Johann Christian Woyzeck
Johann Christian Woyzeck (born January 3, 1780 in Leipzig , † August 27, 1824 ibid) was a German soldier who was executed for the murder of the surgeon widow Johanna Christiane Woost. Georg Büchner used his story as a template for his drama Woyzeck .
Life
Johann Christian Woyzeck grew up in Leipzig , lost his mother at the age of 8 and his father at the age of 13. He did an apprenticeship as a wig maker. In Leipzig Woyzeck met his later victim, Johanna Christiane Woost.
His wandering years began in 1798. He traveled around, pursued various professions and was enlisted as a soldier . In 1807 he met a woman by the name of Wienberger while serving with Mecklenburg troops in Stralsund . They had one child together, but the two never got married.
In 1818 Woyzeck went back to Leipzig, where he had a relationship with the widow Woost. He started to drink and got jealous because Woost had contacts with other soldiers. He abused her frequently, changing his accommodations as well as his professions. Woyzeck heard voices asking him to kill Johanna Christiane Woost. He ignored the voices, but continued to abuse Woost. At some point Woyzeck bought a broken epee blade with the little money he had , which he provided with a handle.
On June 21, 1821, Woyzeck and Woost met. However, she was not there, but met with a soldier. Woyzeck met her that evening and stabbed her. He turned himself in to the police that evening.
process
The trial against Woyzeck dragged on for three years. On August 16, 1821, the defense was filed. Thereupon a message appeared in a Nuremberg newspaper that the accused had suffered from "periodic madness". Woyzeck's defense attorney requested a forensic examination of his client's state of mind. An initial expert opinion was drawn up by Johann Christian August Clarus , who after five conversations attested his sanity. The court sentenced Woyzeck to death on February 22, 1822 . The execution was scheduled for November 13, 1822. The following requests for clemency were rejected.
A few days before the execution date, an eyewitness confirmed Woyzeck's confusion. Enforcement was suspended on November 10, 1822. Another report was drawn up. The reviewer was again Clarus. In January and February 1823 he had five more "interviews" with the defendant. In his second report of February 28, 1823, he again confirmed Woyzeck's sanity - despite numerous indications that the convict was ill. Notes that Clarus himself gave in his report were:
- For years, Woyzeck had suffered from persistent depression ("profoundly" notes Clarus twice), which led him to attempt suicide and the thought of suicide would never have left him. “Voices” would have called out to him: “Jump into the water”.
- Woyzeck suffered from a rapid heartbeat and was tormented and frightened by the feeling that his heart was "touched with a needle". In stressful situations, e.g. For example, when the appraiser entered his cell, he was trembling all over and was unable to keep his head still.
- Contemporaries testified that severe attacks occurred periodically.
- Woyzeck experienced "emotional hallucinations"; he was "plucked", "it" went "next to him".
- Symptoms of schizophrenia and depersonalization were unmistakable . Clarus reported that he had heard "arguing voices" and suffered from being forced to speak out loud to "fight all kinds of things out". He heard “underground bells ringing” and “voices” calling out to him: “Oh, come on!” A “voice” had asked him: “Stab Woostin dead!”. "It screamed for him."
- The convict had hallucinations, he saw "fiery streaks" in the sky.
- He built these apparitions into a delusional system: "Ghosts" and "the Freemasons " persecute him, are the masterminds of his misfortune, want to kill him - he obviously suffered from paranoia .
On October 4, 1823, the competent court declared that Woyzeck's sanity had been proven. Enforcement was ordered on July 12, 1824.
the execution
The first public execution in Leipzig in thirty years was attended by several thousand onlookers on August 27, 1824. It was the last public execution that took place within the city of Leipzig. (The last public execution in Leipzig concerned the robbery murderer Carl August Ebert and was carried out on the tanning meadows north of the city on June 15, 1854.)
