Friederike Krüger
![]() | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (August 2008) |
Friederike Krüger | |
---|---|
Born | 8 October 1789 |
Died | 31 May 1848 | (aged 58)
Allegiance | ![]() |
Years of service | 1813–1815 |
Battles/wars | Napoleonic Wars |
Sophie Dorothea Friederike Krüger, alias August Lübeck or Auguste Krüger (8 October 1789, Friedland, Mecklenburg - 31 May 1848, Templin) was a soldier in the Prussian army.[1]
Life
Krüger served disguised as a man during the Napoleonic Wars in Germany from 1813 to 1815 in the first company of the Colbergsches Infanterie Regiment (renamed Colbergsche Grenadier-Regiment Graf Gneisenau (2. Pommersches) Nr. 9 in 1889).
Trained as a tailor, at 23 years old she cut off her hair, put on a male costume she had designed herself and obeyed a mobilization proclamation. Owing to the speed of mobilization there were no medical examinations and so she was not discovered at first. Her comrades admired her courage very much and were loyal to her, but during one attack her high voice caused the others to realize that she was female. However, she was not discharged from the army and was even allowed by King Frederick William III of Prussia to continue serving under her real name. She was promoted to corporal after the Battle of Möckern. She was then promoted to sergeant after the Battle of Dennewitz and subsequently fought in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
At the end of the war she married a Prussian corporal, Karl Köhler, on 5 March 1816 and left the army. They had four children. She was awarded the Iron Cross and the Commemorative War Medal by King Frederick William for her bravery. On her death, she was buried in the St.-Georgen-Friedhof in Templin, where her grave can still be seen.
References
- ^ Bernhard von Poten: Krüger, Auguste. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Band 51, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1906
- Articles lacking in-text citations from August 2008
- All articles lacking in-text citations
- Articles with FAST identifiers
- Articles with ISNI identifiers
- Articles with VIAF identifiers
- Articles with WorldCat Entities identifiers
- Articles with GND identifiers
- Articles with LCCN identifiers
- Articles with DTBIO identifiers
- 1789 births
- 1848 deaths
- People from Friedland, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
- Prussian Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
- Women in 19th-century warfare
- Female wartime cross-dressers
- Women in European warfare