LOL at Ziebura putting scare quotes around Fritz's "condolence letter" to Heinrich, because we do the same thing! When we're not calling it an "uncondolence" letter.
That said, I think "is in its egocentricity hardly to be outdone" as the only thing you say about this letter is doing Fritz an injustice. Yes, it's egocentric. Yes, as something intended to comfort Heinrich, it could not have been more rage-inducing from the perspective of the recipient. No, intent is not magic. But quoting just the "But think of how many people I lost or am worried about losing! And think about your duty to fight this war I started!" part and summing it up simply as egocentric is to ignore the context of condolence/comfort letters in Fritz's life.
The part that's most egocentric to me is the "But it wasn't my fault! Here's a list of everyone who's not me whose fault it was! Especially the guy you're grieving, let me enumerate my grievances with him." You can tell Fritz feels extremely attacked, because he's being extremely defensive. Because he has behaved really, really badly, and this letter should never have been sent, neither the first half nor the second half.
But there's too much context for "your feelings are less important than your duty to other people" and "live for someone else!" to be ignored. Namely:
1727 Fritz to Lt. Borcke, close friend and possible lover: "I ask you to write to me as well and to give me news of you, as I can say that I am extremely sorry to see you in such a sad position [i.e. sick], and that whenever I think of you, as happens very often, I can hardly prevent myself from falling into melancholy from which only you alone can save me. So spare yourself, if not for the sake of me, then for the sake of your friends, among whom I have the pleasure to count myself and to the most loyal of whom I belong. So I ask you not to die, since death is what I fear most for my friends and least for myself. I confess that I should distract you through this letter, but instead of giving pleasure to others, I rather need distraction myself to dispel my melancholy."
1730 Fritz after Katte's death, from Wilhelmine's memoirs: "It was with extreme difficulty that he was prevailed upon to take medicine. Nothing could induce him to do it, but the representation that he would also cause the queen’s death and mine, if he persisted in his own destruction."
1736 Fritz to Suhm: "Live, my dear Suhm, live, since heaven allows it; live for your friends, who, by the true attachment which they have for you, could not support the appalling thought of being separated from you. I admit and understand that you only had to expect, in the last period when you touched, only the rewards with which heaven crowns virtue, and that thus, as concerns yourself, you lose more by prolonging your days than ending your career. But, my dear Suhm, do not forget the tenderness which you owe to an infant whom you have not yet weaned in the school of philosophy. What would I have become? for I feel that I need your eyes to see, and that, losing sight of my guide, I run the risk of losing my way."
Suhm to Fritz: "When my life is odious to me, the interest you deign to take in it would be enough to make it dear to me. I therefore come back with joy to life, since heaven wants it, and Your Royal Highness wants it; but, my lord, suffer me henceforth to live only for you."
1752 Fritz to Fredersdorf: "I thought you loved me and wouldn't want to cause me grief by killing yourself. Now I don't know what to believe! But you must believe I only want what's best for you and that the diet and the medicine is only prescribed so you can recover your health again...Your illness is no laughing matter, and if you don't follow a correct diet and take the right prescribed medicine, you'll die! Think about how this would grieve me! If you love me, then listen exactly to the prescriptions! God keep you! Don't write back!"
1757 Fritz: *suicidal ideation*
Wilhelmine to Fritz: "Your letter and the letter you wrote to Voltaire, my dear brother, almost killed me. What fatal resolutions, great God! Ah! my dear brother, you say you love me, and you stab me in the heart."..."For God's sake, calm down, dearest brother! Your military situation is desperate, but there is a prospect of peace. For heaven's sake, banish all dark thoughts. Do you want to kill so many subjects who place their only hope in your person?"
So what I think is that, while Fritz can and should be blamed for: - the way he treated AW, - not admitting fault there, - using the "condolence" letter as a venue to talk about how it wasn't his fault, - having a terrible relationship with Heinrich, - starting a war and expecting Heinrich to help him win it,
I don't think it's fair to call him egocentric for: - focusing on his own feelings and the people he's lost, - trying to motivate Heinrich to live for him, - telling Heinrich to live for duty/country.
