Joachim Ernst of Anhalt
Joachim Ernst Herzog von Anhalt (born January 11, 1901 in Dessau ; † February 18, 1947 in the Soviet special camp No. 2 in Buchenwald ; middle names: Wilhelm Karl Albrecht Leopold Friedrich Moritz Erdmann ) was nominally the last Duke of Anhalt who, due to his Minority but never governed itself. He was the only proclaimed German federal prince born in the 20th century.
Life
Joachim Ernst was the oldest living son and legal heir to the throne of the Anhalt Duke Eduard von Anhalt and his wife Luise, daughter of Prince Moritz von Sachsen-Altenburg . His father died on September 13, 1918, but Joachim Ernst could not succeed him to the throne because he was still a minor. His uncle Prince Aribert took over the reign, however, in the course of the revolutionary events on November 12, 1918, he was forced to renounce the throne in the name of Duke Joachim Ernst and the entire Anhalt family. This ended the rule of the Ascanians, which had lasted there since the eleventh century , in central Germany .
The Duchy of Anhalt passed into the republican form of government as the Free State of Anhalt within the German Empire . After 1918, Ballenstedt Castle in the Harz region remained the residence of the von Anhalt family. All of the Duke's children were born here.
Joachim Ernst was arrested in January 1944 and taken to Dachau concentration camp , where he had to spend three months. Although he had already become an anti-Nazi opponent during his incarceration in the Dachau concentration camp, the former duke was arrested again after the end of the Nazi dictatorship in September 1945 - this time by the Soviet occupation forces who sent him to the Buchenwald NKVD international camp , the former concentration camps near Weimar . Here he died, seriously ill from exhaustion as a result of the camp conditions, at the age of 46 on February 18, 1947.
In 1992, Joachim Ernst von Anhalt was recognized by the Russian Public Prosecutor's Office as a “persecuted politically Soviet repression” on the grounds of proven innocence .
On February 18, 2007, the 60th anniversary of Duke Joachim Ernst's death, earth was symbolically removed from the grave field on the grounds of the Buchenwald camp at a memorial service and placed in an urn with his name on it. This was brought to Ballenstedt by members of the Duke's family and buried there in a memorial stone at the Röhrkopf hunting lodge. After the hunting lodge was sold, the stone was moved in 2011. His final resting place is on the edge of the Ballenstedt castle courtyard , where a large memorial stone commemorates him.
family
ancestors
Marriage and offspring
Joachim Ernst Herzog von Anhalt was married twice:
- On March 3, 1927, he married Elisabeth Strickrodt (born September 3, 1903, † January 5, 1971); The marriage ended in divorce in 1929.
- On October 15, 1929, she married Edda-Charlotte von Stephani-Marwitz (* August 20, 1905 as Editha Marwitz, † February 22, 1986). Herzog von Anhalt had five children with her:
- Marie Antoinette (called Alexandra; * July 14, 1930, † March 22, 1993); 1st marriage: ⚭ May 24, 1957 with Karl-Heinz Guttmann, divorced; 2nd marriage: ⚭ December 20, 1974 to Max Riederer, divorced in 1976
- Anna Luise (born March 26, 1933; † November 1, 2003) ⚭ August 5, 1966 with Thomas Birch, divorced in 1970
- Leopold Friedrich (April 11, 1938 - October 9, 1963)
- Edda (born January 30, 1940) ⚭ December 20, 1973 with Albert Darboven
- Eduard (born December 3, 1941) ⚭ 1980 with Corinna Krönlein, three daughters, divorced in 2015
literature
- Ralf Regener: The year of the three ducal dukes in Anhalt, 1918. In: Saxony-Anhalt. Journal für Natur- und Heimatfreunde 25 (2015), H. 1, S. 19-21.
- Ralf Regener: The fall of the Ascanians in Anhalt in 1918. Conditions, course and aftermath of the fall of a small German monarchy. 2nd edition Dessau-Roßlau 2014; http://dx.doi.org/10.25673/13730 .
Web links
- Bernd Lähne: Central Germany / 75 years ago: Duke Joachim Ernst von Anhalt starved to death in the special camp - Moving fate: 75 years ago Duke Joachim Ernst von Anhalt was arrested by the Soviet secret service NKVD despite being detained in the concentration camp. He dies in the Buchenwald special camp. He was rehabilitated by the Russian state in 1992. Leipziger Volkszeitung , online portal, July 30, 2020. Accessed on August 2, 2020 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c For the data up to 1961: s. v. House of Anhalt (Maison d'Anhalt) . In: Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels 25 / Fürstliche Häuser VI (1961), 1–4, 3.
- ↑ Ralf Regener: The year of the three ducal dukes in Anhalt, 1918. In: Saxony-Anhalt. Journal für Natur- und Heimatfreunde 25 (2015), H. 1, S. 19-21.
- ↑ Ralf Regener: The fall of the Askanians in 1918 in Anhalt. Conditions, course and aftermath of the fall of a small German monarchy. Dessau-Roßlau 2013, pp. 81–90.
- ↑ List of the dead of the Buchenwald special camp, p. 18.
- ↑ Loss of the park and palace - Haus Anhalt struggles for art ownership , fr-online.de, July 21, 2008.
- ^ Sigrid Dillge: Ballenstedt: memory of the death of Joachim Ernst von Anhalt. In: mz-web.de. Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, February 20, 2017, accessed June 20, 2017 .
- ↑ harzlife - memorial stone for the last Duke of Anhalt , accessed on October 12, 2011.
- ↑ Michel Huberty: L'Allemagne dynastique. Les quinze familles qui ont fait l'Empire T. 2 . Anhalt - Lippe - Wurtemberg, Le Perreux-sur-Marne 1979, 149.
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Eduard |
Duke of Anhalt September 13, 1918 - November 12, 1918 |
--- |
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Eduard |
Head of the House of Anhalt 1918–1947 |
Leopold Friedrich |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Anhalt, Joachim Ernst von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Anhalt, Joachim Ernst Herzog von; Anhalt, Joachim Ernst Wilhelm Karl Albrecht Leopold Friedrich Moritz Erdmann von (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German Duke of Anhalt |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 11, 1901 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dessau |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 18, 1947 |
| Place of death | Special camp No. 2 Buchenwald |