Katte in His Own Words
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rheinsbergIn this post, I've collated some of Katte's final words, written and spoken.
In late August, in prison, Katte was interrogated. The first confession that he wrote, often referred to as his "species facti," is behind the cut. The ellipses are in the source I obtained them from. [ETA: Missing material, as well as summaries of other Katte interrogations, can be found here.]
selenak, who translated the text from German, writes, "Bear in mind: Katte was threatened by torture if he didn't confess all, and of course he knew the punishment for desertion under FW if this was what it was judged to be and wanted to live, so with that caveat, here's what he said happened:"
It has been probably now a year ago that his highness did for the first time honor me with conversation, and did so repeatedly during the Parade and the parole giving. (...)
In Cosdorf, his highness the Crown Prince had me called just after his arrival and told me I should go recruiting, and then I should do him a favor, which he believed I wouldn't refuse him. Whereupon I replied to him that I had already registered regarding the recruitment, but as for the other, his highness had only to order, if it was within my power and I could do it, he only needed to order and I would be ready to do anything.'I do believe it of you,' he returned.
selenak's sidenote: Fritz here as quoted by Katte uses the most formal personal address from a higher ranking to a lower ranking person, calling Katte "Er" - the literal translation would have been "I do believe it of Him". This is true for the entire document, which never once has him use the more familiar versions of "you". (No "Sie" or "Ihr", and most definitely no "Du".) Continuing with Fritz as quoted by Katte:
'In the camp I want to talk further with you about this, just come this evening, when I'm returning from the King.' Whereupon he left me and went to dine with his highness. Here I must remind you that before I even knew I'd join the trip to Saxony, his highness the Crown Prince had told me that he wanted to pay a debt to someone he was owing something to, without, however, mentioning who that person was, and had asked me whether I could get him some money. Whereupon I promised to do all I could, and did sent him 1000 Reichstaler, which the Chamberlain Montolieu had lend to me, to Potsdam through his page. The page had met me at Zehlendorf and I had given him the money sealed in a box so he wouldn't know what was inside. (The Prince) duly received this, and wrote to me the next day through one of his servants demanding that I should get him more money after the Saxon journey, which the preserved letter will prove. When his royal highness withdrew for the night at Cosdorf, he told me, oh my God, I can't stand it anymore, my father treats me so harshly, he is always so lacking all mercy towards me, I don't know anymore what I should do.
I was surprised that he thought of this only now, and said he shouldn't be so impatient, besides, one shouldn't be alarmed by what a father said, he should just sleep over it, tomorrow everything would look different, whereupon he said good night to me and fell asleep. Some days later, three or four days after the arrival at the camp, his highness called me one evening and told me he had decided to leave, and I needed to help him in this enterprise.
I then told him that I couldn't believe him to be serious about it, and so I didn't know what to reply. But when he assured me that it was not a joke at all, that he was entirely serious, I couldn't other but tell him that I was very surprised by such thoughts, he should consider what he was planning. Leaving all other considerations aside, this would be a matter not only very difficult to do but something which the entire world would blame him for. I hoped and believed he would change his mind. (...)
The next day, his highness asked me during the exercises why I didn't believe the matter could be accomplished ; once he had horses and a headstart of several hours, he thought that he would not only be able to make a clean getaway but not to be overtaken by anyone. I replied to him that I did believe all this, but that there was the difficulty of getting horses in the first place, and then it would be important to know what plans he had, where he wanted to go to, that wanting to do something wasn't enough but that in order to be sure of a happy ending one needed to know whether the place one had chosen to be one's retreat would be capable of offering safe and sound sanctuary, and as long as he didn't give me any details in this regard, I was bound to see all his designs as empty projects, something he would like to do but would never accomplish.
When he then named France as the place of his refuge to me and assured me intently that he would be accepted with joy there, and that he would not only be offered safety but as much money as he wanted to have. I asked him to tell me on which basis he made this claim, what kind of assurances he had received and how, and discovered it was only based on assumptions because the two courts, the Prussian and the French court, were not having a good relationship right now and thus he would inevitably have credit there. (...)
I did everything in the world to decline this commission, and pointed out what the Duke if he learned of the entire affair would think of the matter, and what kind of opinion he'd hold if he found that one wanted to take his domestic servants away, especially at a time when he needed them. (...) Without furthering his highness the Prince's longing in the slightest and without making the least suggestion, I did reply to his highness that I didn't believe we'd get far with this man who as I noticed was very attached to his lord. The Prince wasn't satisfied with this and told me I should look for him again and investigate whether he couldn't be persuaded, but without talking to the page I brought again the reply that one couldn't do anything with him, that he didn't want to leave his lord, since he'd been raised in the household of the princess his sister. This his highness applauded and said that he hadn't believed this man had it in him, and now had an even higher opinion of him and wanted to have with him all the more. One afternoon, his highness the Crown Prince returned in a very bad mood from his majesty and gave the order to call me as soon as he'd entered his tent. (...)
Meanwhile the prince had called me and said that he couldn't bear it any longer, there had to be evil people who sought to put him in a bad light with his majesty. At just this day, he'd been mortified by the later; among other things, his majesty had told him that he was a coward, that he didn't have heart, and more things like that; he wanted to prove the opposite was true, and when his majesty would see that he was capable of pulling such an enterprise off, then (his majesty) would love him, and would be merciful again. He had no other design to escape his majesty's view but that he didn't want to irritate the later by his presence anymore, and no one should keep him from doing this anymore, I should and must help him, I had to promise him this.
As I didn't want to do this, I now seriously pointed out to him in how tricky and difficult circumstances he'd throw himself, how much he would irritate his majesty the king and sadden her majesty the queen, and moreover, that he didn't know yet where to go to. (...) Meanwhile, I begged him to temper his energy and to await the courier he'd mentioned to me, whereupon he revealed to me that this courier was secretary Guy Dickens, who after his return wanted to bring him definite news as to whether he should come to England or not. He wanted to talk to Count Hoym as well about a journey I should make to Leipzig incognito, which happened the next day in the pavillon, when his highness the prince came to me and told me that he'd talked to the count, it would work out, I should just go to him. However, I'd earlier gone to him already and had asked him that if his highness the crown prince would talk a journey I was to make to Leipzig, he should make as many difficulties as he possibly could. Which I asked for a second time when I approached him at the orders of the prince, with the argument that for various reasons I didn't want to make this journey, nor could I, and couldn't explain this to him any further. He promised me to do this and wanted to indicate to the prince that it wasn't so easy as he imagined it would be, and further say that when one imagined such projects one thought them easy, but when they were to be executed there were not only obstacles one hadn't considered but on most occasions, they were never accomplished at all, which was for the best, especially if they were of a kind to cause more damage and distress than use.
I told the Prince that I'd found much more difficulties with Count Hoym than I had expected to, so it couldn't happen that quickly, and if he could just talk to him himself, he'd find out the truth. Then he gave me the key to his box, I should go to his tent and take his things along with the money which I would find. Instead of doing so, I remained down there at the Pavillon until the exercises were over, and then I made myself known again and said that I couldn't succeed since I had met his servants at the tent and they had stopped me, which I accepted. (...)
He then asked me whether Count Hoym had talked to me about this, and I said yes, he'd indicated to me that his highness had many supervisors. I should ride to him straight away, he said, and ask the Count to reveal who the supervisors were and in which way they were keeping an eye on him. In order to get away I promised to do this, but instead of going to Count Hoym, I remained in the camp with Colonel Katte until 8 pm, when I returned to headquarters, with some officers who'd been expecting me there in order to ride to Riesa. Meanwhile, his highness was riding away from his majesty and immediately asked me what answer Count Hoym had given. When I told him that I hadn't met the Count and that his people hadn't known where he was, his highness seemed to be displeased and said that I probably hadn't been there. When I assured him of the contrary, he pretended to believe me, and said nothing further than this, that it was my fault that he didn't get away, that he had had the best opportunity here, but that he didn't know yet whether he wouldn't dare it anyway since it was impossible for him to endure the way he was treated any longer. (...)
I tried to scare him which I did happily succeed with, then he assured me he wouldn't think of it any longer, but that I should promise him that if matters didn't change, I would accomplish it during the journey to Ansbach; only to calm him down, I said that I believed it would be easier possible there, and that there was time enough until then, in the meantime one could think of means and ways to accomplish it. (...)
In this way, I sought to foil him in Saxony and to stop him again and again; his highness won't deny it has happened word by word as it has been written down here.
