Wilhelm Voigt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009) |
Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt (February 13, 1849 - January 3, 1922) was a German impostor who masqueraded as a Prussian military officer in 1906 and became famous as The Captain of Köpenick (Der Hauptmann von Köpenick).
In Germany Voigt is not seen as a criminal, but rather as a folk hero and a victim of official prejudice, who was caught in the kafkaesque situation of not getting work without a residence permit, while not being able to have a residence permit without work. His story is taught to this day in German schools as an example of courageous resistance to unjust government.[1] In modern Germany the laws frown upon treating a former convict any differently from the rest of the population after the convict has finished his or her prison sentence; in cases of rather clever and fairly minor crimes not involving violence, this feeling is shared by most of the general population.
Contents[show] |
[edit] Early life
Voigt was born in Tilsit, Prussia (now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast). In 1863, aged 14, he was sentenced to 14 days in prison for theft, which led to his expulsion from school. He learned shoemaking from his father.
Between 1864 and 1891, Voigt was sentenced to prison for a total of 25 years for thefts and forgery. The longest sentence was a conviction for 15 years for theft. He was released on February 12, 1906.
Voigt hoboed from place to place until he went to live with his sister in Rixdorf near Berlin. He worked briefly as a court shoemaker until, on August 24, 1906, police expelled him from Berlin as undesirable, based solely on the fact that he was a former prisoner. Officially he left for Hamburg, although he remained in Berlin as an unregistered resident.
[edit] Captain of Köpenick
On October 16, 1906 Voigt was ready for his next caper. He had purchased parts of used captain's uniforms from different shops and tested their effect on soldiers. He had resigned from the shoe factory ten days previously. He took the uniform out of baggage storage, put it on and went to the local army barracks, stopped four grenadiers and a sergeant on their way back to barracks and told them to come with him. Indoctrinated to obey officers without question, they followed. He dismissed the commanding sergeant to report to his superiors and later commandeered 6 more soldiers from a shooting range. Then he took a train to Köpenick, east of Berlin, occupied the local city hall with his soldiers and told them to cover all exits. He told the local police to "care for law and order" and to "prevent calls to Berlin for one hour" at the local post office.
He had the treasurer von Wiltberg and mayor Georg Langerhans arrested, supposedly for suspicions of crooked bookkeeping, and confiscated 4002 marks and 37 pfennigs - with a receipt, of course (he signed it with his former jail director's name). Then he commandeered two carriages and told the grenadiers to take the arrested men to the Neue Wache in Berlin for interrogation. He told the remaining guards to stand in their places for half an hour and then left for the train station. He later changed into civilian clothes and disappeared.
[edit] Unraveling and capture
In the following days the German press speculated on what had really happened. At the same time the army ran its own investigation. The public seemed to be positively amused by the daring of the culprit.
Voigt was arrested on October 26 and on December 1 sentenced to four years in prison for forgery, impersonating an officer and wrongful imprisonment. However, much of the public opinion was on his side. German Kaiser Wilhelm II pardoned him on August 16, 1908. There are some claims that even the Kaiser had been amused by the incident, referring to him as an amiable scoundrel, and being pleased with the authority and feelings of reverence that his military obviously commanded in the general population.[2]
The English were also amused, seeing it as confirmation of their stereotypes about Germans. In its October 27, 1906 issue, the editors of The Illustrated London News would note gleefully:
For years the Kaiser has been instilling into his people reverence for the omnipotence of militarism, of which the holiest symbol is the German uniform. Offenses against this fetish have incurred condign punishment. Officers who have not considered themselves saluted in due form have drawn their swords with impunity on offending privates.
In that same issue, G. K. Chesterton would point out:
The most absurd part of this absurd fraud (at least, to English eyes) is one which, oddly enough, has received comparatively little comment. I mean the point at which the Mayor asked for a warrant, and the Captain pointed to the bayonets of his soldiery and said, 'These are my authority.' One would have thought anyone would have known that no soldier would talk like that.
[edit] Aftermath
Voigt decided to capitalize on his fame. His wax figure appeared in the wax museum in Unter den Linden four days after his release. He appeared in the museum to sign his pictures but public officials banned the appearances on the same day. He appeared in small theatres in a play that depicted his exploit and signed more photographs as the Captain of Köpenick. In spite of the ban he toured in Dresden, Vienna and Budapest in variety shows, restaurants and amusement parks. In 1909, he published in Leipzig a book, How I became the Captain of Köpenick, which sold well. Although his United States tour almost failed because the immigration authorities refused to grant him a visa, he arrived in 1910 via Canada. He also ended up in Madame Tussaud's museum in London.
In 1910, he moved to Luxembourg and worked as a waiter and shoemaker. He received a life pension from a rich Berlin dowager.[2] Two years later, he bought a house and retired, but post-World War I inflation ruined his wealth. Voigt died in Luxembourg in 1922.
[edit] Theatre and movies
In 1931 German author Carl Zuckmayer wrote a play about the affair called The Captain of Köpenick, which shifts the focus from the event at Köpenick itself to the prelude, showing how his surroundings and his situation in life had helped Voigt form his plan. Several movies were produced about Wilhel Voigt (most of them based on Zuckmayer's play), among others Der Hauptmann von Köpenick with Heinz Rühmann in 1956, with Rudolf Platte in 1960 (TV) and Harald Juhnke in 1997. An English language adaptation was written by John Mortimer, and first performed by the National Theatre company at the Old Vic on 9 March 1971 with Paul Scofield in the title rol