![Schwartzkoppen3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Schwartzkoppen3.jpg)
Maximilian Friedrich Wilhelm August Leopold von Schwartzkoppen (24 February 1850 – 8 January 1917) was a
Prussian
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
military officer. After serving as Imperial German
military attaché
A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...
in Paris, Schwartzkoppen was later given the rank of
General of the Infantry General of the Infantry is a military rank of a General officer in the infantry and refers to:
* General of the Infantry (Austria)
* General of the Infantry (Bulgaria)
* General of the Infantry (Germany) ('), a rank of a general in the German Impe ...
, and held various senior commands in World War I. He is known for his role in the
Dreyfus affair
The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...
.
Early life and career
He was born in
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
,
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...
, the son of Prussian General Emil von Schwartzkoppen (1810–1878) and his wife, Anna Marie Luise, née von Ditfurth (1816–1865). The Schwartzkoppen family,
ennobled
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...
in 1688, descended from
Brunswick. Schwartzkoppen joined the
Prussian Army
The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.
The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...
in the late 1860s and took part in the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. He served as a member of the general staff with the rank of
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
(''
Hauptmann
is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian, and Swiss armies. While in contemporary German means 'main', it also has and originally had the meaning of 'head', i.e. ' literally ...
'') from 1885 to 1888 and thereupon became adjutant to Prince
Ernest Louis of Hesse.
Dreyfus affair
On 10 December 1891, Schwartzkoppen was appointed as
military attaché
A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...
at the Embassy of the
German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...
in Paris, maintaining relations with the
French Republic
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. It was his second diplomatic posting to Paris. In addition to performing formal representational and liaison duties, his subsidiary task was to obtain secret information on the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...
without the knowledge of the German ambassador resident in Paris. Instead, Schwartzkoppen reported directly and in confidence to the Director of Military Intelligence in Berlin. As a result of his spying, he became involved in the Dreyfus affair. In 1894, he received an anonymous offer for the purchase of rather insignificant
military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
, outlined in an unsigned ''
bordereau''.
[The French word ''bordereau'' means simply a note or slip of paper and can be applied to any note. In French, many documents in the Dreyfus case were called ''bordereaux'' (plural), but this is the one that is generally referred to in connection with the case.] The torn paper, supposedly in the handwriting of
Alfred Dreyfus
Alfred Dreyfus ( , also , ; 9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French artillery officer of Jewish ancestry whose trial and conviction in 1894 on charges of treason became one of the most polarizing political dramas in modern French history. ...
, was recovered from Schwartzkoppen's wastebasket by a French cleaning woman on September 25 and became the key evidence of Dreyfus's conviction for
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
.
Serious doubts regarding the guilt of Dreyfus were raised during his trial. Later investigations showed that Schwartzkoppen was receiving intelligence not from Dreyfus but another French officer,
Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy
Charles Marie Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy (16 December 1847 – 21 May 1923) was an officer in the French Army from 1870 to 1898. He gained notoriety as a spy for the German Empire and the actual perpetrator of the act of treason of which C ...
.
Schwartzkoppen himself confirmed Dreyfus's innocence in his memoirs, which were published posthumously in 1930.
In the 1890s, Schwartzkoppen had an affair with Hermance de Weede, the wife of the Counsellor at the Dutch Embassy in Paris, and a large number of their letters were intercepted by the authorities. Also intercepted was the correspondence between Schwartzkoppen and a popular figure in Parisian diplomatic circles - the Italian military attaché, Lieutenant Colonel Count
Alessandro Panizzardi
Alessandro is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Alexander. Notable people with the name include:
People with the given name Alessandro
* Alessandro Allori (1535–1607), Italian portrait painter
* Alessandro Baricco ...
. Italy and Imperial Germany were then formally linked under the
Triple Alliance of 1882
and letters between the two attachés record that they freely exchanged intelligence and cooperated on espionage matters. The letters also contain bawdy comments and erotic endearments which indicate that they too were having an affair. The Schwartzkoppen and Panizzardi material was withheld from the Dreyfus defence team in 1894 but was later discussed in a closed session during the 1899 retrial. While neither officer had anything to do with Dreyfus, the correspondence lent an air of truth to other documents that were forged by prosecutors to lend retroactive credibility to Dreyfus's conviction as a spy.
Some of the forgeries even referenced the apparent affair between the two officers. In one, Panizzardi supposedly informs Schwartzkoppen that if "Dreyfus is brought in for questioning", they must both claim that they "never had any dealings with that Jew.... Clearly, no one can ever know what happened with him". The letters, real and fake, provided a convenient excuse for placing the entire Dreyfus dossier under seal because the exposure of the liaison would have "dishonoured" the German and Italian militaries and compromised diplomatic relations.
Later life and death
In 1897, while the Dreyfus affair was still at its height, Schwartzkoppen was recalled from his diplomatic posting in Paris to take up command of the 2nd Kaiser Franz Grenadier Guards Regiment. In 1902, he married Luise Gräfin von Wedel with whom he subsequently had two daughters. Promoted to the rank of general in 1907, Schwartzkoppen retired from the army the following year, moving to his country estate in the
Altmark :''See German tanker Altmark for the ship named after Altmark and Stary Targ for the Polish village named Altmark in German.''
The (English: Old MarchHansard, ''The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time ...'', Volume 32. 1 F ...
.
With the outbreak of war in August 1914, General Schwartzkoppen returned to active service. He commanded the
233rd Infantry Brigade in France, before being appointed in 1916 to lead the
202nd Infantry Division on the
Russian Front. Suffering from pneumonia, he was hospitalized in Berlin. While delirious, he reportedly blurted out, "Listen to me. Dreyfus is innocent. There is no evidence whatsoever against him". His wife, seated at his side, made a written record of this statement. Schwartzkoppen did not recover and died on 8 January 1917.
Personality
Schwartzkoppen was described as being a cultivated officer with considerable social charm;
characteristics which suited him for the diplomatic and Imperial Court functions that made up much of his military career.
Decorations and distinctions
Schwartzkoppen was an officer of the Kaiser's Military Suite and Colonel of the Emperor Franz Grenadier Guards Regiment. He received the decorations of
Order of the Red Eagle
The Order of the Red Eagle (german: Roter Adlerorden) was an order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was awarded to both military personnel and civilians, to recognize valor in combat, excellence in military leadership, long and faithful se ...
, First Class with oak leaves;
Order of the Crown, First Class; and Member of the Knights of St John.
Notes
References
External links
*
Works by or about Maximilian von Schwartzkoppenfrom the
German National Library
The German National Library (DNB; german: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek) is the central archival library and national bibliographic centre for the Federal Republic of Germany. It is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its task is to colle ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartzkoppen, Maximilian von
1850 births
1917 deaths
LGBT military personnel
German LGBT people
Generals of Infantry (Prussia)
Military personnel from Potsdam
Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
German Army generals of World War I
Deaths from pneumonia in Germany