re: Katte's protestations of Protestant faith in his last weeks, I would argue that while hoping for clemency from Friedrich Wilhelm might have been one big reason, another was his own family, specifically his own father, to whom hearing Katte died a good Protestant would be a comfort. And one can't exclude the possibility that Katte actually did fall back on the faith of his childhood as he came to realize he would, indeed, die. The descriptions of his death by eyewitnesses (including the most extensive one by Major von Schack) all mention he died praying "Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus". The relevant quote from Schack's report, which was written directly after the event (and thus can't be accused of too much hindsight or loss of memory):
Then, he gave his wig to my boy, who gave him a cap, had his vest removed and his neck bandage opened, tore his shirt off himself, free and easy, as if to prepare himself for a serious affair, walked and then knelt down in the sand, pushed the cap above his eyes and started to pray out loud: "Lord Jesus I live for you". Since he had told my boy earlier that he was supposed to blindfold him, but then decided to pull the cap down his eyes himself, the fellow, who was dreadfully upset, still wanted to blindfold him until von Katte waved him away with one head and shook his head. Then, he started to pray again: "Lord Jesus etc." which was not yet over when his head flew away, which my fellow picked up from the ground and put back at its place.
I cannot admire his présence d'ésprit enough. His steadfastness and courage, I will not forget to the end of my days, and I learned a lot by the way he prepared for his death, which I will not want to Forget ever."
The translation into English is my own. If you want to employ Google translate, Theodor Fontane's take on Katte, which originally was published as part of his "Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg" (a travel guide with historical anecdotes, and the extensive Katte sequence comes inevitably when Fontane arrives at Küstrin, where Katte died) is online, here. Fontane, who wrote in the late 19th century, quotes a lot of historical documents which were available by then, and wrote the first Katte-centric take on the tale ever (including full length quotations of various Katte-and-parent letters, as well as Friedrich Wilhelm's full length letter to the judges who'd wanted to spare Katte a death sentence etc.), for, as he said in his preamble, all the previous descriptions of the event had been Friedrich-centric for the obvious reasons, yet to him (Fontane), Katte was the hero of the story. Incidentally, the text I just linked isn't a complete excerpt from Fontane's take on the Katte tragedy but stops short of his remarkable conclusion, which is put online here and guaranteed to infuriate you because Fontane doesn't think it was just sadism or monarchical injustice on Friedrich Wilhelm's part (bear in mind here that Theodor Fontane was by no means an uncritical fan of Prussian monarchs in general or the Prussian System - his novels are sharply critical of both) and takes the King at his word when it comes to the way Friedrich Wilhelm's letter re: the death sentence ends, which is a message the King wanted to be given to Katte:
"When his death sentence is read to Katte by the army tribunal, he's to be told that his royal Majesty is sorry; but that it was better for him to die than for justice to leave the world."
(in the original 18th century German: »Wenn das Kriegs-Recht dem Katten die Sentence publiciret, so soll ihm gesagt werden, daß es Sr. Königlichen Majestät leid thäte; es wäre aber besser, daß er stürbe, als daß die Justiz aus der Welt käme.")
(Incidentally, no, I'm not with Fontane to the extent that I buy Friedrich Wilhelm wasn't motivated by vengefulness re: his son as well, but I do think that wanting Katte to be told that "his royal Majesty is sorry" goes against the idea of FW the gleeful sadist being all "die, boyfriend of my son! Die die die!")
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Date: 2019-08-18 06:38 am (UTC)re: Katte's protestations of Protestant faith in his last weeks, I would argue that while hoping for clemency from Friedrich Wilhelm might have been one big reason, another was his own family, specifically his own father, to whom hearing Katte died a good Protestant would be a comfort. And one can't exclude the possibility that Katte actually did fall back on the faith of his childhood as he came to realize he would, indeed, die. The descriptions of his death by eyewitnesses (including the most extensive one by Major von Schack) all mention he died praying "Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus". The relevant quote from Schack's report, which was written directly after the event (and thus can't be accused of too much hindsight or loss of memory):
Then, he gave his wig to my boy, who gave him a cap, had his vest removed and his neck bandage opened, tore his shirt off himself, free and easy, as if to prepare himself for a serious affair, walked and then knelt down in the sand, pushed the cap above his eyes and started to pray out loud: "Lord Jesus I live for you". Since he had told my boy earlier that he was supposed to blindfold him, but then decided to pull the cap down his eyes himself, the fellow, who was dreadfully upset, still wanted to blindfold him until von Katte waved him away with one head and shook his head. Then, he started to pray again: "Lord Jesus etc." which was not yet over when his head flew away, which my fellow picked up from the ground and put back at its place.
I cannot admire his présence d'ésprit enough. His steadfastness and courage, I will not forget to the end of my days, and I learned a lot by the way he prepared for his death, which I will not want to Forget ever."
The translation into English is my own. If you want to employ Google translate, Theodor Fontane's take on Katte, which originally was published as part of his "Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg" (a travel guide with historical anecdotes, and the extensive Katte sequence comes inevitably when Fontane arrives at Küstrin, where Katte died) is online, here. Fontane, who wrote in the late 19th century, quotes a lot of historical documents which were available by then, and wrote the first Katte-centric take on the tale ever (including full length quotations of various Katte-and-parent letters, as well as Friedrich Wilhelm's full length letter to the judges who'd wanted to spare Katte a death sentence etc.), for, as he said in his preamble, all the previous descriptions of the event had been Friedrich-centric for the obvious reasons, yet to him (Fontane), Katte was the hero of the story. Incidentally, the text I just linked isn't a complete excerpt from Fontane's take on the Katte tragedy but stops short of his remarkable conclusion, which is put online here and guaranteed to infuriate you because Fontane doesn't think it was just sadism or monarchical injustice on Friedrich Wilhelm's part (bear in mind here that Theodor Fontane was by no means an uncritical fan of Prussian monarchs in general or the Prussian System - his novels are sharply critical of both) and takes the King at his word when it comes to the way Friedrich Wilhelm's letter re: the death sentence ends, which is a message the King wanted to be given to Katte:
"When his death sentence is read to Katte by the army tribunal, he's to be told that his royal Majesty is sorry; but that it was better for him to die than for justice to leave the world."
(in the original 18th century German: »Wenn das Kriegs-Recht dem Katten die Sentence publiciret, so soll ihm gesagt werden, daß es Sr. Königlichen Majestät leid thäte; es wäre aber besser, daß er stürbe, als daß die Justiz aus der Welt käme.")
(Incidentally, no, I'm not with Fontane to the extent that I buy Friedrich Wilhelm wasn't motivated by vengefulness re: his son as well, but I do think that wanting Katte to be told that "his royal Majesty is sorry" goes against the idea of FW the gleeful sadist being all "die, boyfriend of my son! Die die die!")