After his highness the prince's arrival in Berlin, he asked me immediately whether I had already gotten leave in in order to depart, whereupon I replied in the negative, but added that I'd received hope that I could leave soon; if you get your vacation, said the Prince, you need to leave immediately and go to Nuremberg in advance, and there I'd learn where the relais stations were, there I should wait for him with horses, he would exit the carriage, relieve himself, then jump on a horse and gallop away. (...) Meanwhile, Mr. Guy Dickens from England had returned, and his highness the prince demanded to speak to him, so I went to him, and I'd pick him up at 10 pm in order to talk to his highness the crown prince. This was accomplished in the evening, and while we walked, I told him that his highness the prince was flattering himself to get a positive reply through him from England, whereupon he answered to me: He was sorry, but his highness the prince would find himself deceived in this opinion, for the reply was of a nature that wouldn't please him at all; in short, one didn't want him there now, and he should abandon any such thoughts.
When I heard this I begged him fervently to present the matter even harder than he was already planning to do, which he did in my company, beneath the great portal, opposite the rooms of his highness the prince, and it succeeded in that the prince had to promise him with word and hand not to think about any of this anymore.
The next day, his highness demanded to talk to Guy Dickens again, but the later excused himself, whereupon his highness complained that people only sought to stop him, he was very sorry he didn't leave in Saxony and that this had been my fault.
I couldn't stop myself from telling him that he was wrong to complain, he'd find that he'd be well advised, and I hoped he'd one day admit it. I wanted to return his things to him, but he didn't want to accept them, other than his music, which he took back. The other things, I was supposed to keep until he demanded them. The next day, which was the third or fourth before the departure from Berlin, his highness told me that his majesty had decided he wouldn't join the journey but would remain in Potsdam, and wanted to stick with the resolution not to leave. (...) Now I was certain that the entire matter was finished, and that I didn't have to do anything further, but he ordered me before his departure to remain silent and not to say a word to anyone about what he'd been planning, since he hadn't bared his soul about this to anyone else. The day after this, when his highness the prince had gone to Potsdam, I received a letter from Lt. von Ingersleben that his highness demanded I should come in the evening to Potsdam since he needed to talk to me again.
When I arrived, he talked to me in the garden between the hedges and said that his majesty had changed his mind, and that he was supposed to go on the journey after all, which meant that the coup of leaving could succeed. I urged him for all the world to abstain from this, which he had already promised he would, and that I hadn't been commanded to go recruiting yet and that it was uncertain whether I would be. (...) On the evening of his highness' departure from Potsdam his page came to me and brought a letter in addition to a saddle and music, and no other message than just that this highness had ordered him to give me both. IN the letter, he wrote to me that he hoped I would keep my word and would follow as promised: I should go to Canstadt and wait for him there. Shortly afterwards, I learned that the passports for recruiters had been edited by his majesty, and that none had been edited for me, and Colonel von Pannewitz told me that there was no hope of getting one before his majesty's return, which made me glad for this was a new opportunity for me to sabotage the prince's project. Thus, I wrote to him through an express messenger whom I sent to the Rittmeister Katte in Erlangen so that the later should forward the letter to the prince.
In this letter, I described in which way I had been prevented to undertake my journey, and said it was thus impossible for me to get to the place he'd demanded I should go to, that I had asked Colonel v. Pannewitz to give me leave to go to Magdeburg - though I had done no such thing - , but that it had been declined, and so I urgently begged him to have patience, perhaps I could make it to Cleve once he got there, and in order to reassure him further, I concluded the letter by saying that if nothing else worked, I would go without having gotten leave. I received the reply that this news was not agreeable to him and did displease him a lot but that he would be patient and would write to me again. (...)
Meanwhile, General Löwenöhr sent me word that he'd leave in some days and that I should come to him since he wanted to talk to me; when I came to him the other omorning, he asked me whether I knew the cause as to why I hadn't been given leave nor been appointed a recruiter. I returned that if he asked me such a question, I had to assume he did intend to reveal the reason to me, that I believed the reason was a suspicion that I intended to help his highness the crown prince to go away, and I could assure him this had never been my intention, despite I had let (the prince) believe several times that I would. Following this, I told him about the entire affair as I have described it here, and said that God was my witness it had never been my serious intention. It was true, I had deceived the prince, but it had been done out of a good intention, I had even put myself in possession of his things simply to make it impossible for him to go on his own; that I had a good conscience about this was proven by the fact I was calmly remaining here. I was utterly certain now that he wouldn't and couldn't do anything further, partly because he had no money and was waiting for me, and partly because Rochow and his servants were suspecting him and had order to observe him closely and see whether he was trying to escape. From this, (the General) could see clearly whether I had any bad intentions. The only thing one could blame me for was that I hadn't immediately reported this, and this had been simply because I had been so certain due to all these circumstances that this coup would not happen, and I did not want to cause unneccessary distress or trouble. If I had even had the slightest reason to fear it would happen, I would have reported it; I claim God as my witness and will live and die on my word.
Four days later, I received a letter from his highness the prince from Ansbach, which said that he was imagining living through a terrible day at Wusterhausen, and if possible, he wanted to escape this, since his majesty was showing himself less merciful day by day, and thus he wanted to try and escape near Sinzheim. Since by the time I received this letter his majesty could be near Wesel already, and since I heard through all the news that came about his majesty to Berlin nothing but that everything was well and his majesty had arrived in all places with the Crown Prince at his side, I didn't worry about it any further, and that's why I replied to her highness the Crown Princess - yes, he says in German "Kronprinzessin" für Wilhelmine - when she asked me on my conscience whether I believed her brother would leave or return, that I could now reassure her with all certainty that she would see him again as safe and sound as he had left. May God grant it, she replied, I wish it with all my heart.
The letters, next to the things in them, I've given about 14 days before my arrest into the hands of my cousin, a Katte and member of the Kurmärkische Kammer so he could give them to someone who'd put them into the Queen's hands if I should have to go on a journey, or, if his highness the Prince returned, into his hands (...)
I don't have to add anything further but to ask your royal majesty with the deepest humbleness and devotion to consider that my intention has been none other than to keep his highness the prince from his designs and to prevent them being put to work.
And as God puts mercy ahead of justice, I hope that your majesty will make my poor self an example of this as well, and will consider the intention I had in this entire matter. God is my witness that it had been nothing but to prevent what his highness the prince intended to do, and to prevent it in a way that wouldn't incense your majesty any further against him. (...)
Thus I beg again most humbly that your royal majesty will show mercy towards me.
Wilhelmine records a passage Katte wrote on his prison window, before he was condemned to death:
“With time and patience we obtain a good conscience."—If you would know who has written this, the name of Katt will inform you; still cheered up by hope.
He whom curiosity may induce to read this writing, must know that the writer was put under arrest, by order of his majesty, on the 16th of August 1730. He still has faint hopes of recovering his liberty, although the manner in which he is guarded seems to prognosticate something fatal.
Brunswick envoy Stratemann records a single poem, with lines omitted by Wilhelmine, and with the two pieces of text that she gives arranged in a different order. The edition of his envoy reports we have omits a line from the poem by accident, which I've supplied from Wilhelmine:
Vers composés par Mr.de Katte, lors qu'il-etoit Prisonnier dans la Guarde des Gensd'Armes.
Cest toi fortune inconstante,
fausse Divinité!
Qui pour remplir nôtre attente.
charme nôtre Vanité;
Menteuse! dans tes promesses,
Injuste! dans tes largesses,
Terrible! dans tes revers,
Il n'-y-a jour qui-finisse
Sans nous montrer bon Caprice
par mille tours divers.
Celui qui la curiosité portera
a lire cette ecriture apprendra
que l'ecrivain a-été mit aux arrests
par l'Ordre desa Majesté
le 16me d'Auot 1730
non sans esperance de
se revoir bientôt
én liberté, quoique
la façon d'ont-il-a-été gardé
lui fasse augurer quelque chose de funeste.
Par le temps et la Patience
En obtient les fruits d'une bonne Conscience;
Si vous voulés savoir qui c'est,
Le nom de Katte vous l'apprendra,
Toujours constant en Esperance.
Immediately after receiving his death sentence, on November 2, 1730, Katte wrote to the King asking for a pardon. Translation is from Waldie's Select Circulating Library.
