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Introduction
Dieudonne Thiébault was reader to Friedrich from 1765 to 1784. He was born in 1733 and died in 1807. His memoirs, from which his account of the Katte affair is taken (vol 1., pp. 81-83), were published in 1804. He was obviously not an eyewitness to any of the events of 1730.
I used the copy available on the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek website. Translation mine.
Text
M. de Sekendorff voulut aussi sauver de Katt, et il fut secondé par une foule de personnes du plus haut rang. De Katt appartenait en effet à une famille nombreuse, puissante et très-considérée. Il était fils unique du feld-maréchal de ce nom. Toute cette famille revint à plusieurs reprises, et fondant en larmes, se jeter aux pieds du roi, demandant grâce pour un jeune homme auquel la ville et la cour entières prenaient le plus vif intérêt; mais Guillaume fut inexorable. On lut à de Katt sa sentence. Il l'entendit sans changer de couleur. «Je me soumets, dit-il, aux ordres du roi et aux décrets de la Providence. Je meurs pour une belle cause, et j'envisage le trépas sans frayeur.» Le major Schenk l'informa que son exécution devait se faire à Custrin, et que le carrosse qui devait l'y conduire l'attendait. Il y monta d'un air riant, et fut accompagné par ce major et deux autres officiers des gendarmes, et escorté par un gros détachement de ce corps. En arrivant, Schenk lui dit: «Vous allez soutenir une terrible épreuve: vous allez revoir le prince royal.--Dites plutot, répondit de Katt avec véhémence, que je vais avoir la plus grande consolation qu'on pût m'accorder;» et en disant ces mots il descendit de voiture et monta sur l'échafaud.
Cependant Frédéric venait d’être conduit par M. Municho et par le général Lepel dans un chambre au niveau de laquelle l'échafaud était dressé; et au moment où de Katt arriva on leva le rideau de la fenêtre, qui jusque-là avait été baissé. Quelque chose que l'on eût pu faire pour préparer le prince à cet horrible spectacle, inventé pour l'associer au supplice de son ami, rien n'égala son désespoir: il voulut se jeter par la croisée, à laquelle on l'obligea de se mettre. On le retint: «Au nom de Dieu, s'écria-t-il, retardez l'exécution. Je veux écrire au roi que je suis prêt à renoncer à tous mes droits à la couronne, s'il veut pardonner à de Katt! Que je suis malheureux, mon cher de Katt: je suis cause de votre mort; plût à Dieu que je fusse à votre place! – Ah! monseigneur, répondit de Katt, si j'avais mille vies je les sacrifierais pour vous.» En disant ces mots, il se mit à genoux, sans permettre qu'on lui bandât les yeux. Il s'écria: «Mon Dieu, je mets mon âme entre vos mains.» Et comme il achevait, sa tête, tranchée d'un seul coup, roula sur l'échafaud.
A ce terrible moment, Frédéric était sans connaissance. Il ne reprit ses sens qu'au bout de plusieurs heures, et le premier objet qui frappa sa vue fut, par un raffinement atroce, le corps sanglant de son ami, placé de manière à ce qu'il ne pût éviter de le voir. Un second évanouissement succéda au premier, et il ne revint à lui qu'avec une fièvre violente. Malgré les ordres du roi, M. de Municho fit fermer les rideaux de la fatale croisée, et envoya chercher les médicins, qui trouvèrent le prince en grand danger. Il ne voulut rien prendre de ce qu'ils lui ordonnèrent. Il était hors de lui, et dans de si violentes agitations, qu'il se serait tué si on ne l'en eût empêché. Ses convulsions ne se calmèrent que lorsque les forces furent épuisées. Les larmes succédèrent alors aux plus terribles transports. Ce fut avec une peine indicible, et en lui représentant qu'il causerait la mort de la reine et celle de sa soeur Wilhelmine, s'il persistait à vouloir mourir, qu'on vint à bout de lui faire prendre quelques remèdes. Il conserva longtemps une profonde mélancolie, et fut trois fois vingt-quatre heures à toute extrémité.
Translation
Seckendorf also wanted to save Katte, and he was joined by an assortment of people of the highest rank. Katte belonged to a family numerous, powerful, and highly regarded. He was the only son of the field marshal of the same name. The entire family returned many times, and dissolving into tears, cast itself at the foot of the king, seeking mercy for a young man in whom the whole city and the entire court took the greatest interest; but Wilhelm was inexorable. Katte's sentence was read to him. He listened without changing color. "I submit," he said, "to the orders of the king and to the decrees of Providence. I die for a beautiful cause, and I anticipate death without fear." Major Schenk informed him that his execution would be carried out at Küstrin, and that the carriage that was to take him there awaited. He ascended with a cheerful air, and was accompanied by the major and two other officers of the Gens d'Armes, and escorted by a large detachment of this body. On arriving, Schenk said to him: "You are about to undergo a terrible trial: you are going to see the Crown Prince.--"Say rather," responded Katte vehemently, "that I am going to have the greatest consolation that could have been granted to me," and in saying these words, he descended from the carriage and mounted the scaffold.