That part, while emotionally tone-deaf given all the background in the first list, of actual Fritz faults, is literally the best he can do. He was being egocentric in many ways, but the second list is how he communicates with the people he loves most, and how they communicate with him. Suhm even gave this behavior positive reinforcement by telling him it worked!
Nevertheless. Given the way hundreds of Fritz biographers shortchange Heinrich in his every appearance on page, I'm hardly going to get on the case of a Heinrich biographer for a little Fritz shortchanging. ;) Especially on the occasion of his worst behavior ever. (Not so much the letter as the background that makes that letter not at all the same thing as writing to Suhm, "But our philosophy studies!")
I just wanted to put all this context out there, so that we can at least criticize Fritz for the right things. There's no shortage of those.
Context is for kings, to quote a dangerous Starship Captain. :) Anyway, I agree on the Fritz psychology of it all and would like to add that what strikes me is the black irony that even before AW's demise, even before AW's fall into disgrace, the dynamics between Heinrich and Fritz had taken another twist, because 7 Years War Fritz is suddenly emotionally needy for Heinrich's affection which (at least openly) never happened before. (I'm adding "openly" as a qualifier because who knows what that insulted "you didn't talk to me for six months and now you want to go on the Grand tour? Hell no!") was all about. But still, as I said elsewhere, until the war starts, if you'd asked people they might have been uncertain whether Heinrich or Ferdinand were Fritz' least favourite brother, but they definitely would not have said Heinrich was in any way important to Fritz. (Other than to boss around.)
And then the Kolin defeat happens, and suddenly we get this, partially quoted by Ziebura, in Henckel's Diary. (Cahn, context: the divine trio was actually not present at Kolin. Fritz had announced he'd go and defeat Prussia's enemies. Then the first big Prussian defeat of the war occurs. Also, Prince Ferdinand of Braunschweig is EC's and Louise's brother, and Hahn thinks he, not either Fritz or Heinrich, was the best General of the 7 Years War.)
After 1 am in the night Major Grand, AD to the King, arrived with a few hunters at the Prince of Braunschweig's, who then went straight to Prince Heinrich. Since I hadn't undressed after the beginning of the Blockade - of Prague - , I went outside of my own tent and approached them. I saw on the face of Prince Ferdinand pain and grief even though he tried to suppress it. I woke up Prince Heinrich with emotions that were very different from yesterday's joy. Major Grand told the Prince that his Majesty had sent him to announce one of the biggest and most murderous battles ever fought. (Fritz, you don't know what's to come. Kunersdorf is still ahead of you.) Gods! The Prince exclaimed whle rising from his bed. His Majesty, Major Grand continued, had further said: Inform the generals of my misfortune. I have done everything I could to win the battle, but it wasn't possible for me. They should prepare everything to lift the Blockade at first command.