Letter to the King
It is not to justify myself or to excuse my conduct up to this time, or to by reasoning and argument; no—but it is unfeigned repentance and sorrow for having offended your majesty, which impel me to lay at your feet, in all submission, the confession of the errors of my youth, my weakness, and my imprudence. My mind, which was guiltless of bad intentions, my heart, which was full of affection and pity, and the mere folly of youth, are the things, my king, which most humbly plead for grace, mercy, and compassion. God, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, permits grace to take the place of justice, and through that grace brings the sinner, walking in the paths of error, back to his duty. Be pleased then, my king, to grant the same grace to me, as a sinner and a criminal who has transgressed against your majesty. The hope of restoring the tree which is partially decayed, causes it to be spared and saves it from the flames. Why, then, should not the tree of my life, which already shows new shoots of loyalty and submission, find grace in the sight of your majesty? Why should it be cut down while still in its bloom, and not spared to show to your majesty and to the whole world what true loyalty and obedience are produced by grace and mercy? I have erred, O, my king! I acknowledge it with a contrite heart; therefore pardon him who honestly confesses his fault, and grant to me what God has not denied to the greatest sinner. . .As many drops of blood as flow in my veins, so many shall attest the new loyalty and obedience which your grace and favour will produce. God's grace and goodness allow me to hope for his mercy, and so I do not despair. I, who implore and beseech, was once your disobedient vassal and subject, but am now brought back to my duty by suffering and repentance.
He also wrote to his grandfather, Field Marshal von Wartensleben. Wartensleben also wrote to the King asking for a pardon, but was refused. The following letter is taken from Wilhelmine's memoirs, who likely copied it from a pamphlet that began to circulate immediately after Katte's death. The letters in it, to his father, grandfather, and brother-in-law, appear to be genuine, and were circulating in Berlin already in November 1730.
Letter to Field Marshal Wartensleben
Honoured grandfather,
I cannot express the grief and agitation with which I am writing this. I who have been the principal object of your solicitude; whom you destined to be the support of your family; whom you had educated in sentiments calculated to render me useful to my sovereign and my fellow-creatures; I who never left your house without being honoured with your kindness and your advice; I who was to be the comfort and happiness of your old age; wretch that I am! I am now become the object of your grief and despair. Instead of felicitating you with gladsome tidings, I am constrained to acquaint you with the sentence of my death, which has already been pronounced. Do not take my sad fate too much to heart: we must submit to the decrees of Providence; if it tries us by adversities, it also gives us strength to bear them with firmness, and to overcome them. Nothing is impossible to the Lord. He may help us when he chuses. I place all my confidence in that Supreme Being, who may yet incline the king’s heart to clemency, and obtain for me as many favours as I have experienced severities. If it be not the will of the Omnipotent, I shall nevertheless praise and bless him, being persuaded that what he orders is for my welfare. I therefore submit with patience to what your credit and that of your friends may obtain of his majesty. In the mean time, I ask you a thousand pardons for my past faults, hoping that the benevolent Creator, who forgives the greatest sinners, will have mercy upon me. I intreat you to follow his example towards me, and to believe me, &c.
November the 2d. 1730.
The following letter, to Katte's father, written the night of November 5 at Küstrin, only hours before his execution at 7 am on November 6, is taken from Fontane. The translation is cobbled together from Wikipedia, Lavisse, Google translate, and my own limited knowledge of German.
Letter to Lt. General Katte
Into tears, my father, that’s how I want to melt away, when thinking that this letter will cause the greatest grief to a faithful father's heart. That all the hopes for my future welfare and its comfort in old age has to disappear at once; that all applied effort and diligence for my upbringing to the maturity of the desired happiness even have been in vain; yes – that I will have to bow in the prime of my years without presenting to you in this world the fruits of my efforts and my achieved sciences. How didn't I think to ascend the world and make your conceived hope one satisfied; how didn't I think that I would not lack of happiness and well-being; how wasn't I occupied from the certainty of my reputation. But all in vain! How futile man's thoughts are: At once everything is falling apart; and how sadly is the scenery of my life coming to an end; and how is my current state distinguished from that with which my thoughts have gone; I must – instead of promenading the way of honor and reputation – walk the path of disgrace and a shameful death. But how incomprehensible, O Lord, are your ways, and your judgments unexplainable. It is quite right to say: God's ways are not man's ways, and man's ways are not God's ways. Wouldn't I have left security behind, forgotten God for all happiness and living well and set him aside? Wouldn't I have preferred the way of the flesh, good times, and sins to the way to God? Yes, surely this would have led me away from God.
Cursed ambition, which glides into the heart from early childhood, without giving any proper understanding, would have continued, and would have ultimately attributed to vain reason what comes only from God. The kind and righteous God wanted to forestall such things, and - since I did not listen to his frequent and varied incitements - he had to seize me in such a way that I did not plunge further into ruin, and even come to eternal damnation. For that let him be praised! Understand well, my father, and truly believe that it is God who disposes of me, without whose will nothing happens, not even the fall of a sparrow to the ground! He is the one who rules everything and guides through his holy word; that is why this my relationship comes from him. The harder, the more bitter the form of death, the more agreeable and sweet the hope of salvation! What is the shame and dishonor of this death, in comparison to the great future? Comfort yourself, my father! God has given you other sons, to whom He will accord, perhaps, more happiness in this world, and who will give to you, my father, the joy for which you have vainly hoped from me, and this, I sincerely desire, will come to pass. Meanwhile, I thank you with filial respect for all the father loyalty shown to me, from my childhood to the present hour. May the All-powerful God render to you a hundred-fold this love that you have given me! May He spare you to a ripe old age! May He nourish you in happiness, and quench your thirst with the grace of His Holy Spirit !
Your son Hans Hermann von Katt, faithful to death.
Postscript. But what about you, dearest Mama, whom I loved as much as if the ties of nature had bound us (she was his stepmother), and you, dearest siblings, how should I recommend my memory to you? My situation does not allow me to convey everything I have on my mind; I stand at the gate of death, so I must be careful to enter with a cleansed and sanctified soul, and I cannot lose any time.
He also wrote an undated letter to Fritz, urging repentance. The German text is found in Preuss, and the translation in Waldie. It's referred to as the "Puncta" in an August 1731 letter from Wolden to FW.
Letter to Crown Prince Friedrich
1. The prince royal may, perhaps, think that I consider him as the cause of my death, and that I die in anger with him, but that is not the case. I acknowledge that, for wise reasons, Divine Providence has decreed that these misfortunes should fall upon me, to bring me to true repentance, and to enable me to work out my salvation.
2. The causes to which I attribute this chastisement of Heaven are, first, my ambition; and secondly, my neglect of the Almighty.
3. I promise the prince royal to pray for him before the throne of God.
4. I beseech the prince royal to banish from his heart any anger that he may feel against the king, his father, on account of my punishment; for he is not the cause of my death, since in this he is only the instrument of divine justice.
5. The prince royal ought not to think that this calamity has befallen me for want of prudence, but rather to recognise in it the hand of God, who confounds the wisdom of the wise.
6. I entreat the prince royal to submit to the will of his majesty; in the first place, because he is his father, and in the second, because he is his king.
7. The prince royal must remember what I said to him one day in Brandenburg on the submission which he owes to his father, refering to the examples of Absalom.
8. The prince royal must remember that I remonstrated with him, in the strongest manner, first at the camp in Saxony, where we originally had the idea of absconding, and where I foretold what has now happened; and secondly, more recently, one night when I called upon him in Potsdam.
9. I again implore the prince royal most solemnly, by the sufferings of Jesus Christ, to submit to his father's will; both on account of the promises contained in the fifth commandment, and also for fear of the law of retaliation, which might some day cause him to suffer the like vexations with his own children.
10. I beseech the prince royal to consider the vanity of human projects planned without God. The prince royal's wish was to serve me and to raise me to dignities and honours; see how these schemes are frustrated! I therefore beseech the prince royal to take the law of God for the rule of his actions, and to try them by the test of His sacred will.
11. The prince royal ought to be certain that he is deceived by those who flatter his passions, for they have in view their own interests only, not his; and he ought, on the other hand, to consider as his true friends those who tell him the truth and oppose his inclinations.
12. I implore the prince royal to repent, and to submit his heart to God.
13. Lastly, I implore the prince royal not to believe in fatalism; but to acknowledge the providence and the hand of God in the minutest circumstances.
There are several variants on Katte's last words to Fritz, as he was led past his window on his way to his execution. All of the exchanges involve Fritz asking for pardon, often wishing he were in Katte's place, and Katte indicating that there's nothing to forgive.
Last words to Fritz
Fragmentary anonymous report, possibly by Müller: "Point de pardon, mon prince; je meurs avec mille plaisirs pour vous."
Pöllnitz & Wilhelmine: "Ah! monseigneur, si j'avois mille vies, je les sacrifierois pour vous."
Alexander Christoph von Münchow (Gallus): "La mort est douce pour un si aimable Prince."
Alexander Christoph von Münchow (Minerva): "Pour un prince comme vous on meurt avec contentement."
Dickens & Sauveterre (per Lavisse): "Monseigneur il n'y a pas de quoi."