However, Friedrich had just been led by Münchow and by the general Lepel into a chamber on the level at which the scaffold was erected; and at the moment when Katte arrived, the curtain on the window was raised, which until then had been lowered. This had been done to prepare the prince for this horrible spectacle, devised in order to associate him with the torture of his friend; nothing equaled his despair: he wanted to throw himself out the window, at which he had been forcibly placed. He was prevented. "In the name of God," he cried, "delay the execution. I wish to write to the King that I am ready to renounce all my rights to the crown, if he is willing to pardon Katte! How unhappy I am, my dear Katte: I am the cause of your death; would to God I were in your place!" "Ah! Your Royal Highness," responded Katte, "if I had a thousand lives I would sacrifice them for you." Saying these words, he knelt, without permitting his eyes to be blindfolded. He cried: "My God, into your hands I place my spirit." And as he finished, his head, cut off by one blow, rolled on the scaffold.
At this terrible moment, Friedrich lost consciousness. He did not regain it for several hours, and the first object that struck his view, by an excruciating refinement, was the bloody body of his friend, placed in such a manner that he couldn't avoid seeing it. A second fainting fit followed the first, and he only returned to himself with a violent fever. Against the orders of the King, Münchow caused the curtains to be closed on the fatal sight through the window, and sent for doctors, who found the prince in great danger. He was not willing to take anything that they prescribed for him. He was beside himself, and in such violent agitation, that he would have killed himself if he had not been prevented. His convulsions did not subside until his strength was exhausted. Tears followed these agitation. It was with unspeakable difficulty, and only through conveying to him that he would cause the death of the queen and of his sister Wilhelmine, if he persisted in wanting to die, that he finally agreed to some treatments. He stayed a long time in a profound depression, and was for three times twenty-four hours on the brink of death.
Dieudonne Thiébault was reader to Friedrich from 1765 to 1784. He was born in 1733 and died in 1807. His memoirs, from which his account of the Katte affair is taken (vol 1., pp. 81-83), were published in 1804. He was obviously not an eyewitness to any of the events of 1730.
I used the copy available on the Bayerische StaatsBibliothek website. Translation mine.
Text
M. de Sekendorff voulut aussi sauver de Katt, et il fut secondé par une foule de personnes du plus haut rang. De Katt appartenait en effet à une famille nombreuse, puissante et très-considérée. Il était fils unique du feld-maréchal de ce nom. Toute cette famille revint à plusieurs reprises, et fondant en larmes, se jeter aux pieds du roi, demandant grâce pour un jeune homme auquel la ville et la cour entières prenaient le plus vif intérêt; mais Guillaume fut inexorable. On lut à de Katt sa sentence. Il l'entendit sans changer de couleur. «Je me soumets, dit-il, aux ordres du roi et aux décrets de la Providence. Je meurs pour une belle cause, et j'envisage le trépas sans frayeur.» Le major Schenk l'informa que son exécution devait se faire à Custrin, et que le carrosse qui devait l'y conduire l'attendait. Il y monta d'un air riant, et fut accompagné par ce major et deux autres officiers des gendarmes, et escorté par un gros détachement de ce corps. En arrivant, Schenk lui dit: «Vous allez soutenir une terrible épreuve: vous allez revoir le prince royal.--Dites plutot, répondit de Katt avec véhémence, que je vais avoir la plus grande consolation qu'on pût m'accorder;» et en disant ces mots il descendit de voiture et monta sur l'échafaud.
Cependant Frédéric venait d’être conduit par M. Municho et par le général Lepel dans un chambre au niveau de laquelle l'échafaud était dressé; et au moment où de Katt arriva on leva le rideau de la fenêtre, qui jusque-là avait été baissé. Quelque chose que l'on eût pu faire pour préparer le prince à cet horrible spectacle, inventé pour l'associer au supplice de son ami, rien n'égala son désespoir: il voulut se jeter par la croisée, à laquelle on l'obligea de se mettre. On le retint: «Au nom de Dieu, s'écria-t-il, retardez l'exécution. Je veux écrire au roi que je suis prêt à renoncer à tous mes droits à la couronne, s'il veut pardonner à de Katt! Que je suis malheureux, mon cher de Katt: je suis cause de votre mort; plût à Dieu que je fusse à votre place! – Ah! monseigneur, répondit de Katt, si j'avais mille vies je les sacrifierais pour vous.» En disant ces mots, il se mit à genoux, sans permettre qu'on lui bandât les yeux. Il s'écria: «Mon Dieu, je mets mon âme entre vos mains.» Et comme il achevait, sa tête, tranchée d'un seul coup, roula sur l'échafaud.
