Karl Ernst von Dobschütz

Karl Ernst von Dobschütz (born June 29, 1753 on the Sillmenau estate, Principality of Breslau ; † July 4, 1806 in Prague , Bohemia ) was initially a multiple landowner in Lower Silesia , and later a hops and grain trader in Gitschin (Bohemia). In 1806 he was hanged as a state criminal outside the gates of Prague for counterfeiting .

family

The coat of arms of the von Dobschütz family

Dobschütz came from the Silesian noble family Dobschütz . He was the youngest son of the landowner Friedrich Sigismund von Dobschütz , master of the Sillmenau estate, and Marie Barbara von Pritzelwitz .

He married Johanna Christina von Schwedler († January 2, 1824) around 1780 , from whom he divorced around 1801. She married the second marriage on November 16, 1802 at Gut Groß-Weigelsdorf in the Duchy of Oels, the "French language master" Christian Thidemann .

His direct ancestor is Adam von Dobschütz (1558–1624), governor of the principality of Breslau , who six generations and 200 years earlier in 1580 had made the Sillmenau estate a family seat through his marriage to Hedwig von Bank .

Life

As a groom, Dobschütz was probably a good "match". He owned his father's estate in Sillmenau, later also Cammelwitz near Breslau and from 1783 Cracowahne near Trebnitz . For an unknown reason, he first sold his Sillmenau estate in 1785 for 32,000 Reichstaler to the Wroclaw District Administrator von Riedel , in 1788 Cracowahne and in 1789 Cammelwitz. During those few years the young couple had lost their first three small children to infant death. After selling his three goods, Dobschütz seems to have tried a fresh start as a dealer in Breslau. Here he lost his fourth and last child in June 1801.

After 20 years of marriage, he divorced and left his Silesian homeland as a wealthy man during the divorce process. Soon he ran a sizable grain and hop trade in Gitschin (Bohemia) . In 1805 he was charged with counterfeiting, the death sentence was pronounced on July 1, 1806 and only three days later, on July 4, 1806, Dobschütz was hanged as a state criminal at the gates of Prague at the age of 53.

Prager Oberpostamts-Zeitung , No. 80 of July 4, 1806

To this end, the “ Kaiserl. also KK priv. prager Oberpostamtszeitung Nro.80 ”from Friday, July 4th 1806:“ The state criminal, Karl Döbschitz, sentenced to death on Tuesday the 1st of July, was innumerable this morning at 6 o'clock under large military execution command of cavalry and infantry in the presence A thousand spectators from the Neustadt town hall were led to the civil court in front of the Neuthor on a cart, and there were executed with the rope on the gallows post. During the last three days of imprisonment and life , he was ordered to die by the worthy pastor of the German Protestant parish , Mr. Michael Gottlieb Seihm , and he was accompanied by him to the place of execution in the company of the Bohemian- Helvetic pastor. "

The newspaper also describes the history that led to the conviction and execution of the death sentence: “ In this city (Gitschin in Böhmen) he made the acquaintance of the painter Johann Georg Schillinger , and decided in the midst of his best prosperity, simply out of addiction to a greater one Riches, then out of a desire for a more comfortable and carefree life, to produce bank notes ( bank notes , bank notes) . "[...]" After the complete completion of their very planned and cunningly undertaken work, they then gave an amount of 32.170 for purchased cloth and cut goods from their unauthorized products on a trip they made in Reichenberg and Nimburg at the beginning of 1805 fl.  ( Floren ) made, but were betrayed soon stopped, and even their rest, in their newly elected house for Großmeßeritsch buried in the earth spurious Bankozettel of the hierortigen state criminal courts by means of the most active assistance to the high state government in Moravia brought into existence . "

The defendants were immediately transferred to Prague, thrown into dungeon and sentenced to death and compensation for financial damage on July 29, 1805 for counterfeiting and thus for violating § 92 and § 94. The co-accused painter Johann Georg Schillinger died on August 3, 1805 before the highest court's verdict was confirmed, which is why only Dobschütz could ultimately be prosecuted. His nobility status was also officially revoked. A pardon was rejected and the verdict of two lower courts was finally confirmed by the supreme judicial authority.

Most recently, the Prager Oberpostamtszeitung Nro cited. 80 from the confirmation of the verdict: “ Thus, from the verdict of the higher criminal court and from the highest resolution drawn on it, the magistrate to its science and announcement to the inquisites , then to the immediate execution of the death penalty on the state criminal Karl Ernst Döbschitz in accordance with the 450th §. of the Crime Act. - Leop. Freyh. v. Sterneg ( Leopold Ritter von Sternegg ). - From the k. also kk appellate courts (from 1850 kk higher regional court), Prague June 25th 1806. Paul Foydl . "

As inglorious as Dobschütz's life ended, he was nevertheless aware of the difficulties of a "virtuous life" and wrote on March 15, 1789 when his friend Johann Gottlieb Werner in Wrocław visited him in his studbook:

Entry in the register of Karl Ernst von Dobschütz from March 15, 1789

" Virtue is worthy of life,

And whoever drives them fulfills the wise aim of caution,

Your estate is what the wise seek

And joke is without her, an empty shadow play,

No teacher can strongly advise the world

He teaches him at the same time with his actions. "

Remember when you read

these lines from a friend

who calls himself

CE v. Dobschütz and Plauen

Breslau, d. 15th Martz 1789

literature

• " Kaiserl. also KK priv. prager Oberpostamtszeitung “, Nro. 80 of July 4, 1806.
• Sigismund von Dobschütz: Executed with the Strange. The end of the counterfeiter Carl Ernst von Dobschütz , in: Ostdeutsche Familienkunde 41 (1993), pp. 257–260.
• Emil Schmitz-Hillebracht: The family book of Johann Gottlieb Werner from Breslau , in: Ostdeutsche Familienkunde 21 (1973), pp. 275–280.