Anonymous 1731 pamphlet: "Mein gnädigster Cron-prinz sie haben nicht Ursach mich um Verzeihung zu bitten, wenn ich zehen Leben zu verliehren hätte, so wollte ich gern darum geben, wann nur Eu. Königliche Hoheit mit Dero Herrn Vater dem König dadurch könten versöhn et werden." (No French original given.)
von Johnn: "Dessen bedarf es nicht, gnädiger Herr. Wenn ich zehn Leben hätte, so würde ich sie gern hingeben, um Ew. Kon. Hoheit mit Ihrem Herrn Vater auszusöhnen." (No French original given.)
Stratemann: "Ihro Hoheit haben nicht Ursache um Vergebung zu bitten, weil Sie mir nichts zu wieder gethan und ich selbst meines Todes Ursache bin."
Catt and Thiébault, give Fritz a very short exclamation when he sees Katte, and Katte no lines at all. Voltaire records no dialogue.
Catt: "Ah, Katte," from Fritz, nothing from Katte.
Thiébault: "Mon ami," from Fritz, nothing from Katte.
And the one that's in Wikipedia, "Il n'y a rien à pardonner, je meurs pour vous la joie dans le cœur!" is still unsourced as far as I'm concerned!
Finally, Katte's literal last words, according to eyewitnesses, were "Lord Jesus"--just as the stroke of the executioner's sword removed his head.
We also had some thoughts on these documents. First, Katte's bullet-pointed last letter to Fritz.
Who composed the letter to Fritz?
mildred_of_midgard: If you think this reads like it was dictated by FW, yeah. Down to the rejection of predestination. Remember, FW has a preacher standing by to step into Fritz's cell the moment Katte's head falls, to lead him back to the true faith, and most specifically, the lack of predestination.
It reads like such a perfect and instant conformity to FW's will that I'm not the only one who thinks that it's a performance. He rejects atheism when staring death in the face and reverts to the religion of his childhood? Sure, maybe. He's been raised in a world where fathers and kings have absolute power and perfect obedience is owed to them, and he buys into that? Sure.
He really, really cares, of his own accord, that Fritz not believe in predestination, so much that it's his second-to-last words to Fritz?
Riiiight.
Katte: Fritz, just do what he says or he'll chop off your head too!!!1!!11! #MyInterpretation
selenak: I'm with you. The predestination paragraph seals it. (That it's dictated and Katte's meaning is "just save your head, Fritz, please!")
mildred_of_midgard: Also, it occurred to me that selenak told us that FW was making Absalom comparisons during the lead-up to Katte's execution.
Now, everyone is very steeped in the Bible, so, are two people going to come up with this independently? Yes, of course.
And Katte was raised in the 18th century, so did he tell Fritz that it was natural for fathers to be strict and you still had to obey them? I've always thought so. I worked it into fic before I'd even seen this letter.
But how plausible is it that irreligious Katte used the Absalom argument with irreligious Fritz in the pre-escape days? I.e. before Katte decided to go outspokenly 100% religious after apparently a lifetime of not caring?
And what are the odds that Grumbkow, or someone, came and had a talk with condemned Katte? "Look, kid, you're toast. You want to help save your prince? This is what the King wants to hear. 'It's not his fault, check. He's just an instrument of God, check. Don't listen to friends who support you, and only listen to friends who oppose you, because those are the ones who have your best interests in mind, check. Absalom comparison, check. Reject predestination, check.'"
selenak: As for Absalom, we know from the appendices in Forster and Preuss FW used the comparison himself (which I didn't know when I had the official Prussian propaganda use it as an Explanation for Fritz' death in my AU! -, and I think it's incredibly telling as to where the Puncta are coming from. Because Absalom didn't try to escape David. He led an uprising and "turned the hearts of the men of Israel" against his father. This is FW's fear. I doubt it would have occured to Katte on his own.
mildred_of_midgard: That's very true. This letter is looking more and more dictated. It must have been written in Berlin, not Küstrin.
Also, Fritz has to have read this knowing what we know: that it was a letter from FWin Katte's handwriting [ETA: see below], and *also* what Katte was trying to tell him with it. And I think that possibly in addition to influencing his own future behavior--complying with Dad, rejecting predestination--there's a very good chance it colored his perception of everything Katte said and did after he received his death sentence. In other words, this letter undermines Katte's credibility so much that I start wondering how much of the repentance and piety was real, and I sincerely hope Fritz did too.
And then I'm back to Fritz's "One can compel by force some poor wretch to utter a certain form of words, yet he will deny to it his inner consent; thus the persecutor has gained nothing" when endorsing religious tolerance as king. He was compelled to utter a certain form of words to which he denied his inner consent; he has to have known that last letter did not fully reflect Katte's inner consent; that makes the whole Katte performance suspect.
And now I'm thinking that Katte has one more motive for that sudden outspoken piety at the end, if it wasn't genuine. Yes, in the first few days and perhaps even that last night there was the chance of a last-minute pardon. Yes, even as he's being executed, he has nothing to lose and it will comfort his family after he's gone, and we know he cares about that. But if he keeps up the performance to the last minute, and his last words are about Jesus, one, he can sell FW on the fact that his repentance was real and that might make Fritz look better by association (compared to if Fritz's BFF is denying Christ to the end in front of him), and two, he can reinforce that last message to Fritz: "Do whatever it takes to stay alive. You don't have to mean it, just wait him out." And that gives his death extra meaning and purpose.
[ETA: According to documentation presented by Hinrichs, the final letter from Katte to Fritz wasn't even in Katte's handwriting, it was in Müller's handwriting. So it *really* wasn't a final letter by Katte. It was Müller writing down what FW wanted to hear, and Katte approving it.]
[ETA December 18, 2021: New evidence has emerged in the last two years since this post was written, and I now think that 1) Katte's sudden piety was genuine, and 2) he did care at least a little about predestination.
I still think the elements of the letter were carefully selected with FW as the main audience. But I now think Katte might not have disagreed with the contents as much as I previously believed.
Previously, all of Katte's final words were uttered or written in a public context that he knew would get back to FW. (The Puncta were not only sent to FW after his death, but they even ended up in Vienna being read and commented on by Prince Eugene!) Katte had every reason to want FW appeased after he was gone, for Fritz's sake, and I still think that was very much on his mind.
But thanks to the local historians of Wust, Selena has read two letters from Katte's father, Hans Heinrich. One of them contains this passage:
My son has asked me several hours before his demise to send our Albrecht to Halle and to have him educated in awe of God there. He had heard Freylingshausen's "Theologia" four times there; this, he said, was comforting him now before his ending.
That request was not primarily for public consumption, even if FW heard about it. Katte's encouraging the spread of piety after his death for its own sake. That strikes me as unnecessary to the cause of protecting FW victims from royal wrath, and as something a skeptic solely trying to appease an absolute monarch wouldn't feel the need to do.
As for predestination, we discovered that the final book Katte had with him before he died, other than the Bible, was a religious text reconciling free will with Providence and rejecting predestination. That could have been simply the only FW-approved reading material Katte could get his hands on, but once you combine that with his request to his father, I believe that he did revert to his childhood faith for comfort just before his execution.
Then we did some digging into the question of who leaked those letters to Katte's family so quickly that they were circulating in November 1730, and they were evidently never denied and are treated as genuine. (I haven't been able to find a copy of the brother-in-law letter reported by Wilhelmine.)
First, we got our hands on the anonymous pamphlet published in 1731 that contains the leaked letters, and found that it contains a two-page summary that reads very much like an eyewitness account, in that it matches the existing eyewitness accounts--Major Schack, Preacher Besser, and Münchow--very closely, as well as FW's orders to Lepel. We therefore concluded that the leaker of the letters was someone at Küstrin.
Then it came to our attention, thanks to Koser, that the 1731 pamphlet is almost verbatim the same as the official report of the Danish envoy to Berlin, von Johnn. He, or someone close to him, is therefore almost certainly the leaker of the letters. Furthermore, the detail in his various reports pertaining to the escape attempt makes it seem like he had access to the state archives in Berlin.
So most likely, von Johnn had someone in his pay at Küstrin who was able to give him an eyewitness account of the execution, and possibly the letter to Katte's father. However, that letter may have been copied and sent to the Berlin archives, as it appears that Katte's other letters (to the King and his grandfather) written in Berlin were. From the archive, the Danish ambassador was able to get copies of the letters as well as official reports.
From him and/or his staff, the letters and the eyewitness account in the official report made their way into an anonymous pamphlet published in 1731.
ETA: Stratemann has a very similar account, recounted here, which I think may have been relayed to him via Johnn. Both reports were written in Berlin on November 11, and Johnn was no fan of FW and evidently eager to disseminate knowledge of Katte's execution to all and sundry.