A ce terrible moment, Frédéric était sans connaissance. Il ne reprit ses sens qu'au bout de plusieurs heures, et le premier objet qui frappa sa vue fut, par un raffinement atroce, le corps sanglant de son ami, placé de manière à ce qu'il ne pût éviter de le voir. Un second évanouissement succéda au premier, et il ne revint à lui qu'avec une fièvre violente. Malgré les ordres du roi, M. de Municho fit fermer les rideaux de la fatale croisée, et envoya chercher les médicins, qui trouvèrent le prince en grand danger. Il ne voulut rien prendre de ce qu'ils lui ordonnèrent. Il était hors de lui, et dans de si violentes agitations, qu'il se serait tué si on ne l'en eût empêché. Ses convulsions ne se calmèrent que lorsque les forces furent épuisées. Les larmes succédèrent alors aux plus terribles transports. Ce fut avec une peine indicible, et en lui représentant qu'il causerait la mort de la reine et celle de sa soeur Wilhelmine, s'il persistait à vouloir mourir, qu'on vint à bout de lui faire prendre quelques remèdes. Il conserva longtemps une profonde mélancolie, et fut trois fois vingt-quatre heures à toute extrémité.
Translation
Seckendorf also wanted to save Katte, and he was joined by an assortment of people of the highest rank. Katte belonged to a family numerous, powerful, and highly regarded. He was the only son of the field marshal of the same name. The entire family returned many times, and dissolving into tears, cast itself at the foot of the king, seeking mercy for a young man in whom the whole city and the entire court took the greatest interest; but Wilhelm was inexorable. Katte's sentence was read to him. He listened without changing color. "I submit," he said, "to the orders of the king and to the decrees of Providence. I die for a beautiful cause, and I anticipate death without fear." Major Schenk informed him that his execution would be carried out at Küstrin, and that the carriage that was to take him there awaited. He ascended with a cheerful air, and was accompanied by the major and two other officers of the Gens d'Armes, and escorted by a large detachment of this body. On arriving, Schenk said to him: "You are about to undergo a terrible trial: you are going to see the Crown Prince.--"Say rather," responded Katte vehemently, "that I am going to have the greatest consolation that could have been granted to me," and in saying these words, he descended from the carriage and mounted the scaffold.
However, Friedrich had just been led by Münchow and by the general Lepel into a chamber on the level at which the scaffold was erected; and at the moment when Katte arrived, the curtain on the window was raised, which until then had been lowered. This had been done to prepare the prince for this horrible spectacle, devised in order to associate him with the torture of his friend; nothing equaled his despair: he wanted to throw himself out the window, at which he had been forcibly placed. He was prevented. "In the name of God," he cried, "delay the execution. I wish to write to the King that I am ready to renounce all my rights to the crown, if he is willing to pardon Katte! How unhappy I am, my dear Katte: I am the cause of your death; would to God I were in your place!" "Ah! Your Royal Highness," responded Katte, "if I had a thousand lives I would sacrifice them for you." Saying these words, he knelt, without permitting his eyes to be blindfolded. He cried: "My God, into your hands I place my spirit." And as he finished, his head, cut off by one blow, rolled on the scaffold.
At this terrible moment, Friedrich lost consciousness. He did not regain it for several hours, and the first object that struck his view, by an excruciating refinement, was the bloody body of his friend, placed in such a manner that he couldn't avoid seeing it. A second fainting fit followed the first, and he only returned to himself with a violent fever. Against the orders of the King, Münchow caused the curtains to be closed on the fatal sight through the window, and sent for doctors, who found the prince in great danger. He was not willing to take anything that they prescribed for him. He was beside himself, and in such violent agitation, that he would have killed himself if he had not been prevented. His convulsions did not subside until his strength was exhausted. Tears followed these agitation. It was with unspeakable difficulty, and only through conveying to him that he would cause the death of the queen and of his sister Wilhelmine, if he persisted in wanting to die, that he finally agreed to some treatments. He stayed a long time in a profound depression, and was for three times twenty-four hours on the brink of death.
