Mary Vetsera

Mary Baroness of Vetsera (1887)

Mary Vetsera (right) and her best friend Countess Marie Larisch von Moennich

Marie Alexandrine Freiin von Vetsera , called Mary (born March 19, 1871 in Vienna , † January 30, 1889 at Mayerling Castle ), was an Austrian noblewoman and lover of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria-Hungary .

Life

Mary Vetsera was the third of a total of four children of the diplomat Albin Johannes Ritter von Vetsera (1825-1887), who came from Pressburg and who had been raised to the rank of baron in 1870, and his wife Helene Baltazzi (1847-1925), who was one of the wealthiest came from Greek families.

Vetsera, like many girls at the time, raved about Crown Prince Rudolf , whom she first met personally in 1888 at a horse race in Freudenau . Here was Countess Marie Larisch , a cousin Rudolph and affair of her uncle Heinrich Baltazzi , her hand in the game. Vetsera's French teacher and confidante Gabriel Dubray wrote in an article in Le Matin in Paris that after this meeting the girl's behavior and mood had changed noticeably; she spoke of the Crown Prince with great enthusiasm. Vetsera read the reports in the gossip press daily, collected photos, and made inquiries. When her mother noticed this crush, she took her daughter on a trip to England as a distraction. After an exchange of letters, the first private meeting with the Crown Prince probably took place in the Vienna Hofburg in the first days of November 1888 , which was followed by around 20 more meetings by January 28th. These secret visits were supported by Rudolf's bodyfiaker Josef Bratfisch , Countess Larisch and Vetsera's maid, Agnes Jahoda. A nude portrait of Vetsera by an unknown painter, which today belongs to the collection of the Viennese Imperial Furniture Collection, is likely to go back to a request by Rudolf.

On January 28, 1889, Rudolf arrived at his hunting lodge in Mayerling at around 3:30 p.m., and Vetsera was driven to Mayerling by Leibfiaker Bratfisch a little later. The night before his departure, the Crown Prince had stayed with his lover Mizzi Kaspar . The police agent Florian Meissner, who was responsible for monitoring Rudolf, stated: “Monday, 28/1. In 1889 Mizzi stayed until 3 a.m., drank a lot of champagne, gave the caretaker ten guilders blocking money. When he recommended himself from Mizzi, contrary to his custom, he made the sign of the cross on her forehead. From Mizzi he drove (direct?) To Mayerling. "

After the two corpses were found on the morning of January 30th by valet Johann Loschek , an imperial medical college was sent to Mayerling Castle , which at Vetsera found suicide by being shot in the head at close range. Since the fatal bullet penetrated the upper left skull area and emerged again behind the right ear, but Vetsera was right-handed, however, there are considerable doubts that she fired the weapon herself.

There are different theories about the causes and the course of events. The claim that Rudolf entered into the relationship with Vetsera mainly because she appeared to him to be a suitable partner for his suicide plans cannot be proven on the basis of the sources still available today.

Mary Freiin von Vetsera was buried in the morning hours of February 1st in the local cemetery of Heiligenkreuz . Her mother had a crypt built for her there, and Mary Vetsera was reburied in a magnificent copper coffin on May 16 . In 1925 only a fund of ten kroner was available for the maintenance of the grave .

In 2015, farewell letters from Mary Vetsera that had previously been believed to be lost were found in the Schoellerbank and given to the Austrian National Library on permanent loan.

Desecration, grave robbery

Vetsera's grave (2014)

In April 1945 the crypt was ransacked by Soviet soldiers . After the soldiers withdrew, the damage was only superficially repaired; a new burial did not take place until July 7, 1959. The mortal remains were reburied in a new pewter coffin, which was placed on iron girders above the old magnificent coffin. In addition to the later abbot of Heiligenkreuz Abbey , Gerhard Hradil , the cousin of the deceased, Heinrich Baltazzi-Scharschmid , and the head of the Baden municipal burial, District Councilor Halbwachs were also present. The participants agreed that, contrary to the autopsy report of the court commission, no gunshot wound could be found on the skull.

