Jump to content

Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia (1895–1959): Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Jneubert (talk | contribs)
126 edits
mNo edit summary
 
(8 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Prussian prince and art collector (1895–1959)}}
{{Distinguish|Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia}}
{{Distinguish|Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia}}{{Infobox royalty
[[File:Friedrich Leopold von Preußen.jpg|thumb|185px|The Prince in uniform (1914)]]
| name = Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia
| image = File:Friedrich Leopold von Preußen.jpg
| caption = The Prince in uniform (1914)
| birth_name = Franz Joseph Oskar Ernst Patrick Friedrich Leopold Prinz von Preußen
| birth_date = 27 August 1895
| birth_place = [[Berlin]], [[German Empire]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1959|11|27|1895|8|27|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Lugano]], [[Switzerland]]
| house = [[House of Hohenzollern|Hohenzollern]]
| father = [[Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia]]
| mother = [[Princess Louise Sophie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg]]
| occupation = Art dealer, collector
}}
'''Franz Joseph Oskar Ernst Patrick Friedrich Leopold Prinz von Preußen''' (27 August 1895, in [[Berlin]] – 27 November 1959, in [[Lugano]]) was a German [[art collector]] and [[Art dealer|dealer]]. During [[World War II]], he was an inmate at [[Dachau concentration camp]].
'''Franz Joseph Oskar Ernst Patrick Friedrich Leopold Prinz von Preußen''' (27 August 1895, in [[Berlin]] – 27 November 1959, in [[Lugano]]) was a German [[art collector]] and [[Art dealer|dealer]]. During [[World War II]], he was an inmate at [[Dachau concentration camp]].


Line 24: Line 37:
In the first of the [[Dachau trials]], he served as a witness against numerous camp officials, including the Commandant, [[Martin Gottfried Weiss]]. Forty of them were found guilty, and thirty-six were sentenced to death.
In the first of the [[Dachau trials]], he served as a witness against numerous camp officials, including the Commandant, [[Martin Gottfried Weiss]]. Forty of them were found guilty, and thirty-six were sentenced to death.


He never returned to Germany, choosing instead to settle in Switzerland.
He never returned to Germany, choosing instead to settle in Switzerland.

He died fourteen years later in [[Lugano]].

== Ancestry ==
{{ahnentafel|1. '''Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia'''|2. [[Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia]]|3. [[Princess Louise Sophie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg]]|4. [[Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia (1828-1885)|Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia]]|5. [[Princess Maria Anna of Anhalt-Dessau]]|6. [[Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein]]|7. [[Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg]]|8. [[Prince Charles of Prussia]]|9. [[Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1808–1877)|Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach]]|10. [[Leopold IV, Duke of Anhalt]]|11. [[Princess Frederica of Prussia (1796–1850)|Princess Frederica of Prussia]]|12. [[Christian August II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg]]|13. [[Countess Louise Sophie Danneskiold-Samsøe]]|14. [[Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg]]|15. [[Princess Feodora of Leiningen]]|collapsed=yes|align=center|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;}}


==References==
==References==
Line 38: Line 56:
* {{PM20|FID=pe/005616}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/005616}}


{{Prussian princes}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


Line 43: Line 62:
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:LGBT royalty]]
[[Category:LGBTQ royalty]]
[[Category:Prussian princes]]
[[Category:Prussian princes]]
[[Category:House of Hohenzollern]]
[[Category:House of Hohenzollern]]

Latest revision as of 19:02, 23 September 2024

Not to be confused with Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia.
Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia
The Prince in uniform (1914)
BornFranz Joseph Oskar Ernst Patrick Friedrich Leopold Prinz von Preußen
27 August 1895
Berlin, German Empire
Died27 November 1959(1959-11-27) (aged 64)
Lugano, Switzerland
HouseHohenzollern
FatherPrince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia
MotherPrincess Louise Sophie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg
OccupationArt dealer, collector

Franz Joseph Oskar Ernst Patrick Friedrich Leopold Prinz von Preußen (27 August 1895, in Berlin – 27 November 1959, in Lugano) was a German art collector and dealer. During World War II, he was an inmate at Dachau concentration camp.