(Henckel then describes the battle according to the reports he's heard and is fully blaming Fritz, saying Fritz refused to listen to Ziethen and the Duke of Bevern about the number of enemies and their positions. He also has a Sketch of the battle positions. (Useful.) Our generals were in the greatest distress. One started to prepare for the retreat without knowing when and how the later should happen. Prince Ferdinand of Braunschweig was so depressed by the misfortune that had struck us that he wasn't capable of doing anything. Prince Heinrich, despite also being struck in the most painful way, showed at this opportunity that great men can feel things deeply without losing their strength of Soul. He went to General Winterfelt on the left shore in order to talk with him about what to do. Then he met up with the Prince of Prussia, Princes Ferdinand of Braunschweig and Prussia, Prince Schönaich, and Field Marshal Keith, Generals Schmettau and Winterfeldt and General Majors Golz and Retzow at the villagen Branick in order to debate what had to be done immediately. He encouraged everyone in their their morale and became the soul of the Enterprise. He read out loud the dispositions he'd made to start the retreat in three colons to Brandeis. Marshall Keith should then follow the next morning. No sooner had the Prince returned to his quarters that he was told about the impending arrival of the King. On the 19th at 3 pm. HIs royal highness the prince thus immediately rode with the Princes Ferdinand to the house in Micheln in which the King had lived previously to his Departure for Kolin in order to await him there. What painful spectacle then awaited our Looks as we saw the man returning bent by pain and grief who had believed himself to be the conqueror of the world just a few days earlier! Since 36 hours, he'd sat on the same horse, and despite it was clear that he could hardly walk anymore, he still forced himself to show a good attitude. After he'd entered, he called for Prince Heinrich. The King lay on a sack of straw coverd with a sheet, since his luggage had not yet arrived. He kissed, maybe for the first time, his brother tenderly, admitted to him his lethal pain and assured him that everything he'd done until now had only been for the love of his family. He repeated several times that he wanted to die, and that he would kill himself. The Prince urged him to calm himself and to use the remaining time for a retreat before Daun or Nadasty had the time to advance and cause even more damage. The King replied to the Prince that he was now incapable of doing anything and that he needed to rest. He ordered the Prince to create the necessary dispositions, whereupon the later presented them as already finished, and the King agreed to them. Whereupon the Prince assembled all generals and told them the Disposition.
This is also when Fritz starts to write to Heinrich all the time (as you once pointed out, those are A LOT OF LETTERS), and some of this is needing every good officer he could get and realising Heinrich was in fact one, but some of it really is having decided he needs this particular brother emotionally, not to needle as in the Marwitz affair, not to submit (though that will come again post war), but now he needs him to provide affection and therapy. Again, this is before AW's disgrace. And there's Ferdinand the brother in law who has a good relationship with Fritz in General. And yet he asks for Heinrich, specifically, with whom he's had a stormy relationship at best, to tell him "I did it all for our family" and to be talked out of suicide by him. See, that's why I find their dsyfunctionality so fascinating.
GAH I typed a comment and seem to have lost it, so, uh... sorry if you get two of these :P
Yeah, I was also surprised by the part she excerpted, because like you I found that the least objectionable part of the letter! "by which he failed in what he owed me" (thank you selenak for posting the letter in rheinsberg!) was the part where I imagine Heinrich's head exploded, if it hadn't exploded already. It's where my head exploded on AW's behalf. OH FRITZ NO. In contrast, the "hey, you should live for me!" part was really only at the level of "oh Fritz, I'm sorry you didn't live in the age of the internet so you could google how to write condolence letters."
(ETA:) I had a lot of ~feelings~ about these two chapters, and I need to go back to find specifics (darn terrible memory and reading away from computer) but they mostly boil down to (a) the 7 years war makes me more convinced that in my work!AU, Heinrich is totally the engineer, OK, probably technical manager, who is extremely competent but Fritz is always pulling longer hours and working harder (b) Heinrich is so awful to Mina, OMG. And the worse thing is that I don't think I would have particularly noticed if selenak hadn't reported back about Ziebura's other book! (To be fair, I think I also see what you were saying, selenak, about her being a little more lenient towards the Hohenzollern in this book. I suspect it would have read a little differently if she'd written this one third instead of first.)
He so is, and it does rate pointing out. I think I might have said it before, but the timing of it still strikes me as remarkable. I mean, Heinrich is never warm towards Mina, but he's perfectly civil in the first few years (including even doing some shopping for her)... right until AW's death. The first time Heinrich is on record on doing something awful to Mina is on page 126 when he as AW's appointed executor gets leave from Fritz to return to Berlin to see the legal stuff with AW's will through, Mina travels to meet him en route and he ignores that so she waits in vain for twelve hours in vain in a miserable country inn and only sees him on the next evening when he has dinner at Amalie's. (And she'll continue to see him during this visit only at his sister's, not at the town residence they're supposed to share.)