In the 1790s, Nicolai records one of his correspondents saying:
When Katte was transported to Küstrin, my father took leave of him with the words: j'espére de vous revoir bientot; and (Katte) replied: Non, mon ami, le Tyran demande du sang.
See this post for context and an evaluation of why we think that quote is probably real.
In late August, in prison, Katte was interrogated. The first confession that he wrote, often referred to as his "species facti," is behind the cut. The ellipses are in the source I obtained them from. [ETA: Missing material, as well as summaries of other Katte interrogations, can be found here.]
selenak, who translated the text from German, writes, "Bear in mind: Katte was threatened by torture if he didn't confess all, and of course he knew the punishment for desertion under FW if this was what it was judged to be and wanted to live, so with that caveat, here's what he said happened:"It has been probably now a year ago that his highness did for the first time honor me with conversation, and did so repeatedly during the Parade and the parole giving. (...)
In Cosdorf, his highness the Crown Prince had me called just after his arrival and told me I should go recruiting, and then I should do him a favor, which he believed I wouldn't refuse him. Whereupon I replied to him that I had already registered regarding the recruitment, but as for the other, his highness had only to order, if it was within my power and I could do it, he only needed to order and I would be ready to do anything.'I do believe it of you,' he returned.
selenak's sidenote: Fritz here as quoted by Katte uses the most formal personal address from a higher ranking to a lower ranking person, calling Katte "Er" - the literal translation would have been "I do believe it of Him". This is true for the entire document, which never once has him use the more familiar versions of "you". (No "Sie" or "Ihr", and most definitely no "Du".) Continuing with Fritz as quoted by Katte:'In the camp I want to talk further with you about this, just come this evening, when I'm returning from the King.' Whereupon he left me and went to dine with his highness. Here I must remind you that before I even knew I'd join the trip to Saxony, his highness the Crown Prince had told me that he wanted to pay a debt to someone he was owing something to, without, however, mentioning who that person was, and had asked me whether I could get him some money. Whereupon I promised to do all I could, and did sent him 1000 Reichstaler, which the Chamberlain Montolieu had lend to me, to Potsdam through his page. The page had met me at Zehlendorf and I had given him the money sealed in a box so he wouldn't know what was inside. (The Prince) duly received this, and wrote to me the next day through one of his servants demanding that I should get him more money after the Saxon journey, which the preserved letter will prove. When his royal highness withdrew for the night at Cosdorf, he told me, oh my God, I can't stand it anymore, my father treats me so harshly, he is always so lacking all mercy towards me, I don't know anymore what I should do.
I was surprised that he thought of this only now, and said he shouldn't be so impatient, besides, one shouldn't be alarmed by what a father said, he should just sleep over it, tomorrow everything would look different, whereupon he said good night to me and fell asleep. Some days later, three or four days after the arrival at the camp, his highness called me one evening and told me he had decided to leave, and I needed to help him in this enterprise.
I then told him that I couldn't believe him to be serious about it, and so I didn't know what to reply. But when he assured me that it was not a joke at all, that he was entirely serious, I couldn't other but tell him that I was very surprised by such thoughts, he should consider what he was planning. Leaving all other considerations aside, this would be a matter not only very difficult to do but something which the entire world would blame him for. I hoped and believed he would change his mind. (...)
The next day, his highness asked me during the exercises why I didn't believe the matter could be accomplished ; once he had horses and a headstart of several hours, he thought that he would not only be able to make a clean getaway but not to be overtaken by anyone. I replied to him that I did believe all this, but that there was the difficulty of getting horses in the first place, and then it would be important to know what plans he had, where he wanted to go to, that wanting to do something wasn't enough but that in order to be sure of a happy ending one needed to know whether the place one had chosen to be one's retreat would be capable of offering safe and sound sanctuary, and as long as he didn't give me any details in this regard, I was bound to see all his designs as empty projects, something he would like to do but would never accomplish.
When he then named France as the place of his refuge to me and assured me intently that he would be accepted with joy there, and that he would not only be offered safety but as much money as he wanted to have. I asked him to tell me on which basis he made this claim, what kind of assurances he had received and how, and discovered it was only based on assumptions because the two courts, the Prussian and the French court, were not having a good relationship right now and thus he would inevitably have credit there. (...)
I did everything in the world to decline this commission, and pointed out what the Duke if he learned of the entire affair would think of the matter, and what kind of opinion he'd hold if he found that one wanted to take his domestic servants away, especially at a time when he needed them. (...) Without furthering his highness the Prince's longing in the slightest and without making the least suggestion, I did reply to his highness that I didn't believe we'd get far with this man who as I noticed was very attached to his lord. The Prince wasn't satisfied with this and told me I should look for him again and investigate whether he couldn't be persuaded, but without talking to the page I brought again the reply that one couldn't do anything with him, that he didn't want to leave his lord, since he'd been raised in the household of the princess his sister. This his highness applauded and said that he hadn't believed this man had it in him, and now had an even higher opinion of him and wanted to have with him all the more. One afternoon, his highness the Crown Prince returned in a very bad mood from his majesty and gave the order to call me as soon as he'd entered his tent. (...)
Meanwhile the prince had called me and said that he couldn't bear it any longer, there had to be evil people who sought to put him in a bad light with his majesty. At just this day, he'd been mortified by the later; among other things, his majesty had told him that he was a coward, that he didn't have heart, and more things like that; he wanted to prove the opposite was true, and when his majesty would see that he was capable of pulling such an enterprise off, then (his majesty) would love him, and would be merciful again. He had no other design to escape his majesty's view but that he didn't want to irritate the later by his presence anymore, and no one should keep him from doing this anymore, I should and must help him, I had to promise him this.
As I didn't want to do this, I now seriously pointed out to him in how tricky and difficult circumstances he'd throw himself, how much he would irritate his majesty the king and sadden her majesty the queen, and moreover, that he didn't know yet where to go to. (...) Meanwhile, I begged him to temper his energy and to await the courier he'd mentioned to me, whereupon he revealed to me that this courier was secretary Guy Dickens, who after his return wanted to bring him definite news as to whether he should come to England or not. He wanted to talk to Count Hoym as well about a journey I should make to Leipzig incognito, which happened the next day in the pavillon, when his highness the prince came to me and told me that he'd talked to the count, it would work out, I should just go to him. However, I'd earlier gone to him already and had asked him that if his highness the crown prince would talk a journey I was to make to Leipzig, he should make as many difficulties as he possibly could. Which I asked for a second time when I approached him at the orders of the prince, with the argument that for various reasons I didn't want to make this journey, nor could I, and couldn't explain this to him any further. He promised me to do this and wanted to indicate to the prince that it wasn't so easy as he imagined it would be, and further say that when one imagined such projects one thought them easy, but when they were to be executed there were not only obstacles one hadn't considered but on most occasions, they were never accomplished at all, which was for the best, especially if they were of a kind to cause more damage and distress than use.
I told the Prince that I'd found much more difficulties with Count Hoym than I had expected to, so it couldn't happen that quickly, and if he could just talk to him himself, he'd find out the truth. Then he gave me the key to his box, I should go to his tent and take his things along with the money which I would find. Instead of doing so, I remained down there at the Pavillon until the exercises were over, and then I made myself known again and said that I couldn't succeed since I had met his servants at the tent and they had stopped me, which I accepted. (...)
He then asked me whether Count Hoym had talked to me about this, and I said yes, he'd indicated to me that his highness had many supervisors. I should ride to him straight away, he said, and ask the Count to reveal who the supervisors were and in which way they were keeping an eye on him. In order to get away I promised to do this, but instead of going to Count Hoym, I remained in the camp with Colonel Katte until 8 pm, when I returned to headquarters, with some officers who'd been expecting me there in order to ride to Riesa. Meanwhile, his highness was riding away from his majesty and immediately asked me what answer Count Hoym had given. When I told him that I hadn't met the Count and that his people hadn't known where he was, his highness seemed to be displeased and said that I probably hadn't been there. When I assured him of the contrary, he pretended to believe me, and said nothing further than this, that it was my fault that he didn't get away, that he had had the best opportunity here, but that he didn't know yet whether he wouldn't dare it anyway since it was impossible for him to endure the way he was treated any longer. (...)
I tried to scare him which I did happily succeed with, then he assured me he wouldn't think of it any longer, but that I should promise him that if matters didn't change, I would accomplish it during the journey to Ansbach; only to calm him down, I said that I believed it would be easier possible there, and that there was time enough until then, in the meantime one could think of means and ways to accomplish it. (...)
In this way, I sought to foil him in Saxony and to stop him again and again; his highness won't deny it has happened word by word as it has been written down here.