Mary Vetsera caused a renewed sensation in December 1992. After newspaper reports about an alleged desecration of the grave in Heiligenkreuz - the previously mossy joints of the grave were found exposed - the crypt was opened on official instructions and the old grand coffin was found empty. The bones were stolen by the furniture dealer Helmut Flatzelsteiner from Puchenau , who was interested in the Mayerling myth , with the help of two helpers on July 8, 1991, in order to have them examined by laboratory medicine and to publish the findings. The case was discovered by the Viennese journalist Georg Markus and reported to the police. After the remains were found, the Baltazzi-Vetsera family approved a forensic analysis , but withdrew that approval before the investigation was complete.

On October 28, 1993, the bones were buried in a new coffin closed to the public and the crypt was filled with earth to prevent the grave from being desecrated again.

Since the Baltazzi-Vetsera u. a. also refused the DNA analysis to determine the identity of the bones, it is only certain that in this grave there are the remains of an approximately 18-year-old woman, whose lying time is approximately 115 years and whose skull has two bullet holes (ball entry and exit) having. The hair tests showed gunshot residue on. The clothes of the dead correspond to the time and come from those Viennese fashion stores where the Vetsera family used to shop.

In 2007 the old copper coffin was found again by chance in Heiligenkreuz Abbey. It has been restored and can be viewed at the Karmel Mayerling since 2010 .

The grave robbers, which he had done in a monograph , although described as "kidnapping" escaped an indictment because the competent prosecutor Wiener Neustadt the criminal charges on suspicion of serious theft , permanent property confiscation and the dead disturbance lay back, after a civil case , however, he had the Pen pay 27,500 shillings (1,999 euros) in damages .

literature

• Ernst von der Planitz: The full truth about the disaster in Mayerling, according to official and journalistic sources and the papers left behind - with a picture of Baroness Vetsera . 19th edition. Nißler, Munich 1889.
• Julia Pauline Princess Odescalchi: Crown Prince Rudolf and the crime of Vetsera . 4th edition. Gracklauer, Leipzig 1900.
• Ernst von der Planitz: The Mayerling Lie. Answer to the Princess Odescalchi to her “revelation” about Crown Prince Rudolf and the crime of the Vetsera . 4th edition. Piehler, Berlin around 1900.
• Herbert Fuhst: Mary Vetsera in the light of her ancestry and kinship - a family history investigation ... self-published, Vienna 1931.
• Heinrich Baltazzi-Scharschmid, Hermann Swistun: The Baltazzi-Vetsera families in imperial Vienna , Böhlau, Vienna (among others) 1980, ISBN 3-205-07160-3 .
• Gerd Holler: Mayerling: The solution to the riddle. The death of Crown Prince Rudolf and Baroness Vetsera from a medical point of view . Molden, Vienna (et al.) 1980, ISBN 3-217-01051-5 .
• Gerd Holler: Mayerling - new documents on the tragedy 100 years later . Amalthea, Vienna (among others) 1988, ISBN 3-85002-269-2 .
• Georg Markus: Mayerling criminal case. Life and Death of Mary Vetsera. With the new reports after the grave robbery . Amalthea-Verlag, Vienna (inter alia) 1993, ISBN 3-85002-343-5 .
• Hermann Swistun: Mary Vetsera. Companion for death . Ueberreuter, Vienna 1999, ISBN 3-8000-3727-0 .
• Georg Bauer: Robbed Mary Vetsera from the crypt . In: Markus A. Rothschild (ed.): The most incredible cases of forensic medicine . 7th edition, S. series, volume 625. Militzke, Leipzig 2005, ISBN 3-86189-625-7 , ISBN 978-3-86189-625-8 .
• Brigitte Sokop: That Countess Larisch. Marie Louise Countess Larisch-Wallersee, confidante of the Empress - ostracized after Mayerling . 4th edition. Böhlau, Vienna (among others) 2006, ISBN 3-205-77484-1 , ISBN 978-3-205-77484-6 .

