Henning von Brüsewitz

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Henning von Brüsewitz (* 1862 ; † January 24, 1900 in the Battle of Spion Kop ), Premier Lieutenant of the 1st Baden Leib Grenadier Regiment No. 109 , killed the 31-year-old mechanic Theodor Siepmann in Karlsruhe on October 11, 1896 , he felt offended by. The bloody act and its mild punishment led to heated debates about the concept of honor, caste spirit, militarism and dueling iniquity in public and in the Reichstag .

Siepmann, accompanied by three people, had entered the “Tannhäuser” restaurant on Kaiserstraße at the corner of Karlstraße at a late hour and when they sat there in an adjoining room, they hit the back of the Brüsewitz's chair. When he received no apology from Siepmann, he called to the landlord, who should throw Siepmann out. Siepmann was unreasonable. One word led to the other until Brüsewitz finally drew his saber . The landlord fell into his arms and had hardly persuaded Siepmann to leave the restaurant through the back door when Brusewitz followed them with his sword drawn. In the back yard he pushed Siepmann into a corner and stabbed him to death. He told the bystanders that he had restored his fatally injured honor; otherwise he would have had to quit his job. He was initially not even suspended, let alone taken into custody.

In January 1897, the competent military court sentenced him to three years and 20 days imprisonment for what he himself described as the "answer to the provocation of a civil canal" , which he only had to serve half, but which also resulted in his release led to military service. After his release from prison, Brüsewitz immediately embarked in the Transvaal , joined the Boer Army and was shot in the head on January 24, 1900 in the battle of Spion Kop, the death he had apparently sought. Colonel Deneys Reitz (1882–1944) writes about this in his book Commando: A Boer Journal of the Boer War, first published in 1929 by Faber & Faber Limited in London :

... von Brüsewitz was now upstairs on the Kop spy and apparently wanted to be killed. Because even though we warned him to watch out for cover, he didn't care and kept coming out from between the rocks to fire.
When the English soldiers were so close to us that it was sheer madness, and after he had challenged Providence several times, the inevitable happened. I saw him get up one last time, light a cigarette and puff in front of himself, ignoring the bullets flying around, until we heard a thud and he fell dead a few meters away from me, with a shot through the head.
... von Brusewitz was now on top of the Spion Kop, where he seemed bent on getting killed, for, although we warned him not to expose himself too recklessly, he paid no heed and repeatedly stood out from among the rocks to fire.
As the English soldiers were so close to us that this was sheer folly, and after he had tempted Providence several times the inevitable happened. I saw him rise once more, and, lighting a cigarette, puff away careless of the flying bullets until we heard a thud and he fell dead within a few feet of me, shot through the head.

literature

  • The mischief of duels and the Brüsewitz case; after the Reichstag negotiations on November 17 and 19 with the stenographic wording of the speeches by August Munckel and Julius Lenzmann , Berlin 1896
  • Session of the Reichstag on November 17 and 19, 1896. Agenda: Interpellation of the members of the Reichstag Munckel and comrades, the duels and the killing of the technician Siepmann by the Premier Lieutnant von Brüsewitz in Karlsruhe last month. Reichstag Minutes 1895 / 97.5, pages 3293 - 3344
  • Angela Borgstedt : The "Brüsewitz Case" - A Zabern Affair in Baden ? Military and civil society in the German Empire , in: View into history no.68 from September 16, 2005 ( online at Karlsruhe.de , the official website of the city of Karlsruhe)
  • The same: The Brüsewitz case: on the relationship between the military and civil society in the Wilhelminian Empire , in: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft , 55. (2007), pp. [605] –623
  • Bernd Braun: The Brüsewitz case. How a murder in Karlsruhe in 1896 shook the empire , in: Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins 165 (2017), pp. 353–381.
  • Albert Herzog : Your happy eyes. A journalist from Karlsruhe talks about his life . Karlsruhe 2008, page 85 books.google

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personal data
SURNAME Brüsewitz, Henning von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brüsewitz, Hans von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian officer
DATE OF BIRTH 1862
DATE OF DEATH January 24, 1900
Place of death Spy Kop