Ernst Anschütz reports on Woyzeck's execution in his diary:
“Friday, August 27th (1824). Cheerful and very warm. Execution of the delinquent Woyzeck. The scaffold was built in the middle of the market . 54 cuirassiers from Borna kept order around the scaffold; the neck judgment was held at the town hall. Shortly before half past eleven o'clock the staff was broken , then the delinquent came out of the town hall, Goldhorn and Hansel walked to the side and the town hall clerks in armor, balaclava and pikes led the way, right and left; the clergy stayed down by the scaffold; the delinquent went calmly alone on the scaffold, knelt and prayed loudly with a lot of circumstance, untied the scarf himself, sat on the chair and straightened him, and the executioner quickly cut off his head with great skill , so that he still sat on the broad sword until the executioner turned the sword and it fell down. The blood did not flow high; Immediately a trap-door opened, where the body, which was still sitting on the chair without having made any movement, was thrown down; He was immediately placed in a coffin below and carried to the anatomy with guard. Immediately the scaffold was quickly broken off, and when this was done, the curassiers rode away. The vaults, which were all closed before, were opened and everything went to work. It goes without saying that there was no school in the morning. "
literature
- Johann Christian August Clarus : The sanity of the murderer Johann Christian Woyzeck according to the principles of state medical science proven in the records , Leipzig 1824
- Johann Christian August Clarus (1826): Earlier expert opinion by Hofrath Dr. Clarus on the state of mind of the murderer Joh. Christ. Woyzeck, filed on September 16, 1821. In: Zeitschrift für die Staatsarzneikunde, 5th supplementary book, pp. 129–149.
- Johann Christian August Clarus (1828): The sanity of the murderer Woyzeck, according to the principles of the state medicine customer proven by Mr. Hofrath Dr. Clarus. In: Zeitschrift für die Staatsarzneikunde, 4th supplement, pp. 1–97.
- CM Marc: Was the murderer Johann Christian Woyzeck, who was executed in Leipzig on August 27th, 1824 sane? Containing an illumination of the writing of Hofrath Dr. Clarus: "The responsibility of the murderer Joh. Christ. Woyzeck has been documented according to the principles of state medical science" , Bamberg 1825
- Johann Christian August Heinroth : About the text "Was the murderer JC Woyzeck, who was executed in Leipzig on August 27, 1824, sane?" Written by Mr. DCM Marc in Bamberg, against the opinion of Hofrath D. Clarus? , Leipzig 1824
- CM Marc: Concerning the sanity of the murderer JC Woyzeck. To Dr. and Professor JCA Heinroth in Leipzig, as administrator of the court councilor Dr. Clarus , Bamberg 1826
- Hans Mayer : Georg Büchner und seine Zeit , Frankfurt am Main 1972 pp. 339–341
- Alfons Glück: The historical Woyzeck , in: Georg Büchner: Revolutionary - Poet - Scientist (1813-1837). The catalog of the exhibition Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt from August 2 to September 27, 1987. Basel, Frankfurt am Main, Stroemfeld / Roter Stern, 1987
- Anja Schiemann: The Woyzeck Criminal Case: The Historical Case and Büchner's Drama , Contemporary Legal History, Department 6: Law in Art - Art in Law, Volume 49, De Gruyter 2017, ISBN 9783110570045 .
Web links
- CM Marc: Was the murderer Johann Christian Woyzeck, who was executed in Leipzig on August 27th, 1824 sane? (Digital copy of a reply to the Clarus report)
- Robin Pape: Biography of Johann Christian Woyzeck In: Biographical Archive of Psychiatry (BIAPSY) , 2015.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Most graciously privileged Leipziger Tageblatt . No. 59 . Leipzig August 28, 1824, p. 1 ( slub-dresden.de [PDF]).
- ↑ Leipziger Volkszeitung of September 30, 2009, p. 21.
- ↑ Leipziger Tageblatt and Anzeiger . No. 168 . Leipzig June 17, 1854, p. 1 - 2 ( slub-dresden.de [PDF]).
- ↑ Nikolaus Dorsch, Jan-Christoph Hauschild: Clarus and Woyzeck - pictures of the court counselor and the delinquent ; in: Georg Büchner Jahrbuch 4/1984 , European Publishing House
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Woyzeck, Johann Christian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German man and template for the main character in Georg Büchner's drama Woyzeck |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 3, 1780 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Leipzig |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 27, 1824 |
| Place of death | Leipzig |