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

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

Biography

He was the son of Prince Friedrich Leopold of Prussia and

Princess Louise Sophie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg , house = Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg , father =Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein , mother = Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg , birth_date = , birth_place =Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein , death_date ...

, and a nephew of German Empress Augusta Victoria, his mother's elder sister. Originally trained by tutors, at the age of ten, as was customary, he received the Order of the Black Eagle. The following year, he became a Lieutenant in the

First Foot Guards First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

. In 1912, he became interested in painting, and took drawing lessons from

Karl Hagemeister Karl Hagemeister (12 March 1848 in Werder – 5 August 1933 in Werder) was a German landscape painter. Life He was the son of a fruit grower and developed an early interest in nature from the forested, watery surroundings of his birthpla ...

. At the outbreak of World War I, he started his military service, but was soon discharged due to poor health. This enabled him to attend the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, where he studied with

Carl von Marr Carl von Marr (February 14, 1858 – July 10, 1936) was an American-born German painter whose work encompassed religious and mythological subjects, genre, and portraits. He was also a professor of art in Munich. Biography He was born in Mi ...

, among others. He also began collecting art. His unrestrained collecting put him heavily in debt. As a result, in 1917, the initiated an "" (incapacitation procedure), with the intent of placing him under a guardianship. The Prince filed a

counter-suit In a court of law, a party's claim is a counterclaim if one party asserts claims in response to the claims of another. In other words, if a plaintiff initiates a lawsuit and a defendant responds to the lawsuit with claims of their own against th ...

, claiming that his collection had appreciated in value, and was now worth as much or more than the amount he owed. In addition, he argued that the Ministry had no standing in the matter of civil suits. In 1918, following widely publicized hearings, which reached the

Kammergericht The Kammergericht (KG) is the ''Oberlandesgericht'', the highest state court, for the city-state of Berlin, Germany. As an ordinary court according to the German Courts Constitution Act (''Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz''), it deals with criminal a ...

(Berlin State Supreme Court), the Ministry agreed to halt its proceedings. In the 1920s and 1930s, he continued collecting and worked as an art dealer; trading in art objects and autographs from the collection of his great-grandfather, Prince Charles of Prussia. As he had a right of residence at Glienicke Palace, he made the assumption that he had property rights there as well. He lived with his private secretary, Friedrich Freiherr Cerrini de Monte Varchi (1895–1985), known as " Pierrot", in the "gentleman's wing" of the Palace. One of his best clients was the American diplomat and collector, Robert Woods Bliss. One of the pieces that Bliss purchased in 1937, a 12th-century Byzantine tondo from the Palace's monastery courtyard, led to a criminal investigation and proceedings at the , which resulted in heavy fines for the Prince and Cerrini. After selling the castle in 1939, he and Cerrini moved to a villa, "Gut Imlau", near

Werfen Werfen () is a market town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. It is mainly known for medieval Hohenwerfen Castle and the Eisriesenwelt ice cave, the largest in the world. Geography Werfen is located in the ...

Salzburger Land Salzburg (, ; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) (also known as ''Salzburgerland'') is a state (''Land'') of the modern Republic of Austria. It is officially named ''Land Salzburg'' to distinguish it from its eponymous capital — the city of S ...

. He took numerous art works and the family archives with him. The remainder was bequeathed to the

Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg The Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (german: Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten Berlin-Brandenburg; SPSG) was founded by a treaty of 23 August 1994 between the German federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg as ...

Dachau

In May 1944, he and Cerrini were arrested in Bad Gastein for listening to a "

Feindsender ''Feindsender'' (Enemy radio station) was a term used in Nazi Germany to describe radio stations broadcast by enemies of the German Reich before and during World War II, such as the United Kingdom or the United States. It also referred to ra ...

" (enemy radio station). Some sources claim they were actually charged with violating "

Section 175 Paragraph 175 (known formally a§175 StGB also known as Section 175 in English language, English) was a provision of the Strafgesetzbuch, German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It Criminalization of homosexuality, made homosex ...

", which prohibited homosexual activity.Volker Koop: ''In Hitlers Hand. Sonder- und Ehrenhäftlinge der SS.'' Böhlau, Köln/Weimar/Wien 2010, , pg.63 Later that year, the Prince was remanded to Dachau. In 1945, he was part of a group of high-status prisoners and '' Sippenhaften'' (people guilty by kinship), who were transported to South Tyrol by the SS. A few of the prisoners managed to contact officers of the regular German Army and express their fears that they were going to be executed. They were rescued by Captain

Wichard von Alvensleben Wichard von Alvensleben (May 19, 1902 – August 14, 1982) was a German agriculturist, Wehrmacht Officer, and Knight of the Order of Saint John. He was a member of the aristocratic House of Alvensleben, one of the oldest in Germany. Then a ...

and took refuge until American troops arrived. The Prince waited until June, so he could be available to American officials in Italy. In the first of the Dachau trials, he served as a witness against numerous camp officials, including the Commandant, Martin Gottfried Weiss. Forty of them were found guilty, and thirty-six were sentenced to death. He never returned to Germany, choosing instead to settle in Switzerland.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Friedrich Leopold of Prussia, Prince 1895 births 1959 deaths LGBT royalty Prussian princes House of Hohenzollern German art collectors German art dealers Dachau concentration camp survivors Dachau trials People from Berlin Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni

Biography

Dachau

References

Further reading

External links