Description: Katte's death sentence is stylistically flawed. The "Kustrin Files" have been missing a central piece of documentation since 1826. Such observations from the file analysis provide the impetus for a source-critical examination of the story in 1730, when according to popular belief the Prussian Crown Prince Frederick sought to flee abroad from the draconian severity of his father, Frederick William I, and his best friend, Hans Hermann von Katte, lost his life for this. Fiat justitia borussica or judicial murder of a guard lieutenant? The study combines file analysis and military history to shed light on the Katte case beyond what is previously known. Only from this new perspective can Hans Hermann's brief officer career be precisely traced within his family environment and in the tension between imperial service and regimental culture; only the articles of war are useful for adequately assessing the desertion plot in which the Crown Prince implicated Keith, Katte, and others. The original revision of the "expert" facts is deepened by original sources, to which the second, revised, and expanded edition, among other things, includes the delinquents' property inventories, which are also of great cultural and historical interest. An afterword on the review and reception of the first edition brings the work up to date with the current state of research. With all this, it still aims to enable the reader to form their own opinion as to whether the steadfast Kopenick court martial or the duty-driven "Soldier King" executed justice when Katte's life and death were at stake.
