Maximilian of Hesse (1894–1914)

Maximilian Friedrich Wilhelm Georg von Hessen (born October 20, 1894 in Rumpenheim Castle near Offenbach ; † October 13, 1914 in Chapelle-Saint-Jean near Bailleul , Flanders ) was a grandson of Emperor Friedrich III. and a prince from the Hessen-Kassel line of the House of Hessen .

family

Maximilian von Hessen was the second son of Landgrave Friedrich Karls von Hessen-Kassel (briefly King of Finland in 1918 ) and his wife Margarethe von Prussia , a younger sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II , i.e. a nephew of the Kaiser. The eldest son of the landgrave couple, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm (1893–1916), died in Romania in 1916 . His siblings were Philipp von Hessen (1896–1980), Wolfgang von Hessen (1896–1989), Christoph von Hessen (1901–1943) and his twin brother Richard von Hessen (1901–1969).

The parents Friedrich Karl von Hessen and Margarethe von Prussia

Life

He first attended the Goethe-Gymnasium in Frankfurt am Main and then the Helmholtz-Gymnasium Potsdam . He then attended the main cadet school in Berlin-Lichterfelde together with his brother Friedrich Wilhelm from 1909 to 1912 . He fought in the First World War as a lieutenant in the Grand Ducal Leib-Dragoon Regiment No. 24 .

Prince Max fell in Belgium .

The Frankfurter Zeitung reported that Prince Max von Hessen, who is deployed in the 24th Dragoon Regiment in Belgium, has been taken prisoner by the British . He was injured by a shot in the thigh and taken to a Trappist monastery near Bailleul on the Belgian border, from where British troops took him.

However, from British tradition it is clear that the Prince of Hesse had stayed in the monastery and was caught in British combat fire. He was fatally wounded on reaching his horse. When the British stopped the fire, they found the wounded man lying on the ground and a doctor could only tell him that he would live another hour or so. The dying prince then presented the doctor with his mother's medallion, which he wore around his neck, and asked him to send it to his mother. The doctor himself fell the next day and his widow sent the medallion to Queen Mary , who sent it to Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden. This finally sent it to Maximilian's mother Margarethe.

When the residents of the Belgian town learned that the dead man was Kaiser Wilhelm's nephew, they secretly buried him. The priest later refused to identify the grave until the Germans had left the site and no compensation had been paid. Maximilian's brother, Prince Wolfgang of Hesse, was only able to have the body transported to Hesse with the help of the British authorities.

ancestors

Wilhelm of Hesse (1787–1867)

Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse (1820-1884)

Louise Charlotte of Denmark (1789–1864)

Friedrich Karl of Hesse (1868–1940)

Carl of Prussia (1801-1883)

Anna of Prussia (1836–1918)

Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1808–1877)

Maximilian of Hesse

Kaiser Wilhelm I (1797–1888)

Emperor Friedrich III. (1831-1888)

Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1811–1890)

Margarethe of Prussia (1872–1954)

Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861)

Victoria of Great Britain (1840-1901)

Victoria Queen of Great Britain (1819–1901)

literature

• Jonathan Petropoulos : Royals and the Reich. The Princes of Hessen in Nazi Germany. Oxford University Press 2006, ISBN 0-19-920377-6 limited preview in Google Book Search
• Eckhart G. Franz : The House of Hesse. A European family. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-17-018919-0 .
• Eckhart G. Franz: Haus Hessen: biografisches Lexikon , 2012, pp. 182-183, entry HK 89
• Paul Burg : German princes who died for Germany: Zum Gedächtnis , Leipzig: Xenien-Verl., 1915, p. 112.

Web links

• Hesse, Maximilian Prince of. Hessian biography. (As of February 4, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jonathan Petropoulos: Royals and the Reich. The Princes of Hessen in Nazi Germany . Oxford University Press 2006, p. 43.
2. ↑ Jonathan Petropoulos, op.cit., P. 43.
3. ^ Frankfurter Zeitung of October 22, 1914.