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The Captain of Köpenick and the Uniform Fantasies of German Militarism

Central European history, 2022-06, Vol.55 (2), p.187-204 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Central European History Society of the American Historical Association ;ISSN: 0008-9389 ;EISSN: 1569-1616 ;DOI: 10.1017/S0008938921000893

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  • Title:
    The Captain of Köpenick and the Uniform Fantasies of German Militarism
  • Author: Schneider, Jeffrey
  • Subjects: Cities ; Mayors ; Men ; Militarism ; Permission ; Soldiers
  • Is Part Of: Central European history, 2022-06, Vol.55 (2), p.187-204
  • Description: Few events in Imperial Germany's forty-plus years of existence have been remembered with as much pride and hilarity as the one that took place on October 16, 1906. It began shortly after noon, when a man dressed in a captain's uniform appeared on the streets in the northern part of Berlin and commandeered two small contingents of soldiers returning to their barracks from guard duty. Claiming to be acting on instructions from the kaiser himself, the man ordered the ten soldiers to accompany him to Köpenick, a small but growing city on the southeastern outskirts of Berlin. Arriving in front of city hall around 3:30 p.m., he assigned four of the men to take up positions at the three entrances of the building to ensure that no one entered or left without his permission. The remaining troops followed him inside, where he instructed two men to secure the ground floor. Heading upstairs, he encountered an off-duty constable, who, along with other police officials, was given the task of controlling the growing crowd of curious gawkers that had begun to amass in the plaza and streets outside. With these arrangements set, he barged into the offices of the mayor and other top officials, announcing their arrest on the kaiser's orders and stationing soldiers outside their doors. Within an hour, he arranged to have the mayor and city treasurer transported by carriage to the Neue Wache, the main guardhouse in central Berlin. After issuing orders for the remaining soldiers to withdraw at 6:00 p.m., the unidentified captain disappeared into the night with the contents of the city's cash box, totaling 3557 marks and 45 pfennig.
  • Publisher: New York, USA: Cambridge University Press
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 0008-9389
    EISSN: 1569-1616
    DOI: 10.1017/S0008938921000893
  • Source: ProQuest Central
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