Lying to the south-east of Berlin, Köpenick, like Spandau, is actually older than Berlin itself. It was incorporated into Greater Berlin in 1920. Most of the borough still consists of lakes and forests.

Schloss Köpenick

The courtyard of Köpenick Palace, showing the chapel.

Detail of the palace facade.

Perhaps Köpenick is most famous for the story of the "Captain of Köpenick". Wilhelm Voigt. (1849-1922) was a cobbler who spent a large part of his life in prison for forgery and stealing. In 1906 he came to Berlin to stay with his sister. He bought an old captain's uniform, put it on, and stopped a sergeant and four other soldiers on their way back to their barracks. He ordered the sergeant to report to his superior officer, and dismissed him. Voigt then comandeered six more soldiers, and they all travelled to Kòpenick. Voigt then ordered his men to occupy the Town Hall, arrested the mayor and treasurer, and confiscated over 4000 Marks from the town treasury. Some of the soldiers then, at Voigt's orders, took the mayor and treasurer to Berlin for interrogation, while the remainder stayed guarding the Town Hall. Voigt left for the railway station, changing out of his uniform. He then disappeared with the money.

The point was that Voigt exposed the fact that the soldiers had been so indocrinated into following orders, and civilians had been taught such a reverence for a uniform, that anything could happen. Voigt was arrested shortly afterwards, and sentenced to four years in prison. However, Kaiser Wilhelm II pardoned Voigt in 1908, having (according to some) seen the funny side of the whole story.

In 1931 the writer Carl Zuckmayer produced a play Der Hauptmann von Köpenick (The Captain of Köpenick). Not surprisingly, the Nazis banned it as soon as they came to power. I have always had a soft spot for Voigt and his exploits ever since reading about them when I was a child!

The photos below show the statue of Wilhelm Voigt, dressed for the part, outside the main entrance to the Town Hall.

Silhouette of the roof line of the Town Hall. It was actually the middle of the afternoon, not dusk!