This switch from not warm but civil to hostile and rude (and later icy at best), with no in between stage, and without even an attempt to mourn for AW together still sounds to me like the condition of AW's will (not just leaving Mina the jewel ring he's always worn but more importantly wanting her to raise his children, which btw of course was cruel towards Louise on AW's part, thereby ensuring AW, too, joined the rank of jerk Hohenzollern husbands) made Heinrich conclude AW had had an affair with Mina.* And despite having no sexual interest in her himself, and despite having told Ferdinand and AW he was fine with them spending as much time with her as they wanted, he minded. Or maybe he just used that as an excuse to himself because he wanted to put all the grief and anger about AW's death somewhere (other than in seething letters to Ferdinand about Fritz), was forced to swallow it down when actually interacting with Fritz and used the one person who was in his social power without being a soldier or servant, and who additionally symbolized his oldest brother's hold on him to act out on. I.e. the "kicking down" principle.
Or maybe I'm overthinking it, and it was simply a parallel of Fritz going from living with EC (as long as Dad was alive) to instantly removing her from him as soon as FW had breathed his last. I.e. as long as AW who deeply cared for Mina was still alive Heinrich wouldn't have effectually separated for her, but with AW dead and Fritz otherwise occupied, there wasn't any reason not to do what Fritz had done with EC post ascension to the throne, i.e. make it as clear to her by drastic gesture that their marriage was in effect over and she was to stay as far away from him as possible.
*ETA: It's perhaps worth pointing out that AW himself, who had a lot of adulterous affairs (err, not just on his part adulterous, I mean affairs with married women), seems to have regarded having a sexual affair with Mina as going against the Bro Code. See his letter to Ferdinand early on which Ziebura quotes, and also his statement to Lehndorff a month before his death where he says that "if not for the love to my brother Heinrich", he'd have gone for it.
I can't really speak to the likelihood of Heinrich believing that AW had an affair with Mina, but the likelihood of him kicking down seems extremely high to me. She was also very likely a PTSD trigger for him, a reminder of the power that Fritz had to ruin his brothers' lives, and of Heinrich's ongoing powerlessness. After AW's death, the intensity of the emotions that kind of reminder aroused would have been multiplied beyond belief. Lashing out at her, the trigger, would have been extremely...I don't want to say "understandable" in the exonerating sense, but comprehensible. Like most of Fritz's actions are comprehensible in context.
I think on the side of Heinrich concluding that AW had had an affair with Mina is that everyone started dissing her, not just Heinrich, am I remembering that right? (And perhaps he minded partially because he expected them to abide by the Bro Code, like, if she'd had an affair with someone else who wasn't his brother, or he thought she had, maybe he would have minded less?)
But --
Or maybe he just used that as an excuse to himself because he wanted to put all the grief and anger about AW's death somewhere
this, ugh, this seems extraordinarily plausible. :(((((((((((((((
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rheinsberg
Re: Heinrich readthrough!
That said, I think "is in its egocentricity hardly to be outdone" as the only thing you say about this letter is doing Fritz an injustice. Yes, it's egocentric. Yes, as something intended to comfort Heinrich, it could not have been more rage-inducing from the perspective of the recipient. No, intent is not magic. But quoting just the "But think of how many people I lost or am worried about losing! And think about your duty to fight this war I started!" part and summing it up simply as egocentric is to ignore the context of condolence/comfort letters in Fritz's life.
The part that's most egocentric to me is the "But it wasn't my fault! Here's a list of everyone who's not me whose fault it was! Especially the guy you're grieving, let me enumerate my grievances with him." You can tell Fritz feels extremely attacked, because he's being extremely defensive. Because he has behaved really, really badly, and this letter should never have been sent, neither the first half nor the second half.
