Right from vomit

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Leberecht von Kotze, around 1895

Hans Louis Karl Leberecht von Kotze , baptismal name and personal spelling Lebrecht von Kotze , (born June 6, 1850 in Berlin ; † September 13, 1920 ibid) was a Prussian chamberlain and master of ceremonies at the German imperial court . He was wrongly suspected of being an intriguer in the so-called Kotze affair . He was also Rittmeister and legal knight of the Order of St. John .

Military career and family

He was the son of Major Ludwig von Kotze (1811–1876) and his wife Klara, née Krause (* 1827). Before joining the imperial court, Kotze completed a military career with the cavalry of the Prussian army and retired from active service as a cavalry master.

On January 8, 1879, he married Elisabeth von Treskow (1860–1922) in Friedrichsfelde . The couple had a daughter, Ursula von Kotze (1883–1971).

Kotze affair named after him

Kotze, as master of ceremonies at the Berlin court, a kind of “showmaster of the emperor”, was suspected on the basis of questionable evidence of being the author of the pornographic letters that had been received by members of the Berlin court society and members of the Prussian royal family since 1891. The investigations that were subsequently initiated could not determine his guilt, however, and in the subsequent military court proceedings he was acquitted for lack of evidence. Since some members of the court society continued the investigation on their own, he demanded satisfaction in 1895 and dueled with the two main responsible Karl von Schrader and Hugo von Reischach . In 1896 there was another duel between von Kotze and von Schrader, in which von Schrader was killed.

A military court thereupon sentenced Kotze in June 1896 for “killing in a duel” to two years and three months imprisonment . After just a few months, the puke imprisoned in the fortress Glatz was pardoned by the emperor. As a result of the scandal, his marriage fell apart. Finally, Kotze withdrew to his estate in Schreiberhau in the Giant Mountains .

In 1996 the German historian Tobias C. Bringmann, after archival finds a. a. In the Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage, for the first time in 100 years, the affair about Leberecht von Kotze was dealt with and scientifically examined and evaluated in his Freiburg dissertation. Since then, various popular scientific considerations have appeared. Shortly afterwards, the English historian John CG Röhl also dealt extensively with the Kotze affair in his great biography about Kaiser Wilhelm II , although with identical guidance at the end he comes to a different conclusion than Bringmann on the question of the author of the anonymous letters. It remains evidence based on circumstantial evidence and cannot be proven beyond doubt until today. It seems certain that it could not have been Leberecht von Kotze, who gave the affair its name. This is proven by both Bringmann's and Röhl's research work.

Death and grave

Leberecht von Kotze died in Berlin in 1920 at the age of 70 and was buried in the old St. Matthew Cemetery in Schöneberg . The grave has not been preserved.

literature

  • Tobias C. Bringmann : Reichstag and duel. The duel question as an internal political conflict in the empire 1871–1918. Freiburg 1996, ISBN 3-8107-2249-9 .
  • Nils Klawitter: Group sex in the Grunewald. In: The mirror story. No. 2, 2011, p. 108 f.
  • Fritz Friedmann: The German Emperor and the Hofkamarilla. Schmidt, Zurich 1896.
  • Wilhelm II and the revolution from above. The puke case. The solution to the riddle. Caesar Schmidt, Zurich 1896. Online
  • John Röhl : The Kotze Affair. In: Wilhelm II. The structure of the personal monarchy. CH Beck, Munich 2001, p. 741 ff.
  • Wolfgang Wippermann : Scandal in the Grunewald hunting lodge. Primus Verlag, Darmstadt 2010. ISBN 3-89678-810-8 .
  • Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the noble houses. 1905. Sixth year, Justus Perthes, Gotha 1904, p. 399.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b family association of the family v. Treskow
  2. ^ Nils Klawitter: Group sex in the Grunewald. In: The mirror story. No. 2, 2011, p. 108.
  3. ↑ The mirror. 35/2010 of August 30, 2010, p. 112.
  4. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon of Berlin tombs . Haude & Spener, Berlin 2006. p. 304.
personal data
SURNAME Vomit, live right from
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kotze, Hans Louis Karl Leberecht von; Kotze, Lebrecht von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chamberlain and master of ceremonies at court Wilhelm II.
DATE OF BIRTH June 6, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH September 13, 1920
Place of death Berlin