Wilhelm Voigt

Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt was born in Tilsit[?], Germany in February 13 1849. By 1863 he was sentenced for 14 days in prison for theft at the age of 14, that also lead to the expulsion from school. He learnt the shoemaker’s craft from his father.

Between 1864 and 1891 Voigt was sentenced to prison for a total of 25 years for thefts and forgery. Longest one was a conviction for 15 years for theft. He was released in February 12 1906.

Voigt traveled from place to place until he settled in Rixdorf[?] in Berlin and went to live with his sister. He worked briefly as a court shoemaker until in August 24 police expelled him from Berlin as undesirable. Officially he left for Hamburg, although he just lived in Berlin as an unregistered resident.

In October 16 1906 Voigt was ready for his next caper. He had purchased parts of used captain’s uniform of 1st Prussian Guards regiment from two different shops and tested its effect for soldiers. He had resigned from the shoe factory ten days previously. He took the uniform out of baggage storage, put it on and took a train to Köpenick[?], east of Berlin

In Köpenick he 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 grenadiers from a shooting range. Then he took the soldiers Köpenick city hall[?] and told them to cover all exists.

He had the town secretary Rosenkranz and mayor Georg Langerhans arrested for suspicions of crooked bookkeeping and confiscated 4000 marks and 70 phennings[?] – with a receipt, of course. Then he commandeered two carriages and told the grenadiers to take mayor and the treasurer Wiltberg to Berlin for General Moltke for interrogation. He told the remaining guards stand in their places for half an hour and then left to the train station. In the train he changed to civilian clothes and slipped out.

In the following days the German press speculated on what had really happened. At the same time the army ran its own investigation. Public seemed to be positively amused by the daring of the culprit.

Voigt was arrested in October 26 and in December 1 sentenced to four years in prison for forgery, impersonating an officer and wrongful imprisonment. However, much of the public opinion was in his side. German Kaiser Wilhelm II pardoned him in August 16 1908. There are some claims that even the kaiser had been amused of the incident.

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 in the same day. He appeared in small theatres in a play that depicted his exploit and signed more photographs as the Captain of the Köpenick. Despite of the ban he toured in Dresden, Vienna and Budapest in varieties, restaurants and amusement parks. 1909 he published a book about his caper. Although his tour to USA almost failed because the immigration authorities refused to grant him a visa, he arrived in 1910 via Canada. He also ended up in the Madame Tussaud’s museum in London.

In 1910 he bought a house in Luxemburg and retired. Unfortunately, post-World War One inflation ruined his wealth. Voigt died in Luxemburg in January 3 1922.

External links

• http://www.koepenickia.de/english/0_home/home_en.htm