Either Fritz had a standard account he ran through with people he either didn't want relying exclusively on the many rumors he no doubt knew were floating About
I could believe that. It's Katte's name not being in the diary that makes me so increasingly suspicious. I mean, surely if your new boss tells you, one month in, something about THE MOST TRAUMATIC EPISODE OF HIS LIFE, something that all of Europe has gosipped about and knows has happened for many years, wouldn't you have immediately jotted it down with thick letters? You can bet Lehndorff would have. (Lehndorff: I always knew I should have become the King's reader.)
Mind you: not having read the diary myself, I of course can't be sure there isn't a passage in it where Fritz does talk about Küstrin, just doesn't mention Katte by name. Maybe Catt simply did what he did with the AW and Wilhelmine conversations, moved up the time table in order to make himself look more special to Fritz but does not invent the fact they did talk about the topic at all. (That's how I understood the German language introduction - that the diary says Fritz did talk to Catt about his brother and evil advisors etc., just not immediately but four days after the news arrived, and similarly did talk to him about Wilhelmine, but not immediately, only at their regular hour and after Catt had already sent his condolence letter. Did you ask Beginner_Returner whether Fritz talks in the diary about Küstrin (without mentioning Katte by name) at a later point, maybe?
Conversely: I suppose if Catt tells the truth and nothing but the truth, the reason why he didn't immediately write it down was precisely because he had been working for Fritz for just a month. He wasn't sure whether his diary might not be read, and if so, whether he was allowed to make notes about such a deeply private conversation. Especially given that I think somewhere it's mentioned (by Fritz) thath a lot of the young officers are making notes in order to write about the war later on. And keeping a journal really was very wide spread in the era, with an eye to later publication.
So: could be I'm wronging Catt, and he was simply trying to prove himself super discreet and trustworthy with the new boss!
Re: Fritz and Wilhelmine Correspondance, Trier Version III - Three Funerals and a Wedding
I could believe that. It's Katte's name not being in the diary that makes me so increasingly suspicious. I mean, surely if your new boss tells you, one month in, something about THE MOST TRAUMATIC EPISODE OF HIS LIFE, something that all of Europe has gosipped about and knows has happened for many years, wouldn't you have immediately jotted it down with thick letters? You can bet Lehndorff would have. (Lehndorff: I always knew I should have become the King's reader.)
Mind you: not having read the diary myself, I of course can't be sure there isn't a passage in it where Fritz does talk about Küstrin, just doesn't mention Katte by name. Maybe Catt simply did what he did with the AW and Wilhelmine conversations, moved up the time table in order to make himself look more special to Fritz but does not invent the fact they did talk about the topic at all. (That's how I understood the German language introduction - that the diary says Fritz did talk to Catt about his brother and evil advisors etc., just not immediately but four days after the news arrived, and similarly did talk to him about Wilhelmine, but not immediately, only at their regular hour and after Catt had already sent his condolence letter. Did you ask Beginner_Returner whether Fritz talks in the diary about Küstrin (without mentioning Katte by name) at a later point, maybe?
Conversely: I suppose if Catt tells the truth and nothing but the truth, the reason why he didn't immediately write it down was precisely because he had been working for Fritz for just a month. He wasn't sure whether his diary might not be read, and if so, whether he was allowed to make notes about such a deeply private conversation. Especially given that I think somewhere it's mentioned (by Fritz) thath a lot of the young officers are making notes in order to write about the war later on. And keeping a journal really was very wide spread in the era, with an eye to later publication.
So: could be I'm wronging Catt, and he was simply trying to prove himself super discreet and trustworthy with the new boss!