Johann Heinrich Behrens

Johann Heinrich Behrens (1840)

Johann Heinrich Behrens (born January 1, 1735 in Lübben ; † September 12, 1844 in Wolfenbüttel ) was a royal Prussian sergeant , author and supposedly the oldest German of his time .

Life

Origin, childhood, education

Behrens was the son of a farrier and a midwife . He was born in Lübben, but after the family moved to Görlitz , he grew up there with his two older brothers and went through a regular school education. He was confirmed at the age of 13 and started training as a farrier a little later. At 17, he went as a journeyman on the roller , however, came at the end of three years at Austrian advertisers .

Career

He began his career as a commoner in the infantry regiment of the later Field Marshal Count von Clerfait . After a short time succeeded Behrens, in the home depose . Here he was assigned to the artillery and soon advanced to the rank of non-commissioned officer. Behrens was in August 1756 with the Saxon army in the camp of Pirna and moved to their surrender in Prussian service . After completing cavalry excercise, he took up his service in the "von Zieten" hussar regiment .

During the Seven Years' War, Behrens under General Zieten first moved to the Bohemian border and a little later to Prague . He was an eyewitness to the fatal wound of Field Marshal Graf von Schwerin . Behrens was able to make a useful contribution through local knowledge as well as the ability to read and write, which he had acquired in his childhood and youth. In the battle of Kolin he rode in the vanguard under Colonel von Seydlitz . Behrens also took part in the memorable events near Leuthen , Hochkirch , Liegnitz and Torgau . Behrens fell in the Dommitzschen Heide and was run over by a cannon , rendering him unable to move on his right arm and leg. In the hospital in Leipzig he was able to recover, but still different, as not fully recovered from the war service of. General Zieten said goodbye to him with a present of 50 thalers . His right arm remained paralyzed for life .

Behrens now began to write down his war experiences and to give them to print. He sold the printed matter himself by traveling the country. After he became an eyewitness to the accidental death of Prince Leopold of Braunschweig in 1785 , he also wrote a text on this. When General Zieten, whom he greatly admired, and then the King died in 1786, Behrens was in Magdeburg . From there he went to Braunschweig and, due to the changed demand, sold more books for church, school and teaching.

Due to his reputable age, in which he enjoyed excellent health up to the last day, the Prussian king granted him a monthly pension of three thalers in Behren's last years , to which the Duke of Braunschweig added an annual pension of twelve thalers.

family

Behrens married four times in Wolfenbüttel. He married for the first time in 1786. With his fourth wife, who survived him, he had a last daughter at the age of 88.

plant

• Life story of the 105-year-old non-commissioned officer Joh. Heinr, who lives in Wolfenbüttel. Behrens a contemporary and warrior of Frederick the Great. Wolfenbüttel 1845 ( online )

literature

• Friedrich August Schmidt (Ed.): New Nekrolog der Deutschen . Volume 22, Part 2, Bernhard Friedrich Voigt , Weimar 1846, pp. 944–950