Web links

Commons : Mary Freiin von Vetsera  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Mary Vetsera in the catalog of the German National Library
• The resting places . In: mayerling.de , accessed on September 26, 2010.
• “The Vetsera stank like the devil” . Interview with the grave robber Helmut Flatzelsteiner. In: Der Standard from July 14, 2006.
• Katrin Jilek: "I couldn't resist love" Research blog from September 19, 2019 on the website of the National Library, on the occasion of the presentation of the letters as part of the series "The Special Object"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mary's grandfather was the governor of Pressburg Bernhard von Vetsera (* 1796, † 1870)
2. ↑ Robert Seydel: The affair of the Habsburgs . Carl Ueberreuter, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-8000-7038-3 , pp. 104-110.
3. ↑ The picture: online
4. ^ Friedrich Weissensteiner : Women around Crown Prince Rudolf . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1991, ISBN 3-218-00534-5 .
5. ↑ Robert Seydel: The affair of the Habsburgs . Carl Ueberreuter, Vienna 2005, pp. 104-109-110
6. ^ Results of the forensic medical examinations on the exhumed corpse. Shown in the documentary television program “Der Fall Rudolf” (Austria 2006) on 3sat on April 8, 2012
7. ↑ Ilsebill Barta (Ed.): Crown Prince Rudolf - Traces of Life (= series of publications by the museums of the Mobiliendepot, Volume 26). Imperial Furniture Collection - Möbel-Museum Wien, Vienna 2008, p. 35ff.
8. ↑ Visit to the Mayerling cemetery by foreign press representatives. In:  Badener Zeitung , July 18, 1925, p. 5 (online at ANNO ).
9. ↑ orf.at - Farewell letters from Mary Vetsera found . Article dated July 31, 2015, accessed July 31, 2015.
10. ^ Austrian National Library receives farewell letters believed to be lost from Mary Vetsera Press release of July 31, 2015, accessed on April 26, 2020.
11. ^ Austrian National Library: Mary Vetsera's farewell letters in full , accessed on April 26, 2020
12. ↑ Werner Richter, Historia Sanctae Crucis, Heiligenkreuz 2011, pp. 437-438.
13. ↑ http://www.zeit.de/1993/07/habsburg-ein-wintermaerchen/seite-3 , accessed on June 4, 2017.
14. ↑ Interview: Martin Langeder: "I only wanted your bones!" In: sueddeutsche.de . November 24, 2008, accessed October 13, 2018 . 
15. ↑ Bones stolen . In: newsv1.orf.at , August 19, 2008, accessed on September 20, 2010.
16. ↑ Georg Markus Autor in conversation with Dr. Wolfgang Habermeyer ( Memento from June 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Broadcast in BR on January 26, 2004, accessed on November 8, 2008.
17. ^ The coffin of Mary Vetsera . ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: karmel-mayerling.org , accessed on September 20, 2010. 
18. ↑ Helmut Flatzelsteiner: My Mary Vetsera. Mayerling - the tragedy reveals its secret. Authentic description of the kidnapping from the crypt . Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-218-00574-4 .
19. ↑ Compensation payment . In: oesterreich.orf.at , November 19, 2008, accessed on September 20, 2010.
20. ↑ Permalink Austrian Library Association .
21. ^ Catalog list Austrian National Library , 23rd edition.
22. ↑ ^{a b} Not recorded in the entire holdings of the German National Library ( Memento of the original from February 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on September 26, 2010. 
23. ↑ Permalink Austrian Library Association .
24. ↑ Catalog list Austrian National Library .
25. ↑ Permalink German National Library , year of publication 1919.
26. ↑ Catalog list Austrian National Library .
27. ↑ Not found in the general catalog of the Austrian Library Network , requested on September 26, 2010.
28. ↑ Permalink Austrian Library Association .
29. ↑ Catalog list Austrian National Library .
30. ↑ Permalink German National Library .
31. ↑ Partial reprint in two sequels: Bratfisch whistled wonderfully . In: spiegel.de , Part I , April 7, 1980, Part II , April 14, 1980, Part III , April 21, 1980, each accessed on September 26, 2010.