After his highness the prince's arrival in Berlin, he asked me immediately whether I had already gotten leave in in order to depart, whereupon I replied in the negative, but added that I'd received hope that I could leave soon; if you get your vacation, said the Prince, you need to leave immediately and go to Nuremberg in advance, and there I'd learn where the relais stations were, there I should wait for him with horses, he would exit the carriage, relieve himself, then jump on a horse and gallop away. (...) Meanwhile, Mr. Guy Dickens from England had returned, and his highness the prince demanded to speak to him, so I went to him, and I'd pick him up at 10 pm in order to talk to his highness the crown prince. This was accomplished in the evening, and while we walked, I told him that his highness the prince was flattering himself to get a positive reply through him from England, whereupon he answered to me: He was sorry, but his highness the prince would find himself deceived in this opinion, for the reply was of a nature that wouldn't please him at all; in short, one didn't want him there now, and he should abandon any such thoughts.
When I heard this I begged him fervently to present the matter even harder than he was already planning to do, which he did in my company, beneath the great portal, opposite the rooms of his highness the prince, and it succeeded in that the prince had to promise him with word and hand not to think about any of this anymore.
The next day, his highness demanded to talk to Guy Dickens again, but the later excused himself, whereupon his highness complained that people only sought to stop him, he was very sorry he didn't leave in Saxony and that this had been my fault.
I couldn't stop myself from telling him that he was wrong to complain, he'd find that he'd be well advised, and I hoped he'd one day admit it. I wanted to return his things to him, but he didn't want to accept them, other than his music, which he took back. The other things, I was supposed to keep until he demanded them. The next day, which was the third or fourth before the departure from Berlin, his highness told me that his majesty had decided he wouldn't join the journey but would remain in Potsdam, and wanted to stick with the resolution not to leave. (...) Now I was certain that the entire matter was finished, and that I didn't have to do anything further, but he ordered me before his departure to remain silent and not to say a word to anyone about what he'd been planning, since he hadn't bared his soul about this to anyone else. The day after this, when his highness the prince had gone to Potsdam, I received a letter from Lt. von Ingersleben that his highness demanded I should come in the evening to Potsdam since he needed to talk to me again.
When I arrived, he talked to me in the garden between the hedges and said that his majesty had changed his mind, and that he was supposed to go on the journey after all, which meant that the coup of leaving could succeed. I urged him for all the world to abstain from this, which he had already promised he would, and that I hadn't been commanded to go recruiting yet and that it was uncertain whether I would be. (...) On the evening of his highness' departure from Potsdam his page came to me and brought a letter in addition to a saddle and music, and no other message than just that this highness had ordered him to give me both. IN the letter, he wrote to me that he hoped I would keep my word and would follow as promised: I should go to Canstadt and wait for him there. Shortly afterwards, I learned that the passports for recruiters had been edited by his majesty, and that none had been edited for me, and Colonel von Pannewitz told me that there was no hope of getting one before his majesty's return, which made me glad for this was a new opportunity for me to sabotage the prince's project. Thus, I wrote to him through an express messenger whom I sent to the Rittmeister Katte in Erlangen so that the later should forward the letter to the prince.
In this letter, I described in which way I had been prevented to undertake my journey, and said it was thus impossible for me to get to the place he'd demanded I should go to, that I had asked Colonel v. Pannewitz to give me leave to go to Magdeburg - though I had done no such thing - , but that it had been declined, and so I urgently begged him to have patience, perhaps I could make it to Cleve once he got there, and in order to reassure him further, I concluded the letter by saying that if nothing else worked, I would go without having gotten leave. I received the reply that this news was not agreeable to him and did displease him a lot but that he would be patient and would write to me again. (...)
Meanwhile, General Löwenöhr sent me word that he'd leave in some days and that I should come to him since he wanted to talk to me; when I came to him the other omorning, he asked me whether I knew the cause as to why I hadn't been given leave nor been appointed a recruiter. I returned that if he asked me such a question, I had to assume he did intend to reveal the reason to me, that I believed the reason was a suspicion that I intended to help his highness the crown prince to go away, and I could assure him this had never been my intention, despite I had let (the prince) believe several times that I would. Following this, I told him about the entire affair as I have described it here, and said that God was my witness it had never been my serious intention. It was true, I had deceived the prince, but it had been done out of a good intention, I had even put myself in possession of his things simply to make it impossible for him to go on his own; that I had a good conscience about this was proven by the fact I was calmly remaining here. I was utterly certain now that he wouldn't and couldn't do anything further, partly because he had no money and was waiting for me, and partly because Rochow and his servants were suspecting him and had order to observe him closely and see whether he was trying to escape. From this, (the General) could see clearly whether I had any bad intentions. The only thing one could blame me for was that I hadn't immediately reported this, and this had been simply because I had been so certain due to all these circumstances that this coup would not happen, and I did not want to cause unneccessary distress or trouble. If I had even had the slightest reason to fear it would happen, I would have reported it; I claim God as my witness and will live and die on my word.
Four days later, I received a letter from his highness the prince from Ansbach, which said that he was imagining living through a terrible day at Wusterhausen, and if possible, he wanted to escape this, since his majesty was showing himself less merciful day by day, and thus he wanted to try and escape near Sinzheim. Since by the time I received this letter his majesty could be near Wesel already, and since I heard through all the news that came about his majesty to Berlin nothing but that everything was well and his majesty had arrived in all places with the Crown Prince at his side, I didn't worry about it any further, and that's why I replied to her highness the Crown Princess - yes, he says in German "Kronprinzessin" für Wilhelmine - when she asked me on my conscience whether I believed her brother would leave or return, that I could now reassure her with all certainty that she would see him again as safe and sound as he had left. May God grant it, she replied, I wish it with all my heart.
The letters, next to the things in them, I've given about 14 days before my arrest into the hands of my cousin, a Katte and member of the Kurmärkische Kammer so he could give them to someone who'd put them into the Queen's hands if I should have to go on a journey, or, if his highness the Prince returned, into his hands (...)
I don't have to add anything further but to ask your royal majesty with the deepest humbleness and devotion to consider that my intention has been none other than to keep his highness the prince from his designs and to prevent them being put to work.
And as God puts mercy ahead of justice, I hope that your majesty will make my poor self an example of this as well, and will consider the intention I had in this entire matter. God is my witness that it had been nothing but to prevent what his highness the prince intended to do, and to prevent it in a way that wouldn't incense your majesty any further against him. (...)
Thus I beg again most humbly that your royal majesty will show mercy towards me.
Wilhelmine records a passage Katte wrote on his prison window, before he was condemned to death:
“With time and patience we obtain a good conscience."—If you would know who has written this, the name of Katt will inform you; still cheered up by hope.
He whom curiosity may induce to read this writing, must know that the writer was put under arrest, by order of his majesty, on the 16th of August 1730. He still has faint hopes of recovering his liberty, although the manner in which he is guarded seems to prognosticate something fatal.
Brunswick envoy Stratemann records a single poem, with lines omitted by Wilhelmine, and with the two pieces of text that she gives arranged in a different order. The edition of his envoy reports we have omits a line from the poem by accident, which I've supplied from Wilhelmine:
Vers composés par Mr.de Katte, lors qu'il-etoit Prisonnier dans la Guarde des Gensd'Armes.
Cest toi fortune inconstante,
fausse Divinité!
Qui pour remplir nôtre attente.
charme nôtre Vanité;
Menteuse! dans tes promesses,
Injuste! dans tes largesses,
Terrible! dans tes revers,
Il n'-y-a jour qui-finisse
Sans nous montrer bon Caprice
par mille tours divers.
Celui qui la curiosité portera
a lire cette ecriture apprendra
que l'ecrivain a-été mit aux arrests
par l'Ordre desa Majesté
le 16me d'Auot 1730
non sans esperance de
se revoir bientôt
én liberté, quoique
la façon d'ont-il-a-été gardé
lui fasse augurer quelque chose de funeste.
Par le temps et la Patience
En obtient les fruits d'une bonne Conscience;
Si vous voulés savoir qui c'est,
Le nom de Katte vous l'apprendra,
Toujours constant en Esperance.
Immediately after receiving his death sentence, on November 2, 1730, Katte wrote to the King asking for a pardon. Translation is from Waldie's Select Circulating Library.
