to the Prussian headquarters in Woiselwitz.

A Rittmeister von Rabenau was immediately dispatched to arrest Warkotsch and Schmidt, but both were able to flee to the Austrians. On March 22, 1762, Warkotsch and Schmidt were sentenced to death in absentia by the regional government in Breslau. The judgment was symbolically carried out on May 11, 1762 on the Salzring , later Blücherplatz , in Breslau , when the Warkotsch coat of arms was smashed.

Cappel was appointed by the Prussians to be the master guard in Germendorf , Brandenburg .

Warkotsch was compensated by Austria with 4,000 guilders a year for the loss of his goods. He is said to have died in Hungary around 1764 under a different name.

literature

• Detailed and thorough news of the horrible conspiracy against the most precious life of your Mayestate Friederich the Great. 1762 ( digitized version ).
• Carl Daniel Küster: The lifesavings of Frederick the Second in the Seven Years' War and especially the treason of the Baron von Warkotsch: from original documents . Berlin 1792.
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Warkotsch, Heinrich Gottlob Freiherr . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 53rd part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1886, pp. 83–87 ( digitized version ).
• Bernhard von Poten :  Warkotsch, Heinrich Gottlob Freiherr von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 41, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, pp. 172-174.
• Henning von Koss: Playing with the King: the story of a betrayal . Wroclaw 1937.

Web links

• Franz Kugler : Frederick the Great. https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/kugler/fritz2/chap036.html Chapter 36]
• Adolph Menzel : The fleeing traitor Warkotsch