Post robbery in the Subach

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The postal robbery in the Subach was a criminal case in 1822 in the Hessian hinterland , at that time the Grand Duchy of Hesse . The case was passed down through the written descriptions of the Criminal Court Secretary Carl Franz. He became known to the general public in 1971 through the film adaptation of The Sudden Wealth of the Poor People of Kombach .

Course of action

On May 19, 1822, eight poor farmers and day laborers from Kombach , Wolfgruben and Dexbach attacked a "money cart" that drove from Gladenbach to Giessen that day . It was planned that the attack would take place in the Subach, a narrow road near Mornshausen near Gladenbach. After six failed attempts, the attack succeeded. The booty amounted to 10,466 guilders .

Investigations and Proceedings

Their sudden wealth became the perpetrators' undoing, because their expenses made them conspicuous. This led to seven of the eight perpetrators being identified and caught. In 1824 they were sentenced to death by the sword in a court case in Gießen.

crime scene

The Subach is a tributary of the salt flats . The attack took place in a ravine between Rollshausen and Mornshausen.

Perpetrator

The following eight people were identified as perpetrators of the attack:

  • David Briel from Dexbach
  • Hans Jacob Geiz from Kombach
  • Heinrich Geiz, son of Hans Jacob Geiz from Kombach
  • Jacob Geiz, son of Hans Jacob Geiz from Kombach
  • Jost Ways from Kombach
  • Jost weg aus Wolfgruben
  • Johannes Soldan from Kombach
  • Ludwig Acker from Kombach

In addition, a "land rifle people" was involved, he wanted to "pull the lead out of the gun" of the escorting land rifle before the attack.

The stocking dealer David Briel was probably a son of Johann Hermann Briehl (born November 2, 1774) from Dexbach. He was considered to be the “founder of the plot” and had obtained a “license to go abroad” when he was still suspect. It is said that he evaded the investigation by emigrating to America. Allegedly he is said to have founded a stocking factory in America.

The Landschützen Volk was arrested, took advantage of a favorable moment in prison and "shot himself in advance of the executioner's hand, a bullet through the heart".

Johannes Soldan also died by suicide in prison, he was strangled. Previously, he is said to have " encouraged his helpers to persevere every morning with a song they wrote themselves. He sang 'hold fast to your faith ...', that is, to believe that you will still enjoy the booty: 'Don't betray anything'. You only know the first line of the long ballad. The song was known in Breidenstein and Wallau until the turn of the century . "

Jost Weg from Wolfgruben was determined and arrested on February 6, 1823 in Giessen. He managed to escape from prison on the night of April 11th to April 12th, 1823. The subsequent manhunt was unsuccessful; nothing is known about his further fate.

The remaining five perpetrators, Hans Jacob Geiz, Heinrich Geiz, Jacob Geiz, Jost Weg and Ludwig Acker - all from Kombach - were sentenced to death by the sword on March 25, 1824 in Gießen. The public execution took place on October 7, 1824. The sequence was chosen so that Hans Jacob Geiz first had to attend the beheading of his sons before he was the last to be executed.

Historical context

The economic situation of the population in the Grand Duchy of Hesse had deteriorated extremely in the first quarter of the 19th century . Many suffered extreme poverty. Working as a day laborer , harvest worker , reaper , thresher or servant for the few wealthy private landowners was the only way to earn a living. The extremely wet, cold summers of 1816 and 1817 ( year without a summer ) resulted in crop failures in many places. Many had no choice but to leave their village forever and find their happiness outside the hinterland and work in the Wetterau , Siegerland or Rhineland . The textile industry that once flourished in Biedenkopf had also lost its importance. In its heyday there were over 150 cloth makers in Biedenkopf . Wage labor was possible with cloth weavers , spinning mills and knitting mills . The Hinterland stocking dealers sold their goods as peddlers as far as the Rhine-Main area . Historical developments, such as the introduction of the Napoleonic continental barrier , caused this sales to drop sharply. Above all, it was a time of great emigration to America .

Source & reception

The criminal case was by a work of Carl Franz, criminal court secretary in Giessen, with the title

The post-robbery in the Subach was committed by eight muggers, five of whom were brought from life to death on October 7th, 1824 in Giessen through the Schwerdt

known to a wider public. The work was published in 1825 by Verlag H. Hase, Giessen.

Carl Franz was aware of the investigation and trial files of the criminal case, which was heard on March 25, 1824 before the Giessen Criminal Court . The files are archived in the Hessian State Archives in Marburg .

Volker Schlöndorff adapted the case in 1971 in his early film The sudden wealth of the poor people of Kombach .

