The Prussian monarchy was never a state with an army, but a state owned by an army – it could be said that the state was only a garrison for the army. —Prussian officer Berenhorst
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > Captain Koepernick robs city hall</h1>
Vogt
One early October morning in early October 1906, an unassuming old man walked out of the town hall a few times in the city hall of Kopenik, and a few policemen thought it was a little strange, but they didn't pay much attention, and after a few days of farce they realized that the guy was stepping on the spot.
At noon on October 16, 1906, an old man began putting on his captain's uniform and muttered to himself, "The operation has begun." "The old man's name is Friedrich. William. Vogt, who walked out of the hotel, looked at the pedestrians with a respectful and envious look and smiled triumphantly, thinking: I am a homeless and poor egg without this uniform, but with it I am a captain that everyone envies and respects, if only I were a captain. He touched his uniform, which was that of a captain of the First Guard Infantry Regiment of the German Army. This force had always been under the personal command of the king, belonging to the nature of the Royal Forest Army, with a very noble status, and most of the officers were traditional Junker nobles. Of course, this is a second-hand military uniform that he bought at a great price.
He put on his uniform and went to the army baths of Lake Protzen in western Berlin, where he intercepted a group of guards on the road at noon changing of the guard that day, and later included another group of freshly changed soldiers, so that he had a total of 10 soldiers. He announced to the 10 soldiers that he was carrying out a supreme directive given to him by the Cabinet. The Prussian soldiers followed the Captain Voigt by train to the city of Koepernick, east of Berlin, without any doubt. Later, according to his memoirs and the accompanying soldiers, when the group changed trains at Rummelsberg station, Vogt bought a bottle of beer for each soldier and gave himself a bottle of 25 finny cognacs in his name. Upon arrival in Kopenik, Vogt sent each soldier 1 mark to settle for lunch at the train station. After the meal he announced to the soldiers that he would arrest the mayor of the city.
Vogt's forces quickly occupied the town hall, blocked the exits of all buildings, and forbade anyone to move around the buildings. Vogt, in the name of Emperor Wilhelm II, announced the arrest of Chief Secretary Rosenkrontz and Mayor Langlehaus, imprisoning them in their respective offices under close supervision. Voigt took over the gendarmes present, had them put all the perimeter under martial law, and personally chose a better gendarme checkpoint.
Vogt confiscated all the funds in the city's account, for a total of 3,557 marks and 45 finneys, equivalent to 22,000 euros today, and some of the money was obtained from the local post office. He took all the money and signed a receipt.
Vogt confiscated all the funds in the city's account, for a total of 3,557 marks and 45 finneys, equivalent to 22,000 euros today, and some of the money was obtained from the local post office. He took all the money and signed a receipt (the name of the warden who had previously arrested him).
After getting the money, Vogt ordered the soldiers and police at the scene to forbid anyone from entering and leaving the city hall, cut off all communications, and then walked out of the city hall alone with cash and ledgers, jumped on a taxi and fled.
This is the famous Captain Koepernick incident. Of course it's not over yet.
After the incident, there was an uproar in Germany, many people thought they were joking, and some people speculated about Vogt's whereabouts. The police offered a heavy reward for clues. Ten days later, on October 26, 1906, Vogt was arrested (reported by a friend) at breakfast.
The judge believed that the old man was not easy to get old, and that the 57-year-old had come out to rob him and sympathized with him, and felt that Vogt wanted to support himself and find a formal job for Foy twice after his last release from prison, but he was disturbed by the outside world, which lost the opportunity to make a living, and it was external factors that forced him to return to the road of crime. As a result, Voigt was sentenced to 4 years in prison for unauthorized wearing of uniforms, violations of public order, unlawful detention, fraud and forgery of documents.
This matter is well-known in Germany, all the heavens have heard about it, Kaiser Wilhelm II heard about this matter, brought in the file to see, he also laughed no, said on the spot, Vogt is an "outstanding man", and said that this story can be a good proof of the discipline of the Germans, immediately ordered, Vogt pardon!
After his release from prison, Vogt made a lot of money by performing everywhere in the process of robbing the town hall and went to Luxembourg to live a happy old age.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > teenager pretending to be a captain and slaughtering wildly</h1>
Willy Herold was a chaplained young man who had always wanted to go to war and shed the last drop of blood for his Fuehrer. In 1943, at the age of 19, Willie. Herold joined the German airborne troops as he wished, and after a short training, participated in the Battle of Monte Cassino, and in the brutal battle, his psychology began to twist, he was extremely resistant to going to the battlefield, often torturing and killing small animals, and often beating his comrades for a small matter.
Willy Herold's unit was defeated, and he did not know whether he was separated from the unit or as a deserter who accidentally picked up a luggage containing the captain's uniform on the road, thus transforming himself into a fake captain, and then recovering some of the scattered soldiers along the way and began to swindle around. On the way they came to the Emsland concentration camp in Saxony, a concentration camp dedicated to the detention of such deserters, and claimed that they had received a special mission from the Fuehrer to take over the camp, and Herod carried out a bloody massacre of the prisoners held here, killing at least 195 people, and then the concentration camp was attacked by allied air raids, he fled with his accomplices, and they did not restrain their behavior, but they intensified their evil deeds along the way. Eventually, he was identified and arrested by the German gendarmes during the Oakleigh incident. But because World War II was drawing to a close, he escaped punishment and went unpunished for some time. But in the end, he was punished as he deserved. While wandering in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, he was discovered by the British Royal Navy and arrested, and after interrogation, he confessed everything about himself, and in order to make himself appear more imposing, he even exaggerated his confession. In 1946, the life of the impostor captain came to an end, willie. Herold was sentenced to capital punishment at the age of 22. His death ended the sins he had done.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > reason</h1>
Many people will wonder why they can do whatever they want by wearing a lieutenant's uniform, and why those soldiers will not question and resist absurd orders, not to mention the unique background culture of Germany, and the idea that soldiers take obedience to orders as their duty around the world is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Moreover, the obedience and discipline of german soldiers are notorious, and my glory is loyalty is not meant to be played. And Germany also has a unique cultural background.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > German uniform culture</h1>
From Prussia to the later German Third Reich, Germany has hundreds of years of militarism tradition, the status of soldiers in German society is very lofty, in order to highlight the sense of honor and respect of soldiers, Germany attaches great importance to the design and production of military uniforms, the purpose is to let soldiers wear military uniforms to feel honor and pride. Over time, German society from the Prussian period has formed a kind of "military uniform worship" or "military uniform superstition", and military uniforms are equivalent to the embodiment of order and majesty.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the concept of captain</h1>
Knowing the culture of military uniforms in Germany, let's take a look at the concept of captain in Germany. The earliest form of organization of the Western Army was the unit called "company", each company was commanded by a captain, then a title, in German to the present day captain and company commander are the same word (Hauptmann). The word is a combination of the words "head" and "man" to denote a person of high status, which in the past was generally a title for a chief or commander. Later, captain gradually evolved into the rank of company commander.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > summary</h1>
All these reasons led to the massacre of Captain Koepernick and the teenager pretending to be captain, the former absurd and ridiculous, and the tragedy caused by the latter is heinous. Behind all this is the enslavement and destruction of man by militarism and fascism.