But there's too much context for "your feelings are less important than your duty to other people" and "live for someone else!" to be ignored. Namely:
1727
Fritz to Lt. Borcke, close friend and possible lover: "I ask you to write to me as well and to give me news of you, as I can say that I am extremely sorry to see you in such a sad position [i.e. sick], and that whenever I think of you, as happens very often, I can hardly prevent myself from falling into melancholy from which only you alone can save me. So spare yourself, if not for the sake of me, then for the sake of your friends, among whom I have the pleasure to count myself and to the most loyal of whom I belong. So I ask you not to die, since death is what I fear most for my friends and least for myself. I confess that I should distract you through this letter, but instead of giving pleasure to others, I rather need distraction myself to dispel my melancholy."
1730
Fritz after Katte's death, from Wilhelmine's memoirs: "It was with extreme difficulty that he was prevailed upon to take medicine. Nothing could induce him to do it, but the representation that he would also cause the queen’s death and mine, if he persisted in his own destruction."
1736
Fritz to Suhm: "Live, my dear Suhm, live, since heaven allows it; live for your friends, who, by the true attachment which they have for you, could not support the appalling thought of being separated from you. I admit and understand that you only had to expect, in the last period when you touched, only the rewards with which heaven crowns virtue, and that thus, as concerns yourself, you lose more by prolonging your days than ending your career. But, my dear Suhm, do not forget the tenderness which you owe to an infant whom you have not yet weaned in the school of philosophy. What would I have become? for I feel that I need your eyes to see, and that, losing sight of my guide, I run the risk of losing my way."
Suhm to Fritz: "When my life is odious to me, the interest you deign to take in it would be enough to make it dear to me. I therefore come back with joy to life, since heaven wants it, and Your Royal Highness wants it; but, my lord, suffer me henceforth to live only for you."
1752
Fritz to Fredersdorf: "I thought you loved me and wouldn't want to cause me grief by killing yourself. Now I don't know what to believe! But you must believe I only want what's best for you and that the diet and the medicine is only prescribed so you can recover your health again...Your illness is no laughing matter, and if you don't follow a correct diet and take the right prescribed medicine, you'll die! Think about how this would grieve me! If you love me, then listen exactly to the prescriptions! God keep you! Don't write back!"
1757
Fritz: *suicidal ideation*
Wilhelmine to Fritz: "Your letter and the letter you wrote to Voltaire, my dear brother, almost killed me. What fatal resolutions, great God! Ah! my dear brother, you say you love me, and you stab me in the heart."..."For God's sake, calm down, dearest brother! Your military situation is desperate, but there is a prospect of peace. For heaven's sake, banish all dark thoughts. Do you want to kill so many subjects who place their only hope in your person?"
So what I think is that, while Fritz can and should be blamed for:
- the way he treated AW,
- not admitting fault there,
- using the "condolence" letter as a venue to talk about how it wasn't his fault,
- having a terrible relationship with Heinrich,
- starting a war and expecting Heinrich to help him win it,
I don't think it's fair to call him egocentric for:
- focusing on his own feelings and the people he's lost,
- trying to motivate Heinrich to live for him,
- telling Heinrich to live for duty/country.
That part, while emotionally tone-deaf given all the background in the first list, of actual Fritz faults, is literally the best he can do. He was being egocentric in many ways, but the second list is how he communicates with the people he loves most, and how they communicate with him. Suhm even gave this behavior positive reinforcement by telling him it worked!
Nevertheless. Given the way hundreds of Fritz biographers shortchange Heinrich in his every appearance on page, I'm hardly going to get on the case of a Heinrich biographer for a little Fritz shortchanging. ;) Especially on the occasion of his worst behavior ever. (Not so much the letter as the background that makes that letter not at all the same thing as writing to Suhm, "But our philosophy studies!")
I just wanted to put all this context out there, so that we can at least criticize Fritz for the right things. There's no shortage of those.
Re: Heinrich readthrough!
And then the Kolin defeat happens, and suddenly we get this, partially quoted by Ziebura, in Henckel's Diary. (Cahn, context: the divine trio was actually not present at Kolin. Fritz had announced he'd go and defeat Prussia's enemies. Then the first big Prussian defeat of the war occurs. Also, Prince Ferdinand of Braunschweig is EC's and Louise's brother, and Hahn thinks he, not either Fritz or Heinrich, was the best General of the 7 Years War.)
