Marie von Thadden-Trieglaff

Marie von Thadden on Trieglaff

Johanna von Puttkamer in the 1940s

Katharina Princess Orloff, Bismarck's lover during his time in Paris

Marie von Thadden-Trieglaff (* 1822 in Kardemin , Regenwalde district ; † November 10, 1846 ibid) was the daughter of the landowner Adolf von Thadden-Trieglaff and the wife of Moritz Karl Henning von Blanckenburg . She had the most decisive influence on Otto von Bismarck in the Pietist-Pomeranian circle and was probably his unfulfilled love of life.

The Pomeranian Awakening Movement

Marie von Thadden's father , Adolf von Thadden-Trieglaff , had become the center of a pietistic-Protestant revival movement in Pomerania that joined the old Lutheran church . This religious-sentimental-romantic movement had also strongly influenced Marie in her religious-emotional feelings.

After Bismarck had decided to become a farmer, he often got together through his friend and former classmate Moritz von Blanckenburg, who managed his father's estate near the Bismarcksche Kniephof. He introduced him to the pietistic circle. The fact that almost the entire Pomeranian landed aristocracy was represented in it and that King Friedrich Wilhelm IV was close to this movement in his romantic-religious manner may also have been one of the reasons for Bismarck. The most important representatives of this circle in Cardemin are:

• Gustav von Below
• Moritz von Blanckenburg
• Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach
• Hans Hugo von Kleist-Retzow
• Adolf von Thadden-Trieglaff

Moritz von Blanckenburg, a former classmate of Bismarck at the Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster , wrote several letters of conversion to Bismarck from 1843, in order to lead him back on the virtuous path. This is how Bismarck came into contact with Blanckenburg's fiancé Marie von Thadden.

Love for Otto von Bismarck

The conversion attempts of his friend Blanckenburg did not pay off with Bismarck. The situation was different, however, with the relationship that gradually developed with Moritz von Blanckenburg's fiancée, Marie von Thadden. Marie Moritz is astonished to describe an encounter with Bismarck the day before: “I have never heard anyone discuss their disbelief, or rather their pantheism, so freely and clearly ...” and his confession, evidently made with passion: “How can I believe, since I do but once had no faith: it must either go into me or catch up with me without my doing or willing! ”Affinities developed between Marie Thadden and Bismarck, which both happily and painfully troubled. Bismarck was deeply touched by the loving participation of the young woman, who had already been promised to Moritz von Blanckenburg, and could not refuse to seek contact again and again, her understanding, her teasing, her feminine charm. The relationship is highlighted, especially from Marie's side, in numerous letters which openly and often covertly reflect her fascination with Bismarck's personality. Bismarck's melancholy mood was reinforced by Marie's participation in his fate. It was the intrinsic attraction of their relationships that they both suspected the underlying longings and affinities of their hearts and senses. Nevertheless, Bismarck does not dare to take the decisive step, which would also have meant the break with Moritz von Blanckenburg. In spite of all the subliminal affection for him, Marie would probably hardly have committed the grave sin of breach of loyalty to her "good Moritz". The contacts with the Pomeranian Pietist circles, which were so beneficial for his further political advancement, would have been extremely endangered if Bismarck had not held back. He would have gotten into isolation again.

Death and marriage brokerage for Johanna von Puttkamer

Marie von Thadden and her childhood friends, who were also rooted in pietism, exchanged sentimental and fuzzy letters. This group included Elisabeth von Mittelstadt, the daughter of the Consistorial President of Szczecin, Hedwig von Blanckenburg and, last but not least, Johanna von Puttkamer , who later became Otto von Bismarck's wife and, in matters of the heart, even a special confidante of Marie. Otto von Bismarck, who played a role in their correspondence as an interesting man and who appeared with Marie von Thadden and Johanna von Puttkamer under literary aliases, liked to include them in their enthusiasm for happiness and love, pure community of souls and religious care. Marie von Thadden did a lot for him. It was she who, supported by Moritz, directed him to his friend Johanna von Puttkamer. Already at the Blanckenburg wedding on October 4, 1844, the first meeting between Otto von Bismarck and Johanna von Puttkamer was deliberately prepared. But with Bismarck no spark seemed to ignite. Moritz urged him: “Come and see! If you don't want her, I'll take her to my second wife. ”It was almost two years before Otto von Bismarck came into a closer relationship with Johanna von Puttkamer. The couple finally got closer on a trip to the Harz Mountains they shared with the Blankenburgs. The final decisive factor was the early death of Marie von Thadden. In 1846 Bismarck decided to move to Schönhausen. It was there that he received the news of Marie von Blanckenburg's death on November 10, 1846. She had lost her mother, who had recently contracted an epidemic fever, and while caring for her she had contracted fatal encephalitis herself. On December 14, 1846, Bismarck agreed with Johanna in Cardemin. On December 18, Bismarck wrote to his sister about it, under the impression of painful shock: “You know roughly how I was standing with the Cardeminer house and how hard the recent death is therefore affecting me. If something was missing to make my decision to leave Pomerania easy for me, it was this. ”A few days later - around December 21, 1846 - Bismarck wrote his famous letter of solicitation to Heinrich von Puttkamer. In it he names the relationship with Marie von Thadden and especially her early death as the turning point in his life. After the years of pure deism with pantheistic traits, he was able to pray again for the first time - as he confessed here.

Bismarck's memory of Marie von Thadden

Many biographers consider the relationship with Marie von Thadden to be Bismarck's real and only love. He never forgot her in his life. The first child of Otto and Johanna von Bismarck was probably not named Marie by chance. Even during his time as ambassador in Paris he was not insensitive to feminine charm: when he fell in love with the Russian princess Orlova on a vacation trip to south-west France in 1862, he confessed to his cleverly tolerant wife Johanna that it was also “a little bit Marie Thadden “is what attracts him. Even at an old age, when Marie von Thadden's niece was introduced to him, he remarked with a sigh: “What looks at me from these eyes!” Nevertheless, a lifelong marital relationship developed between Otto and Johanna von Bismarck, which was characterized by mutual respect and endured all ups and downs in a Christian way. Even on his deathbed, Bismarck prayed to be united with "his Johanna" in eternity.

Bismarck's political career

During this time he also enjoyed a lifelong friendship with Moritz Karl Henning von Blanckenburg and his uncle Albrecht von Roon , the Prussian field marshal and minister. Roon eventually led him to the King William I a. In addition to the contacts that are so indispensable for a politician, the pietistic outlook also brought the argumentative potential - as he already showed in his masterly bride solicitation - for closeness to politically conservative circles, such as the Kreuzzeitung or the brothers Ernst Ludwig von Gerlach and Ludwig Friedrich Leopold von Gerlach .

literature

• Thoughts and memories ; Herbig, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-37766-5012-9 .
• Prince Bismarck's letters to his bride and wife (H. v. Bismarck, ed.), Stuttgart 1900.
• Ernst Engelberg : Bismarck. Original Prussians and founders of the empire . Akademie-Verlag XVI, Berlin 1985.
• Lothar Gall : Bismarck - The White Revolutionary , Ullstein, 2nd edition, 2002, ISBN 3-548-26515-4 .
• Otto von Bismarck, documents from his life; Published by Heinz Wolters, Leipzig 1986

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ernst Engelberg: Bismarck. Original Prussians and founders of the empire. Akademie-Verlag XVI, Berlin 1985., page 192
2. ↑ See Eyck, Vol. 1, page 125
3. ↑ Ernst Engelberg: Bismarck. Original Prussians and founders of the empire. Akademie-Verlag XVI, Berlin 1985., pages 204-205