Captain of Köpenick

Friedrich William Voigt (* 13. February 1849 in Tilsit; † 3. January 1922 in Luxembourg) was from East Prussia of coming shoemakers. Admits became it under the name a captain of Köpenick.

lives

William Voigt 1849 became as a son of a shoemaker inTilsit (at that time East Prussia, today Sowjetsk in Russia) born. Already with 14 years he was condemned because of theft to 14 days detention. Between 1864 and 1891 he was arrested four times and condemned because of renewed theft and twice because of falsification of documents. After his dismissal 1906 pulledhe after Wismar, and worked there at the yard shoemaker master Hilbrecht in the Lüb road 11, until he received the ban on residence for the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg Schwerin. Afterwards it pulled to its sister to Berlin. To 24. August 1906 was proven William Voigt also from Berlin,that it did not hold itself however.

Voigt had in various Trödelläden, and. A. in potsdam in the averaging race 3, in the dutchman quarter, the parts of the uniform of a Prussian captain acquired.

Köpenickiade

to 16. He disguised , took shelter October 1906 as a captain thosein the maritime route crew of the swimming school guard of the Plötzensee its command stationed and occupied with them the city hall of Köpenick. He arrested the mayor Georg long Hans, seized the city branch (4002 Marks, 37 Pfennig, whereby 1.67 Marks were missing to planned stocks of the cash book). Thus arosea calculation according to record: 4000,70 minus 443,25 Marks redeemed Anleihscheine. This sum it let lie however and fled with the local train and the sum of money from 3557,45 Marks, filled into a pouch, to Berlin. With the sums of money there are again and again different data, just as over itsMotive of the over case. Its next stage was the Friedrichstrasse/corner protecting route, where it procured itself with a Herrenausstatter civilian clothes. Before he gave still the instruction to the police to provide for peace and order.

Ten days later he was arrested and by the regional court to fourYears condemns detention. There emperors Wilhelm II. it, became he begnadigte to 16. August 1908 prematurely from the institute for detention Tegel dismisses.

to the release from custody

1909 it went to the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to Luxembourg. There he lived in the NeippergstrasseNo. 5, received at the 1. May 1910 a of Luxembourg document of identification and worked predominantly as waiter and a shoemaker. Occasionally it appeared also in the circus as a captain of Köpenick and sold thereby autograph maps. The Köpenickiade made it world well-known, so that he in „tours “and. A. in And to it later in honours also a figure arose to Canada, the USA and France with madame Tussaud was set up.

Grave of the captain of Köpenick in Luxembourg (with the wrong date of birth 1850)

death

at the 3. He deceased to January 1922 at the age of 72To years completely become impoverished in Luxembourg and one buried on the there dear woman cemetery.

his grave in Luxembourg

the circus Sarrasani bought the grave of William Voigt to 1961 for 15 years and donated at the same time a gravestone. This showed the biting caricature of the headan obviously German soldier with Pickelhaube and also to the Austeilen of instructions , frames opened mouth from the label: „The captain of Köpenick “.

Since 1975 the grave is maintained by the city and on operation of some delegates of the European parliament became also at the same time thatGravestone renews. It shows now a Pickelhaube and the label „CAPTAIN OF KOEPENICK “. Among them still smaller „William Voigt stands 1850-1922 “, whereby date of birth was wrongly indicated here.

The house, in which it lived up to its death, cannot be visited no more, there itmeanwhile torn off is.

monuments

before the city hall in Köpenick 1996 a monument were set up. The bronze figure was sketched by the Armenian savings TAC Babajan and poured by the art foundry Seiler in bronze.< ref> Märki Oderzeitung of 18. /19. March 2006, S. 14 </ref> InWismar, in the Lüb road 11, is at the house, in the William Voigt with the yard shoemaker H. Hilbrecht used and worked was attached, a board.

contemporary resonance

Germany laughed completely at the affair. In addition, some became thoughtful. It could really its that a soldier without any authentication set the civil force except his uniform repealed? Many saw a symptom for the precarious role of the military in the realm in this incident.

Not so the emperor. He laughed also. „That is to copy times someone to us “, is it said.

In certain way the occurence was a komödianter forerunner of the Zabern affair.

1930 wrote play

and filming Carl Zuckmayer after this history the dreiaktige Tragikomödie the captain of Köpenick. A German fairy tale, to 5. March 1931 to German theatres Berlin in the direction by Heinz Hilpert with Werner Krauss in the title part one uraufgeführt.

The piece treats the time in the second and third act around the spectacular assault and in first a piece of prehistory ten years before. Apart from smaller changes (in such a way becomesVoigts place of birth shifted into the proximity of the rooting heath, so that Voigt citizen of Berlin dialect speaks), exists the main difference of the piece to the reality in the wording Voigts to „the noble robber “- however also the material Voigt the city branch had not touched. Like that is the motive for itsAssault excluding the passport, which it needs, in order to begin normal life, urgently and during the whole piece and also in the prehistory its goal been actual whereby it did not consider that it would have had to attack for it a district office -and it places itself, the city branch nearly untouched, at the end of the police, whereby it can be promised however for the time after its dismissal from the prison a passport.

Because Voigt acquires the uniform, differently than in the reality, „at the piece “- actuallyrather a banal change - this has a history and several previous owners, so that Zuckmayer, by presenting these, do not only tell the prehistory of some Nebenpersonen (the Köpenicker of mayor for example), but also the opportunity to a caricature of the imperial army and above all the Gläubigkeit onthis better to use can. It shows the pervasiveness of the military of the uniform trade over proud reserve officers and the question with the search for employment „where hamse served? “up to the grotesque military games of roles, those the director of prison its convicts, among them also much hervortuenden themselves here Voigt, toCelebration of the anniversary of the battle of Sedan to specify leaves. That perhaps somewhat exaggerated this representation, but in the core, shows the comparison with William is probably applicable II..

Besides also the extremely unsympathische representation of the Jewish uniform cutter A. leaves. Wormser and the substantially more pleasant,but however the more skillful of the likewise Jewish shopkeeper Krakauer of conclusions about the latent easily anti-Semitic attitude and the appropriate prejudices of the Weimar Republic too.

Zuckmayers piece was filmed, beginning with the year of its premiere ( with max of Adalbert in the title part), several times - among other things also Heinz resting man (1956), Rudolf plate (1960; TV) and Harald Juhnke (1997).

In film archives in Berlin an original film document with William Voigt exists.

see also:

• Köpenickiade
• beer fight

literature

• Winfried delete castle: Without gloss and Gloria - the history of the captain of Köpenick. Ullstein, 1998.ISBN 3-548-35768-7.

Web on the left of

• historical data and facts of the Köpenickiade (German and English)
• the historical „captain “(composition of quotations from research, press and literature)
• multimedia representation of the episode in the Prussia chronicle of the RBB
• permanent exhibition in the local history museum Köpenick
• captain actor JürgenHilbrecht
• overview of the films in the IMDb
• Internet presentation of the prisoners of the institute for detention Tegel of 2000

footnotes

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