Freidrich Wilhelm Voigt
The curious case of Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt is proof that it’s not just Americans who love a good conman story. The German impostor, who came to prominence at the start of the 20th century, is still seen as something of a folk hero in his native country. Indeed, the impostor’s most audacious act inspired a famous play and the popular support he enjoyed meant that, despite his crimes, he was ultimately granted a royal pardon. So, who was ‘The Captain of Kopenick’?
Voigt was born in a small town in Prussia (now located in modern-day Russia) in 1863. He showed a complete disregard for authority from an early age and, by the age of 14, he had not only been expelled from school, he had been imprisoned for 14 days for theft. Despite his father’s best efforts to help train young Friedrich as a shoemaker, the life of crime was just too tempting. The problem was, he wasn’t that good at getting away with it. Indeed, between 1864 and 1891, Voigt spent a total of 25 years behind bars. While much of this was for theft, he was also convicted of forgery.
Aged 57 and freshly free from a 15-year spell in prison, Voigt moved to the port city of Hamburg. However, he had family connections in Berlin and saw the city as the perfect location for his ultimate scam. He collected individual pieces of a Prussian officer’s uniform and took a train to the city. Here, in full uniform, he headed to an army barracks and ordered 20 men to follow him. This being Prussia, the men were conditioned to always obey authority, and so they followed Voigt’s instructions to the letter. Voigt marched his small army to the town of Kopernich, just 20 miles outside of Berlin. Here, they took over the town hall and Voigt stated that he had been ordered to inspect the cash reserves. He pocketed a significant sum of money and then simply disappeared.
It took a few hours for the soldiers and the town officials to realize they had been duped. By then, Voight was many miles away. A man hunt was conducted. The Prussian Army was livid, though the public and even Kaiser William II were both amused rather than angered by the tale. When Voigt was apprehended in Berlin a few days later, he was tried in a military court. Thanks in no small part to the Kaiser’s interference, he was sentenced to just four years behind bars and ended up serving even less than this. Upon his release, he embraced life as a celebrity for a few months before moving to Luxembourg. He died in 1922, financially destitute but still a German folk hero.