Photo session for the new acquisition of 34 cabinet orders of Frederick the Great to his saviour at the Battle of Kunersdorf
Press release from 03/29/2019
Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage Archivstraße 12-14, 14195 Berlin 12 April 2019, 10:00 a.m.
The Battle of Kunersdorf on 12 August 1759 was the most serious defeat in the Seven Years' War that Frederick the Great had to endure. He himself only narrowly escaped death or at least captivity. Joachim Bernhard von Prittwitz rescued him from a very difficult situation. With the support of the von Prittwitz family, the Secret State Archives have now acquired documents which show that the king remained grateful to his saviour and remained friends with him until his death. Christian von Prittwitz and Gaffron will be present at the photo session as representatives of the family.
The 34 cabinet portfolios purchased by the Geheimes Staatsarchiv PK from the Bassenge auction house illustrate, among other things, the personal relationship between Frederick the Great and his saviour. The first cabinet orders date from the last years of the Seven Years' War and contain the king's praise for the valiant behaviour of the cavalry captain in the battles against the French. The following cabinet orders from the peacetime period document the royal favours in the form of promotions, gifts and an annual pension. On several occasions, the king invited his saviour, whom he had appointed lieutenant colonel after the Seven Years' War and major general in 1775, to Potsdam as his guest. The cabinet records were incorporated into the personnel records of the Hausarchiv (GStA PK, BPH, Rep. 47 König Friedrich II von Preußen), in which individual correspondence between the king and members of the military is already listed. The Geheimes Staatsarchiv PK is also conducting an indexing project on Frederick the Great.