Otto Friedrich Ludwig von Schack

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Otto Friedrich Ludwig von Schack (born February 3, 1763 in Berlin ; † September 29, 1815 there ) was a Prussian major of the Gens d'armes and model for the literary figure in Theodor Fontane's novel Schach von Wuthenow .

Life

origin

He was the son of Gneomar Bernd Wilhelm von Schack (1730–1776) and his wife Julia Marie Luise, born von Wreech (1738–1769), a daughter of Lieutenant General Adam Friedrich von Wreech . His sister Juliane Louise (1760–1835) first married Heinrich Siegmund von Czettritz and Neuhaus († 1787) and after his death the Minister August von der Goltz .

Military career

In 1777 Schack joined the Prussian Army's cavalry regiment Gens d'armes as a standard junker , was accepted into the Order of St. John in mid-May 1780 and cornet in early June 1786 . When war broke out with Poland in 1793 , he was initially not there, to his disappointment. After a submission to the king, however, he took part in the battles in South Prussia from 1794 and received the order Pour le Mérite . On February 6, 1796 he was staff assistant master , on January 9, 1802 squadron chief and on August 9, 1803 major . On September 29th (also September 24th) 1815 he shot himself in Berlin.

Easy life in Berlin

After the death of Frederick II. Was Frederick William II. King of Prussia. He wanted to enjoy life to the full. The Gens d'armes regiment did not want to be inferior here either. Schack was a womanizer and can be found at many court and other festivities. He was also an avid horse breeder, an expensive pleasure too. A race on May 6, 1797 became particularly well known. A horse from the riding stables of Herr von Schack and one of the Mecklenburg estate owner von der Lancken made a race from Berlin to Charlottenburg . Mr. Lancken's horse won by 30 paces. Countless Berliners lined the street, and huge sums are said to have been wagered at the time. Schack was heir to a rich father, but his expenses exceeded his income, and so he wanted to sell the Kloxin estate in 1796 because of the debts. That failed, but on June 26, 1797, Major General George Ferdinand von Damm bought it for 61,000 thalers. On July 6, 1799, he sold the main Prillwitz estate to the secret finance councilor August Heinrich von Borgstede for 170,000 thalers. In the end, he must have run out of that money too. In order to solve his financial difficulties, he wanted to marry the wealthy and educated, but unsightly Victoire von Crayen , daughter of the famous Berlin salonnière Henriette von Crayen . Schack shot himself before the wedding because he feared he would become the mockery of his comrades.

Two incidents show that he was also interested in literature: In December 1808 he conveyed the play "Käthchen von Heilbronn" to the Berlin theater, it comes from the fields of the well-known Heinrich von Kleist . Also his ode "To Friedrich Wilhelm the Third" in 1809. After it had already been rejected by the censors, the court printer Decker turned to Schack, who turned to his sister's husband, the Minister for Foreign Affairs August Friedrich Ferdinand Graf von der Goltz, but that didn't help either.

literature

  • Hans von Schack: Contributions to the history of the counts and lords of Schack. P. 68ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich von Kleist - data on life and work ( Memento from September 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  2. http://www.textkritik.de/bka/dokumente/dok_h/hoffmanno.htm