Biography

[edit]

He was the son of Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia and Princess Louise Sophie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and a nephew of German Empress Augusta Victoria, his mother's elder sister. Originally trained by tutors, at the age of ten, as was customary, he received the Order of the Black Eagle. The following year, he became a Lieutenant in the First Foot Guards.[1]

In 1912, he became interested in painting, and took drawing lessons from Karl Hagemeister. At the outbreak of World War I, he started his military service, but was soon discharged due to poor health. This enabled him to attend the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, where he studied with Carl von Marr, among others. He also began collecting art.

His unrestrained collecting put him heavily in debt. As a result, in 1917, the Ministry of the Royal House [de] initiated an "Entmündigung [de]" (incapacitation procedure), with the intent of placing him under a guardianship. The Prince filed a counter-suit, claiming that his collection had appreciated in value, and was now worth as much or more than the amount he owed. In addition, he argued that the Ministry had no standing in the matter of civil suits.[2] In 1918, following widely publicized hearings, which reached the Kammergericht (Berlin State Supreme Court), the Ministry agreed to halt its proceedings.[3]

In the 1920s and 1930s, he continued collecting and worked as an art dealer; trading in art objects and autographs from the collection of his great-grandfather, Prince Charles of Prussia. As he had a right of residence at Glienicke Palace, he made the assumption that he had property rights there as well.[4] He lived with his private secretary, Friedrich Freiherr Cerrini de Monte Varchi (1895–1985), known as "Pierrot", in the "gentleman's wing" of the Palace. One of his best clients was the American diplomat and collector, Robert Woods Bliss. One of the pieces that Bliss purchased in 1937, a 12th-century Byzantine tondo from the Palace's monastery courtyard, led to a criminal investigation and proceedings at the Potsdam District Court [de], which resulted in heavy fines for the Prince and Cerrini.[5]

After selling the castle in 1939, he and Cerrini moved to a villa, "Gut Imlau", near Werfen in Salzburger Land. He took numerous art works and the family archives with him. The remainder was bequeathed to the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg.

Dachau

[edit]
At the Dachau trials (1945)

In May 1944, he and Cerrini were arrested in Bad Gastein for listening to a "Feindsender" (enemy radio station). Some sources claim they were actually charged with violating "Section 175", which prohibited homosexual activity.[6] Later that year, the Prince was remanded to Dachau.

In 1945, he was part of a group of high-status prisoners and Sippenhaften (people guilty by kinship), who were transported to South Tyrol by the SS. A few of the prisoners managed to contact officers of the regular German Army and express their fears that they were going to be executed. They were rescued by Captain Wichard von Alvensleben and took refuge until American troops arrived. The Prince waited until June, so he could be available to American officials in Italy.

In the first of the Dachau trials, he served as a witness against numerous camp officials, including the Commandant, Martin Gottfried Weiss. Forty of them were found guilty, and thirty-six were sentenced to death.

He never returned to Germany, choosing instead to settle in Switzerland.

He died fourteen years later in Lugano.

Ancestry

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Militär-Wochenblatt, #91, 1906, pg.1560
  2. ^ Frankfurter Zeitung, 2. Oktober 1917, Online
  3. ^ Deutscher Geschichtskalender 1918, pg.235.
  4. ^ John Murray, Behind the Scenes at the Prussian Court, London, 1939, pg.247.
  5. ^ Harry Nehls: "Der »Klosterhof« im Park von Schloss Glienicke in Berlin". Berlin 1993. In: Jahrbuch für brandenburgische Landesgeschichte #45 (1994), pp. 233/234
  6. ^ Volker Koop: In Hitlers Hand. Sonder- und Ehrenhäftlinge der SS. Böhlau, Köln/Weimar/Wien 2010, ISBN 978-3-412-20580-5, pg.63

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Prince_Friedrich_Leopold_of_Prussia_(1895–1959)&oldid=1247307770"