100th Anniv. of the death of Hauptmann von Köpenick

Wilhelm Voigt was born in 1849 in Tilsit in East Prussia. By the age of 57, he had spent 27 years in prison. In 1906 he made the deed that would make him famous as “Hauptmann von Köpenick” (The Captain of Köpenick). He bought a second-hand uniform and, arrested the Mayor of Köpenick and confiscated the town’s treasuries of 3,557 marks. Voigt was captured ten days later and sentenced to prison. However, he was pardoned by the Kaiser and released after 20 months. Impoverished by the aftermath of the war and inflation, he died of lung disease on 3 January 1922. His grave in Notre-Dame cemetery in Luxembourg-city is still there today.