Letter to the King
It is not to justify myself or to excuse my conduct up to this time, or to by reasoning and argument; no—but it is unfeigned repentance and sorrow for having offended your majesty, which impel me to lay at your feet, in all submission, the confession of the errors of my youth, my weakness, and my imprudence. My mind, which was guiltless of bad intentions, my heart, which was full of affection and pity, and the mere folly of youth, are the things, my king, which most humbly plead for grace, mercy, and compassion. God, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, permits grace to take the place of justice, and through that grace brings the sinner, walking in the paths of error, back to his duty. Be pleased then, my king, to grant the same grace to me, as a sinner and a criminal who has transgressed against your majesty. The hope of restoring the tree which is partially decayed, causes it to be spared and saves it from the flames. Why, then, should not the tree of my life, which already shows new shoots of loyalty and submission, find grace in the sight of your majesty? Why should it be cut down while still in its bloom, and not spared to show to your majesty and to the whole world what true loyalty and obedience are produced by grace and mercy? I have erred, O, my king! I acknowledge it with a contrite heart; therefore pardon him who honestly confesses his fault, and grant to me what God has not denied to the greatest sinner. . .As many drops of blood as flow in my veins, so many shall attest the new loyalty and obedience which your grace and favour will produce. God's grace and goodness allow me to hope for his mercy, and so I do not despair. I, who implore and beseech, was once your disobedient vassal and subject, but am now brought back to my duty by suffering and repentance.
He also wrote to his grandfather, Field Marshal von Wartensleben. Wartensleben also wrote to the King asking for a pardon, but was refused. The following letter is taken from Wilhelmine's memoirs, who likely copied it from a pamphlet that began to circulate immediately after Katte's death. The letters in it, to his father, grandfather, and brother-in-law, appear to be genuine, and were circulating in Berlin already in November 1730.
Letter to Field Marshal Wartensleben
Honoured grandfather,
I cannot express the grief and agitation with which I am writing this. I who have been the principal object of your solicitude; whom you destined to be the support of your family; whom you had educated in sentiments calculated to render me useful to my sovereign and my fellow-creatures; I who never left your house without being honoured with your kindness and your advice; I who was to be the comfort and happiness of your old age; wretch that I am! I am now become the object of your grief and despair. Instead of felicitating you with gladsome tidings, I am constrained to acquaint you with the sentence of my death, which has already been pronounced. Do not take my sad fate too much to heart: we must submit to the decrees of Providence; if it tries us by adversities, it also gives us strength to bear them with firmness, and to overcome them. Nothing is impossible to the Lord. He may help us when he chuses. I place all my confidence in that Supreme Being, who may yet incline the king’s heart to clemency, and obtain for me as many favours as I have experienced severities. If it be not the will of the Omnipotent, I shall nevertheless praise and bless him, being persuaded that what he orders is for my welfare. I therefore submit with patience to what your credit and that of your friends may obtain of his majesty. In the mean time, I ask you a thousand pardons for my past faults, hoping that the benevolent Creator, who forgives the greatest sinners, will have mercy upon me. I intreat you to follow his example towards me, and to believe me, &c.
November the 2d. 1730.
The following letter, to Katte's father, written the night of November 5 at Küstrin, only hours before his execution at 7 am on November 6, is taken from Fontane. The translation is cobbled together from Wikipedia, Lavisse, Google translate, and my own limited knowledge of German.
Letter to Lt. General Katte
Into tears, my father, that’s how I want to melt away, when thinking that this letter will cause the greatest grief to a faithful father's heart. That all the hopes for my future welfare and its comfort in old age has to disappear at once; that all applied effort and diligence for my upbringing to the maturity of the desired happiness even have been in vain; yes – that I will have to bow in the prime of my years without presenting to you in this world the fruits of my efforts and my achieved sciences. How didn't I think to ascend the world and make your conceived hope one satisfied; how didn't I think that I would not lack of happiness and well-being; how wasn't I occupied from the certainty of my reputation. But all in vain! How futile man's thoughts are: At once everything is falling apart; and how sadly is the scenery of my life coming to an end; and how is my current state distinguished from that with which my thoughts have gone; I must – instead of promenading the way of honor and reputation – walk the path of disgrace and a shameful death. But how incomprehensible, O Lord, are your ways, and your judgments unexplainable. It is quite right to say: God's ways are not man's ways, and man's ways are not God's ways. Wouldn't I have left security behind, forgotten God for all happiness and living well and set him aside? Wouldn't I have preferred the way of the flesh, good times, and sins to the way to God? Yes, surely this would have led me away from God.
Cursed ambition, which glides into the heart from early childhood, without giving any proper understanding, would have continued, and would have ultimately attributed to vain reason what comes only from God. The kind and righteous God wanted to forestall such things, and - since I did not listen to his frequent and varied incitements - he had to seize me in such a way that I did not plunge further into ruin, and even come to eternal damnation. For that let him be praised! Understand well, my father, and truly believe that it is God who disposes of me, without whose will nothing happens, not even the fall of a sparrow to the ground! He is the one who rules everything and guides through his holy word; that is why this my relationship comes from him. The harder, the more bitter the form of death, the more agreeable and sweet the hope of salvation! What is the shame and dishonor of this death, in comparison to the great future? Comfort yourself, my father! God has given you other sons, to whom He will accord, perhaps, more happiness in this world, and who will give to you, my father, the joy for which you have vainly hoped from me, and this, I sincerely desire, will come to pass. Meanwhile, I thank you with filial respect for all the father loyalty shown to me, from my childhood to the present hour. May the All-powerful God render to you a hundred-fold this love that you have given me! May He spare you to a ripe old age! May He nourish you in happiness, and quench your thirst with the grace of His Holy Spirit !
Your son Hans Hermann von Katt, faithful to death.
Postscript. But what about you, dearest Mama, whom I loved as much as if the ties of nature had bound us (she was his stepmother), and you, dearest siblings, how should I recommend my memory to you? My situation does not allow me to convey everything I have on my mind; I stand at the gate of death, so I must be careful to enter with a cleansed and sanctified soul, and I cannot lose any time.
He also wrote an undated letter to Fritz, urging repentance. The German text is found in Preuss, and the translation in Waldie. It's referred to as the "Puncta" in an August 1731 letter from Wolden to FW.
Letter to Crown Prince Friedrich
1. The prince royal may, perhaps, think that I consider him as the cause of my death, and that I die in anger with him, but that is not the case. I acknowledge that, for wise reasons, Divine Providence has decreed that these misfortunes should fall upon me, to bring me to true repentance, and to enable me to work out my salvation.
2. The causes to which I attribute this chastisement of Heaven are, first, my ambition; and secondly, my neglect of the Almighty.
3. I promise the prince royal to pray for him before the throne of God.
4. I beseech the prince royal to banish from his heart any anger that he may feel against the king, his father, on account of my punishment; for he is not the cause of my death, since in this he is only the instrument of divine justice.
5. The prince royal ought not to think that this calamity has befallen me for want of prudence, but rather to recognise in it the hand of God, who confounds the wisdom of the wise.
6. I entreat the prince royal to submit to the will of his majesty; in the first place, because he is his father, and in the second, because he is his king.
7. The prince royal must remember what I said to him one day in Brandenburg on the submission which he owes to his father, refering to the examples of Absalom.
8. The prince royal must remember that I remonstrated with him, in the strongest manner, first at the camp in Saxony, where we originally had the idea of absconding, and where I foretold what has now happened; and secondly, more recently, one night when I called upon him in Potsdam.
9. I again implore the prince royal most solemnly, by the sufferings of Jesus Christ, to submit to his father's will; both on account of the promises contained in the fifth commandment, and also for fear of the law of retaliation, which might some day cause him to suffer the like vexations with his own children.
10. I beseech the prince royal to consider the vanity of human projects planned without God. The prince royal's wish was to serve me and to raise me to dignities and honours; see how these schemes are frustrated! I therefore beseech the prince royal to take the law of God for the rule of his actions, and to try them by the test of His sacred will.
11. The prince royal ought to be certain that he is deceived by those who flatter his passions, for they have in view their own interests only, not his; and he ought, on the other hand, to consider as his true friends those who tell him the truth and oppose his inclinations.
12. I implore the prince royal to repent, and to submit his heart to God.
13. Lastly, I implore the prince royal not to believe in fatalism; but to acknowledge the providence and the hand of God in the minutest circumstances.
There are several variants on Katte's last words to Fritz, as he was led past his window on his way to his execution. All of the exchanges involve Fritz asking for pardon, often wishing he were in Katte's place, and Katte indicating that there's nothing to forgive.
Last words to Fritz
Fragmentary anonymous report, possibly by Müller: "Point de pardon, mon prince; je meurs avec mille plaisirs pour vous."
Pöllnitz & Wilhelmine: "Ah! monseigneur, si j'avois mille vies, je les sacrifierois pour vous."
Alexander Christoph von Münchow (Gallus): "La mort est douce pour un si aimable Prince."
Alexander Christoph von Münchow (Minerva): "Pour un prince comme vous on meurt avec contentement."
Dickens & Sauveterre (per Lavisse): "Monseigneur il n'y a pas de quoi."
