I still haven't figured out the bit about Fritz not being able to feel Suhm pinching him, but Koser reports that Suhm found out a few days later that evil tongues, wanting to come between father and son, had started to present the whole episode as a cleverly calculated comedy, and Koser adds pretty nearly exactly what I said, but very poignantly phrased: "Suhm knew best what was in the poor boy's heart these days."
Lavisse: "Poor" boy doesn't have a heart; he's future Frederick the Great; it was all calculated.
Still no primary source on those evil tongues, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was another dispatch from Suhm to August. There are apparently two relevant ones, and I've only seen one, so it would be good to get my hands on the other. I have a lead that I will try to follow, only I'm currently trying to get my hands on the documentation surrounding Katte's interrogations, and I've gotten sidetracked.
Even if I don't find it, though, I've turned up some more Katte details that I will write up soon, hopefully tomorrow.
ETA: Found it! It is in fact in the report from Suhm to August that is in YouthDocuments, only it only has an an excerpt. And either I'm worse at French than I think, or both the German translator *and* Lavisse have got it wrong: "parce que je ne sentois plus mon bras droit tant il était maltraité." As far as MY schoolgirl French can tell, Suhm can't feel his right arm any more because of the way Fritz has been abusing it. Not that Fritz can't feel Suhm pinching his arm, or that Suhm can't move his arm.
Anyway, I'll read through the whole two reports when it's not my bedtime, but just from skimming, Suhm says that after Fritz and FW achieved this reconciliation, some evil-minded persons convinced FW that Fritz was just playing a game ('jeu') and didn't mean it.
Now all I have to do to complete my detective work is track down Katte's interrogation and his written confessions (species facti) of August 28 and August 30, after his arrest, which are apparently still extant, since people keep citing them. Please be online, please be online, please be online...!
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Re: Lavisse
Lavisse: "Poor" boy doesn't have a heart; he's future Frederick the Great; it was all calculated.
Still no primary source on those evil tongues, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was another dispatch from Suhm to August. There are apparently two relevant ones, and I've only seen one, so it would be good to get my hands on the other. I have a lead that I will try to follow, only I'm currently trying to get my hands on the documentation surrounding Katte's interrogations, and I've gotten sidetracked.
Even if I don't find it, though, I've turned up some more Katte details that I will write up soon, hopefully tomorrow.
ETA: Found it! It is in fact in the report from Suhm to August that is in YouthDocuments, only it only has an an excerpt. And either I'm worse at French than I think, or both the German translator *and* Lavisse have got it wrong: "parce que je ne sentois plus mon bras droit tant il était maltraité." As far as MY schoolgirl French can tell, Suhm can't feel his right arm any more because of the way Fritz has been abusing it. Not that Fritz can't feel Suhm pinching his arm, or that Suhm can't move his arm.
Anyway, I'll read through the whole two reports when it's not my bedtime, but just from skimming, Suhm says that after Fritz and FW achieved this reconciliation, some evil-minded persons convinced FW that Fritz was just playing a game ('jeu') and didn't mean it.
Now all I have to do to complete my detective work is track down Katte's interrogation and his written confessions (species facti) of August 28 and August 30, after his arrest, which are apparently still extant, since people keep citing them. Please be online, please be online, please be online...!