Simon Kramer
Simon Kramer (born January 16, 1785 in Möderndorf, municipality of Maria Saal ; † September 17, 1809 in Zojach, municipality of Liebenfels ; also Simerl Krapfenbäck or popularly Krapfenbäck Simerle ) was a Carinthian robber and is now known as "Robin Hood of Carinthia".
family
Simon Kramer was born as the son of a so - called half farmer (Keuschler vulgo "Krapfenbäck") in 1785 in the Riederkeusche above Möderndorf am Zollfeld .
Life
The occupation of Carinthia by the French troops shaped the country and the childhood of the young Kramer. His father Sebastian and his family settled in St. Veit an der Glan (today Bräuhausgasse 19), and Simon watched him as he gave shelter to thieves and tramps in his house. It was from them that Simon learned the trade of thieves and in 1806 did his first deeds as a brigand .
The Krapfenbäck-Simerl, as he was called, committed - often with accomplices - thefts and robberies, mostly of simple farmers. The legends idealize him: he ambushed traveling merchants in the Wolschartwald and did not even shrink back from attacks on the French and robbed them of a war chest. “Simon Kramer distributed the booty among his poor, half-starved compatriots,” says the legend. The dense Wolschart Forest in the middle of the Krappfeld is said to have served him and his companion Juliana Regenfelder as a safe hiding place from Napoleon's followers .
Simon Kramer was searched for and arrested twice, but in 1807 he escaped from captivity in the market court in Weitensfeld . After his second arrest, he was charged with 35 criminal offenses and was sentenced to life imprisonment in early 1809, but he evaded justice in February 1809 by a spectacular escape from the Klagenfurt criminal court. He had already freed his girlfriend Juliana from the dungeon at Mageregg Castle , which caused a sensation.
On the evening of September 17, 1809, Simon Kramer was arrested at the Wegscheiderwirt in Zojach by a patrol led by the district court clerk Anton Lackner and shot there under highly questionable circumstances for alleged resistance. Upon intervention by the Carinthian regional administration, the court decided not to investigate this incident. The legend tells of traitors from within its own ranks and of a miraculous knife that turned after Simon Kramer as soon as danger threatened.
As a chilling example, the French general Jean-Baptiste Rusca had the body of Krapfenbäck hung on the gallows in Annabichl near Klagenfurt on September 20 . His body was most likely buried directly on the Galgenbichl.
Artistic processing
Based on the story of the Krapfenbäck Simerle, a musical was premiered on the Finkenstein castle ruins in 2010 with music by Gerd Schuller and texts by Heimo Töfferl and Adolf Ulbing . Before that there were several arrangements for the stage, including a. by Ludwig Skumauz at the South Carinthian Summer Games in Eberndorf .
Web links
- Literature by and about Simon Kramer in the catalog of the German National Library
- Website for the musical Simon Kramer
- Saga of the Krapfenbeck Simmele
- Stories from Simerl
- Simerl's biography
Individual evidence
- ^ Hans-Peter Weingand, Der Galgen von Klagenfurt, in: Carinthia I 2019, 307-312.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kramer, Simon |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Krapfenbäck, Simerl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Carinthian robbers; is known as "Robin Hood of Carinthia" |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 16, 1785 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Möderndorf (municipality of Maria Saal ) |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 20, 1809 |
| Place of death | Zojach (municipality of Liebenfels ) |