Henriette Wilke

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Pauline Henriette Wilke (* 1812 or 1813 in Berlin , † 1851 to 1855), called the Goldfüchslein or gold princess , was a German impostor .

Life

Wilke came from a Charlottenburg family. Her father was a house servant . She lost both parents as a child, but was taken in by a respected family and received a good upbringing. She later worked as a nanny for a banker.

An unmarried lady, around 70 years old, who had also known Henriette's parents, became a friend who also assumed the role of mother. Henriette lived with her for a while. The elderly lady was wealthy. She owned a house and a fortune that came from an inheritance .

Wilke took control of it by pretending to the lady, whose intellectual abilities were deteriorating, that she was talking to Luise of Prussia and later even to the king, Friedrich Wilhelm III. to be in touch. Beginning in the summer of 1834, she delivered letters to the victim, allegedly from the nobles. Allegedly they were in short-term financial distress and asked for money, which they promised to repay soon. The gullible victim did not become suspicious, in this way “lent” all her property and even took out mortgages.

With the crooked money, the fraudster allowed herself a lavish lifestyle. As a rich young lady of simple origin, she also became known in public. She was nicknamed the Gold Princess . Allegedly her wealth came from a Brazilian count, her bridegroom - Wilke also told her victim about this and later other noble lovers.

When the elderly lady finally went bankrupt, Wilke began cheating on other people. Among them was a Berlin furniture dealer who needed a large amount of money. Wilke made him believe that her friend could lend him this money. To do this, however, she would first have to receive money herself to redeem Pfandbriefe . Since the elderly lady had an impeccable repute , the trader initially did not suspect anything and responded to it. Only when, after several months, he still had not received the promised money and also learned that something similar was happening to another merchant, did he realize that he had fallen for an advance fraud . In April 1836 he made a complaint to the police that resulted in Wilke's arrest. In May of the same year Wilke was sentenced to twelve years in prison for not being able to pay a fine .

After her release, she committed further frauds and was sentenced in 1851 to another four years in prison. She died in prison.

literature

  • The gold princess in Willibald Alexis and Julius Eduard Hitzig (eds.): The new Pitaval. Tenth part . Brockhaus, Leipzig 1846 ( online )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Zweibrücker Wochenblatt, June 24, 1836, p. 202
  2. ^ Morgenblatt für educated readers, March 26, 1851, p. 296
  3. ^ Foreword to Willibald Alexis and Julius Eduard Hitzig (eds.): The new Pitaval. Tenth part, second edition . Brockhaus, Leipzig 1859 ( online )
personal data
SURNAME Wilke, Henriette
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilke, Pauline Henriette (full name); Gold fox (nickname); Gold princess (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German impostor
DATE OF BIRTH 1812 or 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH between 1851 and 1855