After 1 am in the night Major Grand, AD to the King, arrived with a few hunters at the Prince of Braunschweig's, who then went straight to Prince Heinrich. Since I hadn't undressed after the beginning of the Blockade - of Prague - , I went outside of my own tent and approached them. I saw on the face of Prince Ferdinand pain and grief even though he tried to suppress it. I woke up Prince Heinrich with emotions that were very different from yesterday's joy. Major Grand told the Prince that his Majesty had sent him to announce one of the biggest and most murderous battles ever fought. (Fritz, you don't know what's to come. Kunersdorf is still ahead of you.) Gods! The Prince exclaimed whle rising from his bed. His Majesty, Major Grand continued, had further said: Inform the generals of my misfortune. I have done everything I could to win the battle, but it wasn't possible for me. They should prepare everything to lift the Blockade at first command.
(Henckel then describes the battle according to the reports he's heard and is fully blaming Fritz, saying Fritz refused to listen to Ziethen and the Duke of Bevern about the number of enemies and their positions. He also has a Sketch of the battle positions. (Useful.)
Our generals were in the greatest distress. One started to prepare for the retreat without knowing when and how the later should happen. Prince Ferdinand of Braunschweig was so depressed by the misfortune that had struck us that he wasn't capable of doing anything. Prince Heinrich, despite also being struck in the most painful way, showed at this opportunity that great men can feel things deeply without losing their strength of Soul. He went to General Winterfelt on the left shore in order to talk with him about what to do. Then he met up with the Prince of Prussia, Princes Ferdinand of Braunschweig and Prussia, Prince Schönaich, and Field Marshal Keith, Generals Schmettau and Winterfeldt and General Majors Golz and Retzow at the villagen Branick in order to debate what had to be done immediately. He encouraged everyone in their their morale and became the soul of the Enterprise. He read out loud the dispositions he'd made to start the retreat in three colons to Brandeis. Marshall Keith should then follow the next morning. No sooner had the Prince returned to his quarters that he was told about the impending arrival of the King.
On the 19th at 3 pm. HIs royal highness the prince thus immediately rode with the Princes Ferdinand to the house in Micheln in which the King had lived previously to his Departure for Kolin in order to await him there. What painful spectacle then awaited our Looks as we saw the man returning bent by pain and grief who had believed himself to be the conqueror of the world just a few days earlier! Since 36 hours, he'd sat on the same horse, and despite it was clear that he could hardly walk anymore, he still forced himself to show a good attitude.
After he'd entered, he called for Prince Heinrich. The King lay on a sack of straw coverd with a sheet, since his luggage had not yet arrived. He kissed, maybe for the first time, his brother tenderly, admitted to him his lethal pain and assured him that everything he'd done until now had only been for the love of his family. He repeated several times that he wanted to die, and that he would kill himself. The Prince urged him to calm himself and to use the remaining time for a retreat before Daun or Nadasty had the time to advance and cause even more damage. The King replied to the Prince that he was now incapable of doing anything and that he needed to rest. He ordered the Prince to create the necessary dispositions, whereupon the later presented them as already finished, and the King agreed to them. Whereupon the Prince assembled all generals and told them the Disposition.
This is also when Fritz starts to write to Heinrich all the time (as you once pointed out, those are A LOT OF LETTERS), and some of this is needing every good officer he could get and realising Heinrich was in fact one, but some of it really is having decided he needs this particular brother emotionally, not to needle as in the Marwitz affair, not to submit (though that will come again post war), but now he needs him to provide affection and therapy. Again, this is before AW's disgrace. And there's Ferdinand the brother in law who has a good relationship with Fritz in General. And yet he asks for Heinrich, specifically, with whom he's had a stormy relationship at best, to tell him "I did it all for our family" and to be talked out of suicide by him. See, that's why I find their dsyfunctionality so fascinating.
Re: Heinrich readthrough!
