Monthly Archives: November 2017

Johann Christian Friedrich Kühnau

10 Friday Nov 2017

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Johann Kühnau, Lieutenant in the Landwehr, fell in the battle of Hagelsberg, bei Lübnitz, on the 27th August 1813, just one of many civilians who joined up to drive the French (and others) from their homeland. According to v. d. Marwitz (Nachlasse, Band. 2 S. 84):

So wie das rechts neben der Batterie vorrückende Bataillon Bornstedt angetreten war, wurde der Lieutenant Kühnau (Doctor der Philosophie und Lehrer am Friedrich-Wilhelms-Gymnasium zu Berlin) durch eine Kanonenkugel getödtet; es fielen auch schon mehrere Landwehrmänner.

I like the little obscure connections. Kühnau was a teacher at the Berlin Friedrich-Wilhelms-Gymnasium, where Otto von Bismarck, whose uncle also took part in the battle at Hagelsberg, was later educated. It was a small world. Perhaps both of them handled the book I now possess.

Beschreibung des Treffens bei Hagelsberg

03 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by in Books, Events

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I have to admit to struggling a little with the second volume of Marwiz’s Nachlasse, so far it’s mostly a list of people I haven’t heard of riding around places I’ve never heard of, although there are interesting vignettes as usual (Massenbach you Arschloch I’m looking at you). The battle at Hagelsberg in 1813 however is quite interesting, and unsurprisingly has sent me off on another book search.

According to a footnote on page 75 Marwitz produced a small book about the battle in 1817: Beschreibung des Treffens bei Hagelsberg unwet Belzig, obviously without a copy of this book my life is miserable and incomplete.

So far I’ve found a Google Books scan for download and a protected version in Weimar. Unfortunately Abe Books don’t have an original copy so against my better judgement I bought one of the cheap (£6.44 including postage) indian print on demand copies, however as it uses the same misspelling (Hagilsberg statt Hagelsberg) as Google Books I’m guessing the quality will be as poor as the Google copy.

Also, it’s on the wishlist, if any of my thousands of readers ever see a copy, please tell me!