More stagecoach robberies

The mail robbery in the Subach was not an isolated incident; other stagecoach robberies at the beginning of the 19th century have been handed down. Examples:

  • The tradition of a comparable case has been processed by Michail Krausnick in his work Beruf: Räuber . Mannefriedrich and the Hölzerlips gang had attacked a stagecoach in the Odenwald in 1811. They too were identified, sentenced and executed by sword.
  • In 1873, Ottokar Schupp described a mail robbery in Würges, Hesse .
  • In 1825, a stagecoach was attacked in the Westphalian town of Herringen near Hamm . The coachman and the gang leader were killed by gunshot wounds.

literature

Primary source

  • Carl Franz: The post robbery in the Subach committed by eight road robbers, five of whom were brought from life to death on October 7th, 1824 in Giessen through the Schwerdt . H. Hase, Giessen 1825.
The Google Books project scanned this primary source and made it publicly available online.

Reproductions

  • 1909: Carl Franz: The post robbery in the Subach committed by eight road robbers, five of whom were brought from life to death on October 7th, 1824 in Giessen through the Schwerdt . In: Journal of the history association for the Biedenkopf district . Vol. 3, No. 9 , November 6, 1909, DNB  012724769 .
  • 1933: Carl Franz: The post robbery in the Subach - After d. excerpt from files of Criminal court secretary Franz . Ed .: Wilhelm Well. Bauer, Marburg 1933, DNB  578292955 .
  • 1978: Carl Franz: The postal robbery in the Subach committed by eight highway robbers, five of whom were brought from life to death by the sword on October 7th, 1824 in Giessen. Files extracted and edited by Carl Franz, Criminal Secretary Gießen 1825 . Illustrated with ten illustrations after linocuts by Johannes Nawrath. Ed .: Elmar Altwasser, Dieter Mayer-Gürr, Claudia Gabriele Philipp. Jonas Verlag , Marburg 1978, DNB  790143143 .
  • 1986: Carl Franz: The post robbery in the Subach committed by eight highway robbers, five of whom were brought from life to death on October 7th, 1824 in Giessen through the Schwerdt. Files extracted and processed by Carl Franz, Criminal Court Secretary of Giessen. Giessen 1825 . With illustrations by Wilhelm M. Busch . Jonas Verlag, Marburg 1986, ISBN 3-922561-49-7 .
  • 1986: Rainer Brämer: Der Postraub in der Subach , special issue from the series of publications by the Association for History & Folklore Lohra , Lohra 1986.
  • 2011: Carl Franz: The robbery of the post in the Subach - removed from the files and processed by Carl Franz, Criminal Court Secretary in Giessen. Giessen 1825 . Ed .: Eckhard Henkel . Subach, Königswinter 2011 (Kindle E-Book).
  • 2015: Carl Franz: The post robbery in the Subach committed by eight road robbers, five of whom were brought from life to death on October 7th, 1824 in Giessen through the Schwerdt. Files extracted and processed by Carl Franz, Criminal Court Secretary in Giessen. Giessen 1825 , Jonas Verlag, Marburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-89445-510-1 . (Paperback)

Adaptations

research

  • Ulrich Mayer: The postal robbery in the Subach in the district of Lohra . Lecture at the Oberhessischer Geschichtsverein in Gießen on January 17, 1996. Ed .: Oberhessischer Geschichtsverein Gießen (=  communications from the Oberhessischer Geschichtsverein Gießen . No. 81 ). Giessen March 4, 2019, p. 277–297 ( uni-giessen.de [PDF; 6.5 MB ; accessed on May 8, 2020]).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b “A reflection on 'The poor people of Kombach'” (1973) in Elsa Blöcher : Contributions to the history of the hinterland: collected essays . Ed .: Hinterland History Association. tape 2 . Verlag Max Stephani, Biedenkopf 1985, DNB  551358521 , p. 393 f .
  2. ↑ History of Emigration
  3. ↑ Michail Krausnick: Profession: Robber. About the terrible Mannefriedrich and the misdeeds of the Hölzerlips gang . Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek 1978 and Beltz & Gelberg Verlag, Weinheim 1990. 2nd edition 1991. ISBN 978-3407780898
  4. ↑ Ottokar Schupp: The postal robbery in Würges. A narrative based on oral and written traditions. For the youth and the people, Julius Niedner publishing house, Wiesbaden 1873. 2 steel engravings, 149 pp.
  5. ↑ Ottokar Schupp: The postal robbery in Würges. A story based on oral and written traditions for the youth and the people . Oranien Verlag, Herborn, ca.1925
  6. ↑ stagecoach robbery at Herringen in 1825 on hammtv.de

Coordinates: 50 ° 44 ′ 0 ″  N , 8 ° 35 ′ 25 ″  E