Yeah, I was also surprised by the part she excerpted, because like you I found that the least objectionable part of the letter! "by which he failed in what he owed me" (thank you
(ETA:) I had a lot of ~feelings~ about these two chapters, and I need to go back to find specifics (darn terrible memory and reading away from computer) but they mostly boil down to (a) the 7 years war makes me more convinced that in my work!AU, Heinrich is totally the engineer, OK, probably technical manager, who is extremely competent but Fritz is always pulling longer hours and working harder (b) Heinrich is so awful to Mina, OMG. And the worse thing is that I don't think I would have particularly noticed if
Re: Heinrich readthrough! - Mina
He so is, and it does rate pointing out. I think I might have said it before, but the timing of it still strikes me as remarkable. I mean, Heinrich is never warm towards Mina, but he's perfectly civil in the first few years (including even doing some shopping for her)... right until AW's death. The first time Heinrich is on record on doing something awful to Mina is on page 126 when he as AW's appointed executor gets leave from Fritz to return to Berlin to see the legal stuff with AW's will through, Mina travels to meet him en route and he ignores that so she waits in vain for twelve hours in vain in a miserable country inn and only sees him on the next evening when he has dinner at Amalie's. (And she'll continue to see him during this visit only at his sister's, not at the town residence they're supposed to share.)
This switch from not warm but civil to hostile and rude (and later icy at best), with no in between stage, and without even an attempt to mourn for AW together still sounds to me like the condition of AW's will (not just leaving Mina the jewel ring he's always worn but more importantly wanting her to raise his children, which btw of course was cruel towards Louise on AW's part, thereby ensuring AW, too, joined the rank of jerk Hohenzollern husbands) made Heinrich conclude AW had had an affair with Mina.* And despite having no sexual interest in her himself, and despite having told Ferdinand and AW he was fine with them spending as much time with her as they wanted, he minded. Or maybe he just used that as an excuse to himself because he wanted to put all the grief and anger about AW's death somewhere (other than in seething letters to Ferdinand about Fritz), was forced to swallow it down when actually interacting with Fritz and used the one person who was in his social power without being a soldier or servant, and who additionally symbolized his oldest brother's hold on him to act out on. I.e. the "kicking down" principle.
Or maybe I'm overthinking it, and it was simply a parallel of Fritz going from living with EC (as long as Dad was alive) to instantly removing her from him as soon as FW had breathed his last. I.e. as long as AW who deeply cared for Mina was still alive Heinrich wouldn't have effectually separated for her, but with AW dead and Fritz otherwise occupied, there wasn't any reason not to do what Fritz had done with EC post ascension to the throne, i.e. make it as clear to her by drastic gesture that their marriage was in effect over and she was to stay as far away from him as possible.
*ETA: It's perhaps worth pointing out that AW himself, who had a lot of adulterous affairs (err, not just on his part adulterous, I mean affairs with married women), seems to have regarded having a sexual affair with Mina as going against the Bro Code. See his letter to Ferdinand early on which Ziebura quotes, and also his statement to Lehndorff a month before his death where he says that "if not for the love to my brother Heinrich", he'd have gone for it.
Re: Heinrich readthrough! - Mina
I can't really speak to the likelihood of Heinrich believing that AW had an affair with Mina, but the likelihood of him kicking down seems extremely high to me. She was also very likely a PTSD trigger for him, a reminder of the power that Fritz had to ruin his brothers' lives, and of Heinrich's ongoing powerlessness. After AW's death, the intensity of the emotions that kind of reminder aroused would have been multiplied beyond belief. Lashing out at her, the trigger, would have been extremely...I don't want to say "understandable" in the exonerating sense, but comprehensible. Like most of Fritz's actions are comprehensible in context.
OMG, you guys.
:-((((
Re: Heinrich readthrough! - Mina
But --
Or maybe he just used that as an excuse to himself because he wanted to put all the grief and anger about AW's death somewhere
this, ugh, this seems extraordinarily plausible. :(((((((((((((((