Johann Friedrich Adolf von der Marwitz

Johann Friedrich Adolf von der Marwitz (born March 24, 1723 in Friedersdorf , † December 14, 1781 in Berlin ) was a Prussian major general .

Life

origin

Johann Friedrich Adolf came from the old Brandenburg nobility of the Marwitz family . His parents were the heir of Friedersdorf and captain a. D. August Gebhard von der Marwitz (1695–1753) and his wife Helene Sophia, née von Loeben from the house of Kunersdorf. The later Prussian lieutenant general Gustav Ludwig von der Marwitz and the court marshal Behrendt Friedrich August von der Marwitz were his brothers.

Military career

At the age of 17 Marwitz was employed in the Gensdarmes regiment of the Prussian Army and over the years he became the commander of this regiment, which he led with distinction in the battle of Zorndorf . He was then promoted to major and received the order Pour le Mérite . He also excelled in the battle of Hochkirch . Towards the end of the Seven Years' War , the Prussian troops conquered the electoral Saxon hunting lodge Hubertusburg near Leipzig . Marwitz was given the palace by King Friedrich II , with the order to plunder it thoroughly (this was supposed to be the king's revenge for the sacking of Charlottenburg Palace in 1760 by Russians, Austrians and Saxons, where the king owned his beautiful antique collection lost). When the king asked to remove the valuable furniture, Marwitz replied, "It would be appropriate for the officer of a free battalion , but not for a commander of His Majesty Gensdarmes" and asked to leave the army. Friedrich gave the castle to his adjutant Quintus Icilius , who plundered and sold it. Marwitz later won most of the beautiful book collection from Hubertusburg from Quintus Icilius in a game of cards.

For many years in disgrace with Friedrich II, Marwitz was only given a new job during the War of the Bavarian Succession as General War Commissioner of the king's brother Prince Heinrich of Prussia . Towards the end of his life he was promoted to major general. When the estate was divided, he had acquired the Friedersdorf family estate, but he cared little about it and stayed in Berlin with his books and paintings. He died, as his nephew writes, “completely insolvent”, but was “a very good soldier with great respect, a fine and very educated man of the world, a great friend of literature and art”.

Johann Friedrich Adolf von der Marwitz died unmarried in Berlin in 1781. His nephew Friedrich August Ludwig von der Marwitz had the following words put on his gravestone in the village church in Friedersdorf (Vierlinden) : “Saw Friedrich's heroic days and fought with him in all of his wars. Chose disgrace where obedience did not bring honor. ”With this he expressed his view of the freedom of the nobility to serve and, if necessary, to act against the king or without him.

However, in his paper on Hubertusburg-Marwitz published in 2014, Werner Meyer doubted that Marwitz had refused an order from the king to plunder Hubertusburg Castle and had therefore fallen out of favor; in the light of literature, which turns out to be partly incorrect and partly improbable, this is more of a legend than a guaranteed historical event.

Marwitz was a legal knight of the Order of St. John .

Significance in the aftermath

The grave inscription “Chose disgrace where obedience did not bring honor” is still often used by various political camps to present the decision of the individual about orders and orders, as a conscientious decision against despotism, authoritarianism and tyranny. Especially among the conspirators of July 20, the example of Marwitz was often cited to justify that the individual is responsible first to his conscience and only then to his political leader.

Honor

In honor of General von der Marwitz, the 83rd officer trainee class of the Bundeswehr (2013) named themselves after him.

literature

• Günter de Bruyn : My Brandenburg. Frankfurt am Main 1993.
• Friedrich August Ludwig von der Marwitz: News from my life. (Ed .: Günter de Bruyn), Berlin 1989.
• Hans Körner:  Marwitz, v. the (family article). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-00197-4 , p. 318 ( digitized version ).
• Theodor Fontane : Walks through the Mark Brandenburg. Volume 2 ( Oderland ) "Friedersdorf Castle".
• Pauli: Historical political, geographical, statistical and military contributions, concerning the royal Prussian and neighboring states. Volume 2, p. 575, digitized
• Kurt von Priesdorff : Soldier leadership . Volume 2, Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt Hamburg, undated [Hamburg], undated [1937], DNB 367632772 , pp. 119–121, no. 640.
• Werner Meyer: Denied orders and suffered disgrace? On the history of "Hubertusburg-Marwitz" in literature. BWV Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag 2014, ISBN 978-3-8305-3389-4 .

Web links

Wikiquote: Johann Friedrich Adolf von der Marwitz  - Quotes