Anonymous 1731 pamphlet: "Mein gnädigster Cron-prinz sie haben nicht Ursach mich um Verzeihung zu bitten, wenn ich zehen Leben zu verliehren hätte, so wollte ich gern darum geben, wann nur Eu. Königliche Hoheit mit Dero Herrn Vater dem König dadurch könten versöhn et werden." (No French original given.)
von Johnn: "Dessen bedarf es nicht, gnädiger Herr. Wenn ich zehn Leben hätte, so würde ich sie gern hingeben, um Ew. Kon. Hoheit mit Ihrem Herrn Vater auszusöhnen." (No French original given.)
Stratemann: "Ihro Hoheit haben nicht Ursache um Vergebung zu bitten, weil Sie mir nichts zu wieder gethan und ich selbst meines Todes Ursache bin."
Catt and Thiébault, give Fritz a very short exclamation when he sees Katte, and Katte no lines at all. Voltaire records no dialogue.
Catt: "Ah, Katte," from Fritz, nothing from Katte.
Thiébault: "Mon ami," from Fritz, nothing from Katte.
And the one that's in Wikipedia, "Il n'y a rien à pardonner, je meurs pour vous la joie dans le cœur!" is still unsourced as far as I'm concerned!
Finally, Katte's literal last words, according to eyewitnesses, were "Lord Jesus"--just as the stroke of the executioner's sword removed his head.
We also had some thoughts on these documents. First, Katte's bullet-pointed last letter to Fritz.
Who composed the letter to Fritz?
mildred_of_midgard: If you think this reads like it was dictated by FW, yeah. Down to the rejection of predestination. Remember, FW has a preacher standing by to step into Fritz's cell the moment Katte's head falls, to lead him back to the true faith, and most specifically, the lack of predestination.It reads like such a perfect and instant conformity to FW's will that I'm not the only one who thinks that it's a performance. He rejects atheism when staring death in the face and reverts to the religion of his childhood? Sure, maybe. He's been raised in a world where fathers and kings have absolute power and perfect obedience is owed to them, and he buys into that? Sure.
He really, really cares, of his own accord, that Fritz not believe in predestination, so much that it's his second-to-last words to Fritz?
Riiiight.
Katte: Fritz, just do what he says or he'll chop off your head too!!!1!!11! #MyInterpretation
selenak: I'm with you. The predestination paragraph seals it. (That it's dictated and Katte's meaning is "just save your head, Fritz, please!")mildred_of_midgard: Also, it occurred to me that selenak told us that FW was making Absalom comparisons during the lead-up to Katte's execution.Now, everyone is very steeped in the Bible, so, are two people going to come up with this independently? Yes, of course.
And Katte was raised in the 18th century, so did he tell Fritz that it was natural for fathers to be strict and you still had to obey them? I've always thought so. I worked it into fic before I'd even seen this letter.
But how plausible is it that irreligious Katte used the Absalom argument with irreligious Fritz in the pre-escape days? I.e. before Katte decided to go outspokenly 100% religious after apparently a lifetime of not caring?
And what are the odds that Grumbkow, or someone, came and had a talk with condemned Katte? "Look, kid, you're toast. You want to help save your prince? This is what the King wants to hear. 'It's not his fault, check. He's just an instrument of God, check. Don't listen to friends who support you, and only listen to friends who oppose you, because those are the ones who have your best interests in mind, check. Absalom comparison, check. Reject predestination, check.'"
selenak: As for Absalom, we know from the appendices in Forster and Preuss FW used the comparison himself (which I didn't know when I had the official Prussian propaganda use it as an Explanation for Fritz' death in my AU! -, and I think it's incredibly telling as to where the Puncta are coming from. Because Absalom didn't try to escape David. He led an uprising and "turned the hearts of the men of Israel" against his father. This is FW's fear. I doubt it would have occured to Katte on his own.mildred_of_midgard: That's very true. This letter is looking more and more dictated. It must have been written in Berlin, not Küstrin.Also, Fritz has to have read this knowing what we know: that it was a letter from FW
And then I'm back to Fritz's "One can compel by force some poor wretch to utter a certain form of words, yet he will deny to it his inner consent; thus the persecutor has gained nothing" when endorsing religious tolerance as king. He was compelled to utter a certain form of words to which he denied his inner consent; he has to have known that last letter did not fully reflect Katte's inner consent; that makes the whole Katte performance suspect.
And now I'm thinking that Katte has one more motive for that sudden outspoken piety at the end, if it wasn't genuine. Yes, in the first few days and perhaps even that last night there was the chance of a last-minute pardon. Yes, even as he's being executed, he has nothing to lose and it will comfort his family after he's gone, and we know he cares about that. But if he keeps up the performance to the last minute, and his last words are about Jesus, one, he can sell FW on the fact that his repentance was real and that might make Fritz look better by association (compared to if Fritz's BFF is denying Christ to the end in front of him), and two, he can reinforce that last message to Fritz: "Do whatever it takes to stay alive. You don't have to mean it, just wait him out." And that gives his death extra meaning and purpose.
[ETA: According to documentation presented by Hinrichs, the final letter from Katte to Fritz wasn't even in Katte's handwriting, it was in Müller's handwriting. So it *really* wasn't a final letter by Katte. It was Müller writing down what FW wanted to hear, and Katte approving it.]
[ETA December 18, 2021: New evidence has emerged in the last two years since this post was written, and I now think that 1) Katte's sudden piety was genuine, and 2) he did care at least a little about predestination.
I still think the elements of the letter were carefully selected with FW as the main audience. But I now think Katte might not have disagreed with the contents as much as I previously believed.
Previously, all of Katte's final words were uttered or written in a public context that he knew would get back to FW. (The Puncta were not only sent to FW after his death, but they even ended up in Vienna being read and commented on by Prince Eugene!) Katte had every reason to want FW appeased after he was gone, for Fritz's sake, and I still think that was very much on his mind.
But thanks to the local historians of Wust, Selena has read two letters from Katte's father, Hans Heinrich. One of them contains this passage:
My son has asked me several hours before his demise to send our Albrecht to Halle and to have him educated in awe of God there. He had heard Freylingshausen's "Theologia" four times there; this, he said, was comforting him now before his ending.
That request was not primarily for public consumption, even if FW heard about it. Katte's encouraging the spread of piety after his death for its own sake. That strikes me as unnecessary to the cause of protecting FW victims from royal wrath, and as something a skeptic solely trying to appease an absolute monarch wouldn't feel the need to do.
As for predestination, we discovered that the final book Katte had with him before he died, other than the Bible, was a religious text reconciling free will with Providence and rejecting predestination. That could have been simply the only FW-approved reading material Katte could get his hands on, but once you combine that with his request to his father, I believe that he did revert to his childhood faith for comfort just before his execution.
Then we did some digging into the question of who leaked those letters to Katte's family so quickly that they were circulating in November 1730, and they were evidently never denied and are treated as genuine. (I haven't been able to find a copy of the brother-in-law letter reported by Wilhelmine.)
First, we got our hands on the anonymous pamphlet published in 1731 that contains the leaked letters, and found that it contains a two-page summary that reads very much like an eyewitness account, in that it matches the existing eyewitness accounts--Major Schack, Preacher Besser, and Münchow--very closely, as well as FW's orders to Lepel. We therefore concluded that the leaker of the letters was someone at Küstrin.
Then it came to our attention, thanks to Koser, that the 1731 pamphlet is almost verbatim the same as the official report of the Danish envoy to Berlin, von Johnn. He, or someone close to him, is therefore almost certainly the leaker of the letters. Furthermore, the detail in his various reports pertaining to the escape attempt makes it seem like he had access to the state archives in Berlin.
So most likely, von Johnn had someone in his pay at Küstrin who was able to give him an eyewitness account of the execution, and possibly the letter to Katte's father. However, that letter may have been copied and sent to the Berlin archives, as it appears that Katte's other letters (to the King and his grandfather) written in Berlin were. From the archive, the Danish ambassador was able to get copies of the letters as well as official reports.
From him and/or his staff, the letters and the eyewitness account in the official report made their way into an anonymous pamphlet published in 1731.
ETA: Stratemann has a very similar account, recounted here, which I think may have been relayed to him via Johnn. Both reports were written in Berlin on November 11, and Johnn was no fan of FW and evidently eager to disseminate knowledge of Katte's execution to all and sundry.
In the 1790s, Nicolai records one of his correspondents saying:
When Katte was transported to Küstrin, my father took leave of him with the words: j'espére de vous revoir bientot; and (Katte) replied: Non, mon ami, le Tyran demande du sang.
See this post for context and an evaluation of why we think that quote is probably real.
