Wilhelm von Brockhausen

Wilhelm von Brockhausen

Wilhelm Ernst Adolf Adam von Brockhausen , also Brockhusen (born April 18, 1773 in Göhren , † March 16, 1858 in Berlin ) was a royal Prussian general and an honorary citizen of Wittenberg .

Life

Beginning and military career

Wilhelm Ernst Adolf Adam von Brockhausen was born as the son of Adam Christoph (1718–1791) and Johanne Luise Friederike von Brockhausen, nee. von Behmen (1742–1793) born in Göhren. On June 4, 1785 he joined the 12th Infantry Regiment von Wunsch Prenzlau as a private corporal. He became ensign there on June 12, 1787 and second lieutenant on May 25, 1780. As such, he took part in the campaign against France from 1792–95. In this he was in skirmishes such as the battle of Kaiserslautern , the cannonade of Valmy , the siege of Landau , Königstein , Geisweiler, Trippstadt , Schierstein , Heltersberg and Johanniskreuz . On November 22nd, 1799 he became the inspecting adjutant of the Brandenburg infantry inspection of Lieutenant General von Kleist in Magdeburg. On January 6, 1800 he became a first lieutenant, on September 3, 1801, captain of the staff and on March 24, 1803, captain . In Magdeburg he met a relative of his superior, Augusta von Kleist (* September 7, 1784, † February 4, 1858), whom he married on August 11, 1805. The marriage was childless.

Time during the Wars of Liberation

During the Wars of Liberation 1813-14 he came on April 28, 1813 as an adjutant to General von Heister. On July 27, 1813 Brockhausen became major and adjutant to Prince von Bülow . Later he was a liaison officer to the Russian General Command of Saxony . During the wars of liberation Brockhausen was involved in various combat missions: the battles near Bautzen , at the Katzbach (for which he received the Iron Cross 2nd class), and at the Wartenburg , the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig , the battles at La Rothiere (for which he received the Iron Cross 1st Class), Montmirail , Craon, and Laon, as well as the battles at Haynau , Mannheim, Brienne, Chateau-Thierry and Meaux. On October 19, 1814 he became adjutant to the Governor General in Dresden, came on May 23, 1815 as an adjutant to Count York and on October 3, 1815 became a lieutenant colonel. Furthermore, during the Wars of Liberation, he received the awards of the Golden Honorary Saber , the Swedish Order of the Sword , the Russian Order of St. George of the 4th Class, the Order of Vladimir of the 4th Class and the Order of Annes of the 2nd Class.

Wittenberg time

On October 27, 1815, he was deployed as the second Prussian commandant in Wittenberg . As a result of the resolutions of the Congress of Vienna , Wittenberg, once Saxon, became part of Prussia on May 21, 1815 . As Wittenberg's commandant, Brockhausen's task was to set up a Prussian garrison. The former university buildings were converted into barracks and the castle became a citadel in 1819. From then on, the garrison determined economic and civil life in the city. The preservation of the fortified fortifications in Wittenberg was a particular concern of Brockhausen. Since the Wittenbergers had suffered a great deal of suffering during the French occupation in the Wars of Liberation, the citizens of the Prussian regiment now felt the freedom they had longed for again. Therefore, the citizens, the craftsmen and tradespeople adjusted considerably to the military.

During his tenure in Wittenberg, Brockhausen not only performed regulatory tasks, but also fulfilled representative duties. When in 1817 the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. Visited the city for the anniversary of the Reformation on October 31, he found quarters with his loyal city commander. When the foundation stone of the castle church was laid on November 1, 1817, the name of the king and that of the Wittenberg city commander Wilhelm von Brockhausen were also hammered into the marble foundation stone of the castle church . When Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria crossed Wittenberg on November 26, 1823 on her journey to marry the then Crown Prince and later King Friedrich Wilhelm IV , Brockhausen, who was appointed Colonel on March 30, 1823, received the same in today's Pratau district and accompanied her her entourage to his headquarters, where she took up quarters. He received a similarly distinguished visit on June 8, 1829. It was then that Princess Auguste von Sachsen-Weimar arrived in Wittenberg. The princess was on her way to her wedding on June 11th in Berlin with Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, later Emperor Wilhelm I. The prince had already arrived in Wittenberg an hour before her arrival and got into the hotel "Zur Goldenen Weintraube “From. After a meal together in the commandant's office, the prince traveled back to Berlin, while the future empress stayed in the commandant's office with the family of the city commandant. On March 30, 1837, the city commandant of Wittenberg was appointed major general.

Berlin time

When Brockhausen left Wittenberg for Berlin at the end of his service in 1835, the city fathers of Wittenberg decided to give him Wittenberg honorary citizenship . This honored his almost 20 years of service as city commander with active care, humanity and friendly benevolence. On June 4, 1835, the delegation chaired by the mayor Fließbach presented the honorary citizenship certificate. On the same day, on the occasion of his 50th anniversary in service, he was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle of Class II. On March 4, 1837 , Brockhausen was retired as major general with a respectable pension for the time. On the estate of his wife in Gebersdorf, the Brockhausen couple donated a bell that still exists today in 1841, which bears the coat of arms of the Brockhausen and Kleist families.

literature

• Richard Erfurth : History of the city of Wittenberg. Wattrodt Verlag, Wittenberg, 1910
• Rudi Lipinski : For Humanity and Welfare , in: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , July 10, 1993
• Meyner: History of the City of Wittenberg , 1845
• Friedrich Rammenau: History of the Kleist family. Pedigree
• Johann Gottfried Schadow : Wittenbergs monuments , 1825
• Extract from the Brockhausen family chronicle
• 700 years of Wittenberg
• Yearbook of the German Nobility , Volume 1, 1896, p.358

Web links

• Site of the family association of Brockhusen-von Brockhausen von Bruchhusen